Woodchuck trapping

[GigaBuist]

Well, looks like I've got a new job duty.  We recently learned that woodchucks are a fairly serious problem in pumpkin patches and another local farmer suggested we get on them as soon as possible to reduce their population.  So, that's what I did.  Ordered up 10 "220" traps from Amazon and a setting tool.

After futzing with the setting tool for 10 minutes I realized I had to put some cheater bars on it.  So I cut some 16" pieces of electrical conduit that just fit over the pre-made tool and drilled them in with 4" of overlap giving me another 12" of leverage.  Works.  Prior to that I had to enlist my younger (but larger) brother to assist me and he had to go all Suzanne Summers with the bars, using his arms and thighs to squeeze 'em together.

With the upgrade I can hold things closed up with one hand.

Here's a pic of the 220 trap sitting outside a burrow hole.



I think I'm doing this right.  I put the traps as close to the burrow as I could while still remaining on fairly flat ground.  The stake you see in the picture is about 6' tall and wrapped with police-ish "caution" tape to make sure nobody wanders in and sticks a foot in the trap.  Pretty sure it'd break a foot. 

So, anybody else here done this before?

One last thing:  One of our employees has been collecting game for a wild game dinner.  He's gotten a few snapping turtles out of our ponds.  He's planning on using the woodchuck meat too.  Supposedly it's very tender, you just need to make sure you get the scent glands out of it before cooking.  Anybody here eaten woodchuck before?  Sounds good to me but the wife won't have anything to do with it.

[Jim147]

Groundhog doesn't taste like ground hog for some reason.

I've never trapped them. I just wait for them to pop their heads up.

jim

[grampster]

I use a large live trap baited with mushed up bananas.  They like bananas and the smell attracts 'em.

[AJ Dual]

I am absolutely APPALLED that you haven't used this opportunity to get a Rodenator. 

And post LOTS of video for us...

[charby]

Woodchucks taste like squirrel.

You should be able to set a 220 with you hands, its when you get to 330, where you need a cheater rope to get them open.

[Azrael256]

Wrap a piece of chickenwire around the back side of the hole so he'll head toward the trap.  You kind of need to funnel them.  That setup you have now works best if he dug under something and it's easy to block the exit completely with the trap.

I got to see a sort of homemade rodenator used once.  It's full-on Caddyshack awesome.

[RoadKingLarry]

The only good 'chuck is a dead 'chuck. Two of the lousy little SOBs managed to wipe out my almost 1/4 acre of watermelons last year.
Put my then new Henry big loop .22 to good use.

[Scout26]

Dude, you can claim the cost of the Rodenator as a business expense. 


Hell, I'll come up there an run it for you !!!!

[French G.]

Well I think groundhog is fine eating, herbivore, pretty clean. I ate them as a kid a few times.

You need an ADHD dog. I had one that would sit for hours waiting for Mr. Chuck to come out of wherever he hid. Never made it past about 10 seconds, neck snapped.

Smoke bomb them. Local co-op sells them, supposed to work well.

From: http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/456/456-419/PDF_section_7.pdf

Woodchuck Control
Woodchucks are particularly damaging to roots, trunks, and scaffold limbs of young and newly planted trees. In addition,
open burrows are a hazard to man, livestock, and machinery. A number of control methods have been used. Trapping or
shooting may be effective, but require constant vigilance, which may not be practical on a large scale. The most practical
method of control is to fumigate the animals in the underground burrow.
Sodium nitrate cartridges (commonly referred to as a “smoke bomb”) may be used as a fumigant. They are stable, require
no special permits, and work effectively if administered properly and with good timing (try to place in tunnels before the
year’s young are born). There is a slight fire risk, so ambient conditions must be monitored. Sodium nitrate cartridges must
not be used under a building or other structure.

[Jocassee]

I am absolutely APPALLED that you haven't used this opportunity to get a Rodenator. 

And post LOTS of video for us...

How is that legal? It's basically a small scale fuel/air bomb

[Scout26]

How is that legal? It's basically a small scale fuel/air bomb

Because no one has said it's illegal.  This is still somewhat 'Murica dammit.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

Because no one has said it's illegal.  This is still somewhat 'Murica dammit.

wonder what the biggest burrow anyones done is?  remote det might be advisable after a point

[geronimotwo]

You should be able to set a 220 with you hands, its when you get to 330, where you need a cheater rope to get them open.

that's kinda what i was thinking.  we used to set a few as kids.  we would put them right over/in the holes.  make sure to stake the chain if you want to use it again.

[zahc]

We farm soybeans, so groundhogs are a big deal. Many of them fall to the 22-250, but you can't be in every field at once, nor wait for them to come out.

We have tried the smoke bombs, putting multiple bombs arm-deep in the holes and filling them in with a shovel, but we still find some of them dug-out when we come back the next day.

If we have a water-truck handy, pouring water down the holes will flush them out for the dogs/shovel/gun. We do not set traps, because we would catch our jack russell terrier, who helps us kill dozens of hogs per year. Live traps are expensive and probably wouldn't work.

[MillCreek]

I am absolutely APPALLED that you haven't used this opportunity to get a Rodenator. 

And post LOTS of video for us...

I just looked at their website and I am disappoint that use of this device does not result in varmint chunks raining down around the area.  Damn lawyers, I bet.

[Kingcreek]

They will have a lot of fat on them. You'll want to boil them some to render that greasy fat before roasting or whatever.
I've trapped them and shot them. They are determined critters.
Our pastor is an immigrant and had his first experience with groundhogs wrecking his garden so he tried pouring gas down the hole and tossing a match. It was a hot humid day. Darn near blew up the garage that was almost twenty feet away from the end of the hole he knew about. Some neighbors put the fire out.

[Lee]

Now that's a funny mental image.  I can see a flaming groundhog shot like a cannon ball into his house and catching the whole works on fire.

[GigaBuist]

Wrap a piece of chickenwire around the back side of the hole so he'll head toward the trap.  You kind of need to funnel them.  That setup you have now works best if he dug under something and it's easy to block the exit completely with the trap.

Good idea.  The traps have been out for two days now and nothing has run through them.  I'll try and set up a funnel.

You should be able to set a 220 with you hands, its when you get to 330, where you need a cheater rope to get them open.

Heh, not me, nor my larger brother could compress the side springs enough to get the safeties on and then set the actual trap. It was pretty darned hard even with the setting tool before I put the cheater bars on.

[never_retreat]

That rodenator looks cool. A bit spendy though.
Any aps's want to design one that can be built with scrounged junk and home depot bits. Then post plans pics?

[charby]

They will have a lot of fat on them. You'll want to boil them some to render that greasy fat before roasting or whatever.
I've trapped them and shot them. They are determined critters.
Our pastor is an immigrant and had his first experience with groundhogs wrecking his garden so he tried pouring gas down the hole and tossing a match. It was a hot humid day. Darn near blew up the garage that was almost twenty feet away from the end of the hole he knew about. Some neighbors put the fire out.

Fat is on the outside, easy to trim off with a fillet knife. The ones I have eaten were fairly lean, they looked like a giant squirrel when skinned out. they also have small scent glands in the armpits and on their back, easy to see after you skin it, remove them after skinning, most rodents have those.

[AJ Dual]

That rodenator looks cool. A bit spendy though.
Any aps's want to design one that can be built with scrounged junk and home depot bits. Then post plans pics?

I'm not clear as to how it guarantees a proper stoichiometric ratio for the ideal detonation, especially since you have no idea how long the burrow is... unless it's up to user control, and until you get the hang of it, you keep on firing the piezoelectric ignition switch over and over, getting kind of nervous... 

Totally OT mini-rant, why can I spell "stoichiometric" right on the first try, but I always have to type words like "ceiling" twice to get it right?