Woodchuck problems

I have what I'm guessing is a male and female woodchuck getting too comfortable near one of my punkin fields. I found 4 holes. I plan to use the smoke bombs due to neighbors. What's the best time of day to catch these critters home? I want to try and get them before babies.

In the middle of the day they tend to be under ground. They seem to like to come out in the early mornings and late evenings

I use road flares, one each and cover all holes and it will get them!

Jim likes his road flares and I like my hog bombs. These are sold at the old timey feed store hardware places. Cost $5.oo each. They are cyanide bombs. They give you a little short fuse but at the local fireworks stand you can buy a roll of cannon fuse for cheep. You can see I put a really long fuse so you have plenty of time to shovel before it goes off. FLOODS the borrow very quickly with smoke and gas. Just make sure you have every hole filled and no white smoke is leaking out anywhere. Just remember, these big ones are not toys and don't breath any!

I've seen them around supper time but wasn't sure if middle of the day was the best.

If you throw a couple hands full of double bubble or other brand in the holes, they will get the paper off and you won't see them again. For some reason it seems that other groundhogs won't move into those holes either.

Whenever you see them out just walk toward them and they'll dive. Then you know they're home.

They should have had their young in late winter. Early morning, mid-day / afternoon and early evening is when they feed, like us 3 times a day if possible. You can definitely get them with fumes from smoke bombs or a similar means. Just observe the dens, clear any taller vegetation and or what have you. When you see them and they see you, they will run to the hole.

They are something, smart, keen sense of smell and are programmed to dig, eat and dig, keeps their claws and teeth trimmed.

I just caught a young one in my garden plot. A little tazmanian devil at first, but I have seemed to earn his trust as he's not concerned about me handling him at all now. I wear thick elbow length gloves just the same. There are places on our land here where he can be relocated without being a nuisance to anyone. Did not even use a trap, I snuck up on him, got close and he slowly went into a pipe that extends my downspout. It was an easy catch. Young and a lot to learn yet, the older ones would have took right off. I had a friendly one for 8 years. That was something I'll always remember, what a character this guy was. The memories of him standing on my front step arms folded, waiting for me to come out are priceless. He'd show up daily at the same time, and barely caused any problems. He roamed the hillside here, but always came to visit. He thought he was a human or something, you could set your watch by his daily arrival.

Best thing about handling these critters is that you learn a lot about them, sad thing is you have to wipe em out when over run or they are a nuisance. The one that was here for 8 years, kept all the others away. When he was gone, they came back and over time the place was over run.

Billy, same thing here. Never got to handling one, but never tried, either. However, it would stay in place until the riding mower got within about 15', then it'd run a short distance away. I believe this was a mama, and she kept her kids in line. But by the 2nd or 3rd litter, there were just too many, and they were getting into EVERYTHING!! Hated to, but had to take out mama before the remaining little ones would leave. Now we're back to having them, but keeping a safe distance. They're beautiful creatures.

To me they are destructive rodents. I would not object if they became extinct, the sooner the better.

Our pests are Armadillos (the ones that are found dead on the road hugging an empty bottle of Lone Star Beer). They live on earth worms and my place is packed with them...worms and chasers.

As much as they can be a nuisance and I've certainly dispatched my share at times, I've just always liked them regardless. In the hay fields, if you can't get rid of them or all of them, just stake the den in spring time, and go around. I remembered where all of them were in every field I used to cut and bale.

They are smart from what I have observed all these years. This little guy is something else, I took a few nice photos, and a couple of short videos.

Years ago, there was not many of them around, all the land was in pasture or crops, so they were never any trouble around out buildings or otherwise. Today, they have surrounded the hillside with a dozen or more dens. A neighbor shot 3 one year, as did I + several were relocated.

I think raccoons are worse, much greater risk of carrying rabies and they cause a lot more problems. I had to deal with a pair of beaver last year, want to talk about destructive and a real pain to deal with, I still don't hate on them, its just a conflict that is a shame on both sides. What a mess they made by flooding the tractor path and they destroyed a grove of apple and black cherry trees I did not want cut or girdled.