We're overrun with groundhogs

[Mark Billadeau]

With the house being vacant for over a year the groundhogs have really taken over. There are 9 structures on the property (I'm counting the 3 building dairy complex as one) and every structure has several holes in (if it has a dirt floor) and around it. The little buggers are not put off by people. We've been within a few feet of them and they've not moved. Renee and I were in the bottom of the bank barn when one came down the ladder that is built onto the stone wall (under access hatch from upper level to stalls) <10' from us. Renee has seen one going up the wooden stairs on the outside of the spring house.

 

What to do?

 

As a died in the wool working dog person, I contacted another working dog person: Terrierman

 

Paul Burns and his dogs will be coming to help us with our groundhog problem. Perhaps you'll see us show up in his blog.

 

Mark

[Bill Fosher]

The other day I was out for a run with my pack of Border collies and they set upon a woodchuck. Collies 1, woodchuck 0. Guard dogs are also hell on woodchucks. The old farm in Mass was overrun with them, and I had one guard dog that would kill so many that he sometimes wouldn't eat his dog food for a week at a time. The original BARF diet.

[Laura L]

Yep, between groundhogs and rabbits the guard dogs fed themselves for quite a while in one of the pastures they hadn't been in for a while. I just had to worm them after they were done.

 

Laura

[Lenajo]

A good LGD doesn't need to be followed around and dug out like a terrier. And you don't have to dispose of the varmint after either. The original BARF diet indeed.

[KathyF]

My guys just killed a young ground hog/wood chuck a couple of weeks ago. They are also known for killing the gophers on our place. If only they could catch the wiley moles.

 

Kathy

[Mark Billadeau]

A LGD would get fat here before it would make a dent in our population.

[NorthfieldNick]

Get a .22. Groundhogs taste like gamey turkey. They make great stew!

 

Yes, I do know this from first-hand experience. I sort-of lost a bet, but it was pretty tasty

[Debbie Meier]

One or two good heelers would take care of the problem. Within a week of moving here what Indy and Lilly had not killed had opted to relocate. We took them to someone else's farm that was overrun with raccoons, after a few hours the surviving family members were seen beating feet down a draw to the next farm.

 

The only visitors that have tried to stay over the past few years were one stray cat and a few squirrels, now we only have one squirrel that is hanging in there.

 

Deb

[martySQ]

Out here the problem is prairie dogs, and the solution is a big machine that has a tube you put in their holes and suck the critters out. (What they do afterwards, I don't know)

[Mark Billadeau]

Paul and his two working JRTs (Mountain Girl and Pearl) came Saturday. His dogs checked a couple of holes and decided no one was home. The third hole they checked was occupied. Mountain worked and worked trying to get around a bend in the hole but was a bit too large. Paul checked for a bolt hole (escape passage) for Pearl to work but did not find one. Paul dug another passage and Mountain dove in. Now we hear barking underground as Mountain was up on the GH. The groundhog backed into a pipe (passage dug by GH), pushed rocks and dirt between it and the Mountain creating a stalemate. Eventually, Paul decided that we should move on since this was a stalemate.

 

We moved onto another complex of holes and location where we have seen groundhogs, the bank barn. These holes were in a bad location, under a concrete floor which made digging to the dogs and GH impossible. This did not stop Mountain and Pearl from diving into holes and trapping a groundhog between them. We could hear barking and digging under our feet. Paul was in the process of pulling Mountain out of a hole to allow Pearl to push the groundhog towards him when the groundhog managed to escape out another passage. Pearl and Mountain emerged when they were certain the groundhog has left the house. Mountain was dirty and scratched while Pearl had a nick on her ear which bled making her look “rough”.

 

Paul told us that the dogs work these holes on scent, sound, and he suspects feeling vibrations; sight is not possible in these pitch black holes. The dogs come face-to-face with groundhogs in these very tight holes or up on the groundhogs butts. The dogs need to be small enough to get through the small holes and tight turns; and smart enough to “box” not “brawl” with the GHs. I saw Mountain twist onto her back to make the tight turn into a hole. The dogs are not strong enough to pull the GHs out of the holes; and Paul said that if he tries to pull one out of a hole by its tail he must do so slowly or he’ll pull the tail off.

 

The score is dogs 0, GHs 1, and a tie. However, the psychological score is dogs 2; since now the GHs know that the holes they once thought were very safe can be breeched by the enemy.

 

Paul now wanted to move onto holes where he could dig (not in buildings). Mountain and Pearl checked a few holes in the field behind the bank barn. While doing so I heard the grunts from a startled GH as it ran off. We moved to the hedgerow where the sound went and Mountain dove into a hole. Her barking was coming from right at the entrance of the hole (the GH was right there). Paul had to hack away some of the thicket to get to the hole while Pearl worked the bolt hole prevent another escape. While he was clearing around the hole Mountain’s barking changed, she was now barking with her mouth full of GH butt (think of a dog barking while playing tug). Mountain worked the GH to the opening of the hole; Paul then snared and dispatched the GH.

 

Score: 1, 1, 1

 

Mark

[rac]

Mark,

I go along with the .22 suggestion especially since they seem so bold when they're not being hunted by dogs. I've never had groundhog stew so I can't recommend it, but the hide does make a nice old time banjo head (if it hasn't already been shot full of holes). So sharpen up your aim, and maybe you can find a market for them. Good luck.

 

Ray

[Mark Billadeau]

The .22 suggestion sounds like a relaxing way to spend several hours; unfortunately right now there's no time for such things.

 

Paul offered a couple of suggestions on how to rid ourselves of groundhogs that did not involve too much time: trapping (with a special homemade trap) and flooding the holes in the winter to induce pneumonia.

 

We have a large fox (red and grey) population here (we even see them hunting behind our house during the day) disposal of dispatched groundhogs is not a problem.

 

Mark

[kajarrel]

We dump our "used" cat litter down the holes, causing the groundhogs to vacate. We also have a couple hunters who come around once a year and cut down the population. These two interventions have kept our ground hog population at tolerable level.

 

Kim

[hsnrs]

We have ground critters too. Thanks for the great suggestion Kim. I always wondered what to do with the used litter. Found a snake in the garden today so I know there are ground animals they are looking for.

[kajarrel]

With 4 cats, I'd probably continue dumping it in the holes, regardless; however, it DOES seem to repel the groundhogs. We've gone from being overrun to having only one hole in our 30 acre paddock (where I dump the kitty litter - the other fields have more groundhogs).

 

Kim

[Kelliwic Border Collies]

Mark, loved your report on the adventure.

 

Funny that I came across this thread just today, when I also heard a story about a rabid groundhog on the radio this morning. (Not common.)

[mbc1963]

My neighbor's JRT/beagle mix has been frantic for weeks about the groundhog in her yard. Her terrier nature finally won out the other day, when she pinned and paralyzed the groundhog. The son-in-law had to dispatch it, finally, with a shovel. Ughhh.

 

Mary

[ThunderHill]

I've been following this thread with interest, too. I don't have a problem with total numbers at the moment (though I'm beginning to suspect that one groundhog = too many groundhogs) but I do have a young entrepreneur who has tunnelled in under the Bilco doors to my basement. Right under my bedroom window. (It's a new house, the fill under the concrete wedge of the pre-fab stairs has settled, leaving a perfect protected entrance as far as the woodie is concerned, since it's around the side of the house and not included in the dog yard.) That varmint is now apparently following the conveniently porous fill around the outside of my foundation, judging by the new holes which keep appearing, s/he is coming up in the window well under the living room window, near a downspout, and next to where the electric and propane lines dive underground to reach the basement. (Probably following the path of least resistance where the fill isn't packed as tight as in other areas.) I'm probably going to have to call professional help for that one; I'm not inclined to aim the .22 at the wall of my house; toss something toxic down the main hole (under the basement stairs) and poison myself; nor risk damaging the utilities lines (especially the propane). Yeesh.

 

My dwarfish, 10 year old, arthritic, half-blind, nearly toothless Cattle Dog (Deuce) caught a prime mature groundhog way up the hill, near the top of my large field on Sunday around sundown, in tandem with my Border Collie bitch (Joss). I didn't catch on what was happening at first, then I noticed the predatory dance going on up there. Deuce had waded right in; Joss was flickering around the outside of the fray, jabbing the woodie in the butt but probably mostly just goofing up the other combatants' timing.

 

Good old Deuce did his bloodthirsty best to gum his opponent to death, but either he couldn't see well enough in the long grass and deep shadows to grab it in the right place, or it was just too heavy for him (with his mouth full of stumps) to shake hard enough to kill quickly. He was giving it the old college try, for sure. After a quick detour to put on jeans and boots and grab a large cattle-sorting pole, I managed to get up there and call the dogs off. The woodie crawled away, not looking too good but still under its own power for the time being. Deuce was close to having a heat/adrenaline rush seizure (it wouldn't have been his first), I doubt otherwise he would have quit voluntarily. However, despite many a longing backward glance, I got both my intrepid would-be hunters into the dog yard and then into the kiddie pool. I would've been fine with it if they'd managed to dispatch the beast, but I know from prior experience that Deuce's next step would be to try to eat it. Quite possibly Joss would, too; I've already caught her finishing off a young rabbit. And, ew.

 

My other Cattle Dog and my male Border Collie are not hunters, and were completely uninterested in the entire show.

 

(I took Deuce to the vet first thing the next morning, to consult regarding a rabies booster and get him on some antibiotics for his bites.)

 

Hopefully the woodchuck found it a discouraging experience. (She said optimistically.)

 

Liz S in PA

[ThunderHill]

And now the over-runners are being over-run...

 

My old house has been unoccupied/for sale since late October last year, which means I'm making regular trips over there to keep an eye on things and perform assorted maintenance chores. Because of a series of thunderstorms (combined with my work schedule) I hadn't been over to mow grass in more than a week. So when I showed up this morning, I walked around to scout, open gates, check for new ground bee nests, etc. And I always go through the house and the barn, because doors accidentally get left open, lights get left on, etc.

 

During the long absence of humans, sheep and dogs, a woodchuck (or possible more than one) made itself at home under my pole barn over the winter. I haven't battled it too seriously, it's not doing me any harm, and I expect as soon as there's regular traffic again, it will boogie. (The barn is empty and the floor is dirt/sand/small rocks.) Periodically I try to flatten out the main entry mound, which happens to be right in front of the 10-foot hanging door. It's hard to get the door open (to show potential buyers) with a couple of inches of packed dirt pushed up against it.

 

When I went down there today, my first thought was, "Whoa. How big IS that woodchuck? Or did it just get really bored and decide to dig out a grand foyer?" Because I don't remember having seen an entrance hole quite that large before, though my experience isn't comprehensive.

 

I went on into the barn through the man door in the former feedroom, and out into the nice dark aisle, along the row of three horse stalls down one side. Even "empty" barns are always alive with little things that move and rustle -- birds, squirrels, assorted rodentia. So I didn't pick up on the shapes in the gloom right away. Well, as I peered into the middle stall in passing (the sliding doors are open) I glanced in. And there were three foxes, gazing uneasily back at me.

 

I backpedalled hastily into the feed room and shut the door, and the foxes apparently dove for their own private exit. I saw two of them outside (heading the other way) and then when I headed back up the hill to my van, there went the third, running up the mowed path and then diving into the brush.

 

Sadly, the one I got a good look at is thin and very mangy, in the literal sense. Very thin, dirty, ragged coat and almost no "brush" to its tail at all -- just a long, thin whip. Hardly a proper fox at all. I'm a little surprised, because pickings should be excellent in my area right now, we've had quite a lush spring and summer.

 

I guess the sudden enlargement of the hole under the barn door is now explained. And I feel reasonably sure I no longer have a woodchuck problem at that particular location.

 

The mange does make me wonder a bit... I've heard before of dogs getting ivermectin toxicity from eating too much sheep/cow/horse poop right after the livestock had been treated. I've always been careful about my dogs for a few days right after worming the stock. What I'm wondering is whether my foxes (I've always had at least one in the lower pasture, which has never made a nuisance of itself) had been getting some accidental "benefit" from browsing on ivermectin-laden sheep poop a couple of times a year. Could it be that now the inadvertent "medication" has been withdrawn, they've been left more susceptible to mange mites?

 

I truly hope not. Could be all sorts of things, of course. But man, that was sure not a healthy-looking fox running out of the barn this morning. Wish I'd gotten a better look at the others, but they were just russetty glimpses vanishing in the weeds.

 

Sigh.

 

Liz S in S Central PA