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Old June 6, 2018   #31
carolyn137
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Yes we have woodchucks here where I am, same as groundhogs, as in

How much wood could a wood chuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

He'd chuck as much wood as he could,if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

QED

Robert what else would you like to know about them since you asked the question.

But they have Never damaged the tomatoes that have been grown where I am now,but those grown here are mostly grown in containers,not inground.

As I sit here at the computer there are 4 large tall windows and I can look out to the backyard and the fields beyond, and I see them a lot,they waddle,is what I call it,I don't do anything about them for the reasons I already gave.

But I know that where I used to live some drove large distances and shot them for meat to cook and put on the table and there's a Fire Dept up here near me that puts on a wild game dinner each year and many drive long distances to come to that event. I went once only,you can't believe what they cooked and served, from moose to snakes to,well,that's enough.

But it's also true that you could get a chicken and biscuit dinner if all you wanted to do was to watch those at your table grimace while trying to eat the wild stuff.

That was the entertainment value that you bought your tickets for,just watching and waiting for something gross to happen,like upchucking,sorry I just couldn't stop putting the chuck part here again..

Carolyn
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Old June 6, 2018   #32
Nan_PA_6b
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Douglas_OW View Post
I have no experience with that particular model, but I did try something similar to this in my basement:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZIy0lRxvPY

It was worthless.
Every spring, I use live catch traps for my groundhogs. I then relocate the rodents, and I am usually good until next spring. I find that relocating them 4 to 6 inches is ideal, providing you go in the proper direction.
Be sure to either close, or lock open, your traps before sundown; it is a nuisance to have to deal with non-target critters in the morning, like skunks or possums.

Jim
Is that 4-6 miles?


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Old June 6, 2018   #33
JRinPA
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Nan, you have to think in three dimensions.



I have made chuck sausage quite a few times now, usually straight or mixed with venison (both lean), but sometimes up to 25% pork. Taste is fine but they are generally pretty tough if you try to braise them like a cottontail.
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Old June 7, 2018   #34
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Quote:
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Is that 4-6 miles?


Nan
No, inches is correct.
The right direction is vertical, down.
Intermediate steps are left as an exercise for the student.
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Old June 7, 2018   #35
TigrikT
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Just caught a juvenile. He started to prune my tomato plants but then found white clover. The water scare crow worked but relocating is better. I've got an impression that they don't have a very good vision. When the young tomato plants were covered with tulle fabric (from flea beetles), he seems totally uninterested.
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Old June 7, 2018   #36
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The young ones are good to eat.
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Old June 8, 2018   #37
JRinPA
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They have poor close up vision but see movement at distance just fine. You can imitate a stump at 10 yards and they will leave their hole to feed, but they will see you walk across an open field 400 yards away and make a beeline for that same hole. When they are spooked but think they are still hidden, they let out a shrill whistle, sort of a like a mega version of chipmunk's chirp. Hence, sometimes they are called whistlepig instead of groundhog.
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Old June 9, 2018   #38
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Originally Posted by JRinPA View Post
They have poor close up vision but see movement at distance just fine. You can imitate a stump at 10 yards and they will leave their hole to feed, but they will see you walk across an open field 400 yards away and make a beeline for that same hole. When they are spooked but think they are still hidden, they let out a shrill whistle, sort of a like a mega version of chipmunk's chirp. Hence, sometimes they are called whistlepig instead of groundhog.
Not all of them.
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Old June 9, 2018   #39
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Don't let ground hogs near your house. They dig burrows up to 20 feet deep and love to dig around and under foundations. With all the rooms they dig, your house could be in danger of collapse.

We have a pesky one in the area but stays away from the house and does not go into the garden. With a chicken wire fence all around the garden, that must be enough to deter rabbits and woodchucks...and the eight foot deer fence keeps that pest out.

In Nebraska it is illegal to translocate any wild animal more than 100 yards from point of capture (so why bother). The only other option is to declare an animal a pest and euthanize it. Raccoons and rabbits have been declared pests in my yard and garden and so far in the last two years eighteen raccoons have been trapped in a box trap and died of lead poison. No rabbits in the past several years with the advent of bobcats and a stray mountain lion prowling the wilderness part of the property. Don't see the cats but see the remains of their last meal.
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Old July 19, 2018   #40
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Getting to be that time for kits being chased out of the holes and finding their way to your garden. Saw our first a few days back...he was a male as usual. Seems like they get chased out first every year.
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Old July 20, 2018   #41
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We have a green space and creek behind our house with one other home sort of behind us. That neighbor has a mother groundhog living under her back steps. We watch the babies every year. This year there were 4 of the little buggers and they got so brazen they were basically knocking on her back door. I suspect you could break a leg walking around her back door. I have only seen her out there twice in 5 years.
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Old July 20, 2018   #42
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The little darlin' that was sneaking through the garden fence earlier this year is now living under my front porch. The front porch is a cement slab and he's burrowed under. We now have a trap baited out there.



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Old July 20, 2018   #43
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I too have just had one move in. The little guy keeps coming onto the patio to eat my flowers. It has a burrow in my nest door neighbors yard. I will put the live trap out and see if I can catch it.

Worth, it is rather young, would you like me to send it to you for your lunch?
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Old July 20, 2018   #44
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I too have just had one move in. The little guy keeps coming onto the patio to eat my flowers. It has a burrow in my nest door neighbors yard. I will put the live trap out and see if I can catch it.

Worth, it is rather young, would you like me to send it to you for your lunch?
No I would rather have it as a pet.
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Old July 20, 2018   #45
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https://youtu.be/Je0w8pfM-EM
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