We have declared WAR on the immediate local groundhog population.

[Electric Wizard]

Originally Posted by Draconiator

1. They ALWAYS get into our garden, and they have eaten the most of the leaves off of our stringbean plants. Last year they mowed through the same garden and made short work of the tomatoes too.

2. I think we have a family of them. My father is fighting for our garden, and there are so many we HAVE to shoot them. Running tally is 3 so far, a big one and 2 small ones. Eh, don't really like it but it has to be done. Not to mention they are dangerous.

What I wanna know is, how the hell do we stop them for good? All they do is ruin our garden, never saw any of their holes around. I heard laxatives work wonders on them...and I have told him we could keep them for meat, but he doesn't wanna do that for some reason.

even I'm sorta depressed about it. I know for a FACT we have at least 3 more. how do you get rid of your groundhogs?

Firstly the fact that you can shoot them is a great help! I living in a heavy suburb in northern NJ cannot do this.

So I have some fool proof advice for you. Wehter it's doable for you depends on the size of your garden and the cost. This is my second year as a gardener.

My grandfather way back in the early 2000's had to finally stop his garden in the last years of his life due to the woodchucks. They just ruined it every year.

Anyway flash forward to 2014 - 2015. Currently I have counted 15 woodchucks/groundhogs this year in the backyard. None of them have infiltrated my growing space which is 25 feet long by 30 feet wide.

I hammered a slim 5 foot post into the ground the every 5 feet. The posts stand slightly higher than 4 feet tall. They are basically tomato stakes.

I than got 4 foot high chicken wire and used heavy duty staples to attach the wire around posts.

Here's the catch the chucks " will " climb over. So on each post I only attached the staples 3 feet high. What this does is when the chucks climb up which they have repeatedly the remaining fence falls forward. Even the 20 pounders do this and the fence holds strong. They climb and the fence peels forward thus not allowing them to climb over.

Now you have to prevent them from going under. I took 3 foot high wire fence (its not the chicken wire but I had plenty of it. so I used it) on the ground. Now some said I had to be bury this fence under ground and however I did not.

I had old ply wood boards. And I cut it 2 foot long about 3 inch wide pieces of this. I centered them between the between the posts and under the standing wire. Than I took the ground fencing and stapled the two together on the pieces of wood I placed on the ground.

Chucks won't try to dig under from point A to Point B from farther than 18 inches away. Keep in mind I 36 inches. They did try and force themselves through between the fencing's between the wood and posts. I solved this issue by getting this hook like metal clips (a bit pricey ) and hammered them down into the ground.

Now you may be able to save yourself the step I did with the ground wood and just use those clips. Maybe every foot between the posts. Just make sure that both the ground and standing fences have the clip put through their holes. But they do seem to cost some $ . They are thick too. I forget the exact name of what they are called.

I didn't build a gate either. The one section I enter I just tie two posts together with some metal cord. And attach the bottom and top fencing together with four clips i hammer into the ground. It's not laborious at all either. They are like 6 inches and they come right out of the ground when you want to enter andtwo smacks to put back. Just be sure that place the clip through the spaces of both fences to secure them.

The chucks have been defeated and I have avenged my grandpa!

[Electric Wizard]

Oh I forgot to mention that I never built anything like that before. Just computers. So I was a full newbie and outside of measuring and planning the entire garden. The actual construction of the all the fencing took less than 4 hours.

The cost of materials was less than $100 dollars not counting the metal clips which I added with later. I forget what these packs are called or how much they cost. When I am outside tomorrow Ill try and get you the name of what they are called as I have few still unopened.

[L0ve]

Most people shoot them.

If you are trapping them and releasing them, the next guy who's fields get torn up by them are going to shoot them anyways.

[gunslinger256]

if you live in a densely populated area where guns are not allowed, I would investigate an air rifle (if you are responsible and don't shoot on an upward trajectory and try to understand where your pellets will land if you miss your shot).

They shoot quiet like a movie suppressor on a firearm but less dangerous because the range is much shorter.

To the shooter of an air rifle, it's quite loud, but your neighbor will only hear pshht and then maybe the impact if you're hitting something hard. Target practice next to some wild squirrels will not scare them away.

Could be a community service to pick off those critters while they climb your fence contraption.

[Electric Wizard]

Originally Posted by gunslinger256

if you live in a densely populated area where guns are not allowed, I would investigate an air rifle (if you are responsible and don't shoot on an upward trajectory and try to understand where your pellets will land if you miss your shot).

They shoot quiet like a movie suppressor on a firearm but less dangerous because the range is much shorter.

To the shooter of an air rifle, it's quite loud, but your neighbor will only hear pshht and then maybe the impact if you're hitting something hard. Target practice next to some wild squirrels will not scare them away.

Could be a community service to pick off those critters while they climb your fence contraption.

Lol Oh gunslinger how lucky you are not to be in NJ.

pellet guns regardless of psi are still consider firearms. So all laws applicable to their discharge apply.

I may or may not at one time owned an air rifle or two that woulda came from out of state. They wouldn't be enough to break the skin at close range, if caught with them though it would be no different than being caught with an unlicensed desert eagle .50

Also here killing or assaulting an animal in an unlawful way is consider animal abuse. This wouldn't be so bad, but I and the family own pets. The new mandatory (not mandatory sentencing) for animal abuse is barring/removing people from their pets. Not worth the risk.

On the plus side they do keep skunks away.

[Gerania]

I was going to suggest airsoft, but that's not allowed, either. At least not without jumping through some hoops.

New Jersey

[phonelady61]

how about just doing container gardening ? that keeps you from inflicting great harm to the groundhogs and saves your garden . Yes I would have to worry about a public official offering to trap and drown any living creature that is heartless and cruel and I would love to see the literature on that one .