For 6 summers we’ve been battling a hoard of nasty groundhogs who have taken up residence on our property. We live in the suburbs and they have no natural predators in our area. Over the past 6 years they’ve gotten out of control. What started out as 1-2 groundhogs has now ended up to be over a dozen living on one acre of land.
Over the years they’ve destroyed a garden shed, trees and shrubs, ripped up the cushions on patio & deck furniture, made tunnels through our yard to the point my wife fell in one last summer and fractured her left foot. Dang Hogs!
The last straw was two months ago when they dug holes under the fence that surrounds our garden and destroyed 70% of our garden plants. Gardening is not an inexpensive hobby, its expensive! They caused approximately $200 worth of damage in our garden alone. We’ve had enough.
After calling our local township to inquire about the laws and regulations in this area I found out that I can only use a pellet or BB gun to defend ourselves and our home from these pesky critters. Okay. I went out and purchased one and guess what? They’re so fat and flubbery that the ammo does nothing to them. So, that didn’t work either.
We’re animal lovers but this was a problem that needed to be dealt with. It was costing us a lot of money, damage and hurting our personal safety. One groundhog chased a small child up onto our front porch. They’re nasty, aggressive and smell like a rotten sewer hole. Enough is enough. Time to fight back.
For the past month I’ve been evicting them from our property one at a time. We went out and purchased two humane catch and release traps. We bait them up with fresh fruits & vegetables and within 24 hours or so, we’ve caught a critter. One by one I’ve been driving them out of the city and releasing them in a designated area to be “naturally” re-homed.
So far I’ve caught and released eight of them and hoping to catch the remaining 2-3 before they go into hibernation later next month. Fingers crossed. If you have a pesky rodent or animal problem, perhaps nasty groundhogs, I recommend you trap them and release them if you can. We purchased our humane traps from Amazon and finally, we’re getting a grip on this problem.
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I think that the groundhogs are pesky critters. I am glad that you have found away to deal with the problem.
Moles have been our issue this summer and they are destroying our yard. I have not tried traps yet but I did try used cat litter down the holes which does seem to be deterring them. Fingers crossed.
We don’t have those but we get moles. They don’t stand a chance with the feral cats around though.
I like groundhogs when the numbers are in check but you are right there are not many predators about in town. Groundhogs will also do some major damage to a cat or a dog if they are encountered. I have not had to trap any but they are pesky. In our town I do think you have to ask a rehabber where you can relocate them if you do trap like any other wildlife.
Oh, boy, they are not the funny little dancing critters that went up against Bill Murray in Caddyshack. You’re right. They are aggressive, nasty, stinky things. Good luck.
I know what you mean about them. We have moles. They have just killed the yard with all their tunnels. I am glad you have gotten rid of so many.