SHOP VERMIN

When I was a kid I remember shooting one in the yard with a pellet rifle......boy did that make him mad!
He charged at me, I swung the gun around and clubbed him one, and they I departed quickly......
Ahhh childhood!

-brino
 
RJSakowski said:
I nearly lost a finger to a groundhog some years ago. I have no love for them. About twenty years ago, my new wife, freshly imported from the UK, thought that the young groundhogs sliding down a sand pile were cute. few weeks later, when her entire row of green beans disappeared, her command was"kill them". I keep a .22 loaded all summer in the event a groundhog should present itself. They are cagey critters though; the slightest movement and they're gone to ground.

I had a problem with them undermining a barn foundation. I find that plugging the holes with good sized rock works. When they're underground, they run out of room to move their excavation material. I expect that I have a few skeletons under my barn floor.
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One of the poles in the same shed that my #2 shop has been undermined twice by ground hogs. This has caused the siding to bulge out and has thus forced the 10 X 10 sliding door to be pushed out about 4 degrees rendering it unmovable. This is the next major repair scheduled for the hopefully warmer days to come. But before that I need to repair the magneto on the tractor's Wisconsin VG4D engine to get the spark back ! My guess is once I light up the Wisconsin I'll discover a colony of mice living under the shrouds. No fear of boredom during this global disaster.

I have a live trap and a brute strength led pellet rifle which I am assured will dispatch a whistle pig (as they are called out east) quite readily. Not preparing the oven for any marmot on a shingle though.
 
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An adult groundhog in a burrow would be a fearsome adversary for a dachshund. Now maybe if we brought one of those Florida Burmese Pythons.
 
RJSakowski said:
An adult groundhog in a burrow would be a fearsome adversary for a dachshund. Now maybe if we brought one of those Florida Burmese Pythons.
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The dachshunds are fierce fighters, a friend breeds them and has had them follow foxes into dens and drag them out. They were originally bred to chase badgers into dens and drag them out. Even the miniature dachshunds would be able to handle a groundhog easily.

Many of the terrier breeds would make short work of a groundhog. Friends of the family have Jack Russells and they would also chase groundhogs into dens and come out with dead groundhogs. And no rat or mouse was safe either.
 
A groundhog burrow is pretty tight quarters and groundhogs have a mean set of incisors. Weightwise, fairly evenly matched but groundhogs have a powerful set of front legs. If it were my dachshund, I wouldn't send it in after one. Particularly in a burrow under concrete.
 
RJSakowski said:
A groundhog burrow is pretty tight quarters and groundhogs have a mean set of incisors. Weightwise, fairly evenly matched but groundhogs have a powerful set of front legs. If it were my dachshund, I wouldn't send it in after one. Particularly in a burrow under concrete.
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I wouldn't either but that is the thing with them, they would just jump right into it themselves. They are like a beagle to rabbits. You don't have to train them to do it, if a rabbit takes off in front of them they are going to chase it. It has just been bred into them over the years.
 
Actually, I used to raise beagles. They usually have no interest in chasing by sight. They trail be scent and the good ones will dissect the the scent trail very methodically. They're fun to watch.
 
markba633csi said:
I wonder how they catch those darn things each year if they are as quick and cagey as RJ says they are :)
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I can attest to how quick they are ! Next thing I know is that Cabellas will be offering Groundhog blinds with turkey hunting camo suits as a package,
 
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