Woodchucks in my barn

littlefarmer · Mar 13, 2011

Does anyone know how to keep woodchucks out of a barn? I've trapped and released and on occasion shot at least 12 in the past 4 years. I'll go into the barn and find an excavation of dirt, the varmints are undermining the concrete floor in my milking area!

Late last fall, I found a big plastic tarp almost halfways pulled down a hole in the corner by one of the varmints. I went out one day and noticed a big hole had been chewed in the bottom of one of the barn doors, like a giant rat had been at work.

The one who tried to pull the tarp down his burrow last fall, I finally caught and released him this morning.

I've been taking them down the road about 3 miles away and releasing them (its a wooded area in the country). Is that far enough away? Is it possible these critters are coming back home?

Read lots of info on the internet about keeping them out of gardens, etc. But not much on what to do to keep them from invading buildings.

Any advice appreciated!

NW Ohio Tim · Mar 13, 2011

Three miles is pretty far for them to come back..... it's probably from the guy 3 miles up the road turning his loose on you!! Stop turning your problem loose on somebody else (even an empty woodlot belongs to somebody and doesn't need mor woodchucks!!).

Trap them, dispatch them, repeat until you see no more, you'll eventually get them.

JDseller · Mar 13, 2011

They are just big rodents. I would never release any of them. I shoot any I see on site. A full grown female will have up to six each year. They will burrow under concrete and ruin the foundation. They dig mounds in my hay fields and really screw up tile out lets.

The best way around buildings is a good dog that will kill them. The best one I ever had was a Walker/German Shepard cross. He was chewed up by a big ground hog when he was a big pup. He remembered that and would kill any he could get a smell of. I have seen him set by a hole for days to catch one. While he was alive I never had a single one around the house and buildings. The only bad thing was he would drag the dead ones back to the house yard. There he would eat the whole thing other than the teeth and gall bladder. It was real creepy at night with the windows open hearing him crushing the bones up. My wife hated that. LOL

I have read about several types of bait and poisons but never had much luck with any of it.

buickanddeere · Mar 13, 2011

Maybe looking fior a safe place to live?
Around here the coyote population has exploded due to the lack of hunting.
Lack of hunting because old hunters didn't register their firearms and don't want to get caught.
Very few new hunters as most of the population is urban and many raised by single moms.
Those with some interst in hunting find the computer more intersting than all the fees and regulations to own firearms and hunt.
Rare to see a rabbit or groundhog now except in town. Wildlife, deer, turkeys have moved closer to humans to get away from coyotes.
Now the coyotes are hungry and coming right into town.

Anonymous-0 · Mar 13, 2011

i don't get it you trap it and then release it !!! so it becomes someone else problem or just comes back or your neighbor is trapping them and releasing them at your house. the only woodchuck that is not a problem is a DEAD one

atlarge54 · Mar 13, 2011

Catch and release----sounds like the justice system. Conibear 220 then release---buzzards need fed too.

BarryfromIA · Mar 13, 2011

Weight them down with a little bit of lead and then relocate them.

wijim · Mar 13, 2011

Tail pipe and a hose down the hole stand by with shotgun, it can be fun.Jim

Ill John · Mar 13, 2011

Mark the release ones with spray paint, then you'll know if they come back. I did that on an opossum and found out that 7 miles thru traffic and across 1 river wasn't far enough. Took less than a week to return.

S.Crum · Mar 13, 2011

1 or 2 good dogs is good advice. Dad had a Doberman and an Aussie. I also had a Doberman. between these 3 girls we never had a chuck (or any other unwanted visitor for that matter) in the 10 acre field between his house and mine. The dogs didn't bother any other wildlife except my Dobe tangled with a porcupine on 2 different occasions. She wasn't the brightest bulb in the string.

Brian Jasper co. Ia · Mar 13, 2011

Gotta shoot them on sight. Best thing is if you wound one and he runs back down the hole and dies. Any others will move on and not come back.

rrlund · Mar 13, 2011

Why in the world would you catch and release something like that?

Mark-Mi · Mar 13, 2011

Conibear 220 always on duty 24/7, never have to feed it or take it to the vet.

teddy52food · Mar 13, 2011

If you can get or find some Lewis lye, put that in the holes & they won't be back. Works on skunks too.

Pete_5959 · Mar 13, 2011

Get some Coyote or Fox urine from a trapping supply company and mix in with the dirt you use to fill the borrow. They will not come back. If you don't mind dispatching the critters a 220 body grip will dispose of quickly. Be careful if you decide to use the trap as they do not discrimante and will kill any animal unlucky enough to stick its head inside.

ben brown · Mar 13, 2011

you might try this. sister has alot cats whitch now and then think they need to ues my open shead for mother nature call. i ues black pepper spread around sometrime add chillie peper to the mix they still get the mice just done like to dig and sniff the pepper i give that a try or also moth balls scatered around no

DoubleR · Mar 13, 2011

I second the conibear 220. I caught 16 of them a few summers ago and have not seen too many of them since. I beleive I got 3 of them last summer.

Spook · Mar 13, 2011

Any I see, I shoot. I arranged the fences so that my 2 boxer dogs can get to all 4 sides. Last year my female caught a young woodchuck. I didn't pay much attention until she ran up a few minutes later with just the head in her mouth. She had it sticking nose first out of her mouth, kinda creeped me out. I buried it before my wife got home. They are very destructive rodents. Basically giant rats.

Anonymous-0 · Mar 13, 2011

I don't think you're wrong to catch and release them. I don't care to kill animals regardless if its a possum or a snake. I'll let God kill 'em if he likes. Just because I farm doesn't mean I have to kill woodchucks. I'm not sure where you live, but out here I can find plenty of places to release them that they may never see another human again. I'd personally try red pepper in their hole idea first.

redtom · Mar 13, 2011

I heard if you throw dog p@@p in the holes they'll leave. Me I shoot em. Last few I shot were covered on their bellies with wood ticks. thats the last thing I want to release.

bruster · Mar 13, 2011

My dad had a bad problem with them and raccoons. Found a young stray that looked like a black Shepard/Pitt bull mix.
That was 6 years ago. SHE only stands 22-24" high, but has run out of coons and chucks! (Gotta break her of tearing up the gutters, when chipmunks hide in 'em) I've seen her kill a chuck like a mongoose, jumping to the side and shaking it to snap it's neck.....same with raccoons!
I'm surprised you don't have a dog, since most have a natural inclination to go after varmints!

msb · Mar 13, 2011

3 miles is not nearly far enough to release.I would go 8-10 miles if I were to do that. I use the Conibear system myself. Those things can easily eat a third acre of soybeans.

730 virgil · Mar 13, 2011

you might want to find out if there some idiot law about killing the dumb things.
the ones around my place left on their own i think maybe the bull played with them to many times.

Bspauld · Mar 13, 2011

I cant kill any critters that isnt trying to kill me or mine,except a wood chuck, I will shoot any I can. They are to distructive and I have fixed many front axles on tractors caused by them

Anonymous-0 · Mar 13, 2011

Well that is true, I guess a woodchuck is pretty bad and does eat a good crop. I'm like you though, otherwise I just don't like killing stuff unless I really have to.

Unruh · Mar 13, 2011

Why would you even think of doing this to your neighbors three miles away? Like it when they dump them off at your place?

larry@stinescorner · Mar 13, 2011

just fixed our old shed because they dug underneath one side of it , They dug under the side of the shed and buried the old plow my neighbor had stored in there, Ipulled the plow out and put a new wall under that side of the shed, I will not release any ground hog ,thats for sure

davpal · Mar 13, 2011

The problem is the unoccupied building. Most old barns just turn into rat holes that are full of animals trying to make a home. If you don't use them for something they should probably be torn down. Old barns are just a curse if you don't use them every day. That plow looks like it's been in the same location for 20 plus years.

2cylpartsinfo · Mar 13, 2011

Don't know if it will work but mothballs are cheap and seem to work elsewhere on other animals. We put a handful of mothballs everywhere in our combines. They are full of "free" food and warm. Some varmits will eat/damage the wiring harness too.

littlefarmer · Mar 13, 2011

Thanks for the reply. I actually live in rural Nebraska, and there is--generally--no more than one occupied farm per square mile around here.

I don't release them outside a neighbors farm. I take them to an area where a creek runs and there are trees. It's a good mile or more from the nearest farm.

littlefarmer · Mar 13, 2011

It's in a wooded section where a creek runs through. There isn't a farm within a mile or more.

kyhayman · Mar 13, 2011

5.56mm with a 3x9 night light sniper scope.

Billy NY · Mar 13, 2011

Ya mean this innocent looking guy LOL

They can be a nuisance, and there's lots of them on and around the hill here. But it seems once they use established dens I don't often see many new ones around. The above character lived under my front porch for about 8 years, he chewed the cover on my grill and tried to take a broom into the den, for what I'll never now, he's on one end I on the other. First time I ever saw him, I got between him and his hole, chased him up a tree, to about eye level, hence the saying "eye to eye" LOL. He was an exception, used to hand feed him and enjoy having him around, knew it was the same one too, missing a finger he was. He once brought his mate and a young one, neither of those got friendly and never came back, they do roam a bit from den to den, I'd not see him for awhile.

I fenced off my garden, but even before I watched them in my lower garden, they ate everything but my plants, deer did more damage to be honest. For the most part, I now leave em be, but I won't hesitate to get the rifle like I did for so many years. I don't need to now, as they don't bother anything around here.

One thing I hate is their holes in the hay fields, you have to mark em in the spring so you know where to lift the mower or go around or you'll dull those disk blades on the dirt and rocks, those are places to shoot em, that and horse pastures.

Dogs take care of em, and or keep em away, they are shifty eyed, very cautious and observant critters, if I had a dog here, none of em would come near the house. Funny thing was that I had to put my dog down the previous fall, following spring this guy shows up and hangs out right where I buried him, same tree where we met eye to eye too, never since or before have I been able to make friends with any of them.

El Toro · Mar 13, 2011

I use to trap them in a "Have a Heart" trap and I took them in on an Army base where I worked and turn them loose. The coyotes they brought in had a feast. A black civilian guard looked in the bed of my truck and asked what I was going to do with the ground hog in the trap. I told him I usually let them out and ask him he wanted him to eat. He said he would like to have him. Whenever I had one and and he was on duty I let him have them for eating. When I was shooting them it was a pain in the rear do to the ground being so hard to bury them. Once the neighbor's dog dug it up and started eating it. Now the field behind me is full of houses so I can't shoot them. I smoked a few of them with a little snort of gasoline down the hole then wait a minute for the fumes to spread then drop a match. I wasn't sure it was working until a new hog was using the hole and pushed out the skull and teeth of the one I smoked. So he got the same treatment. I still have them and I'm in the town limits. Hal

larry@stinescorner · Mar 13, 2011

it has been there for at least 15 years., my neighbors grandfather pulled it with a super 88 diesel Oliver He is no longer with us ,but the plow is still here,it can stay there as long as his grandson wants to keep it,he still has the tractor

onefarmer · Mar 13, 2011

They was getting under my garage for years. I just got fed up about three years ago. I drove my Ford Powerstroke up by the hole and used solid plastic tile for a pipe. Hooked the exhaust to the hole and let it sit and run for 30min. The one that I know was down there never came out. And the best part is none have not moved back in.

Could use a lawn mower and better if it burns a little oil.

redtom · Mar 13, 2011

My uncle did all of his cultivating with a 2010 JD. He would sometimes get between the woodchucks and the ditch on the edge rows. In a standoff he would take a 12" crecent wrench and chase em down and kill them.

Rollie NE PA · Mar 13, 2011

It always seemed to me that every time I shot one, 3 came to the funeral and stayed.

Jeff NWOH · Mar 13, 2011

As has been mentioned, the only woodchuck that isn't a problem is a dead one. Zeke got a few, but wouldn't eat them. Don't think I'd eat one either.

old popper · Mar 13, 2011

I had one in my back yard last summer. I introduced Mr woodchuck to Mr. 22 Hornet. End of story.

BANDITFARMER · Mar 13, 2011

If they are in or under a building and you cant get a shot off at them, Get 2 M80s tape them together and when you see one go down the hole light it and through it down the hole and get back. Concushion will kill them then cover the hole and they dont come back! Lost two good cows from broke legs around one barn because of them so I declared WAR! I WON. There gone now. Dont catch and release your giving somebody your problem, And they may not be as good of a shot as you. Nothing like stray rounds coming through the barn or truck or worse your house. If you dont take care of they now you will be over run in no time. Bandit

Anonymous-0 · Mar 13, 2011

Take your havahart trap, tie a rope to it, drop it in the stream, wait 10 minutes, pull back the trap, empty, repeat as necessary. I've yet to see a hog swim away with a havahart trap. For more convenience, I use connibear 160's, one snap, 1 dead hog. Check every morning and evening, and you're good to go.

Paul from MI · Mar 13, 2011

I have found that they are a bit curious and if you can run one down the hole, stand back and wait for about 15 minutes. They will come back out and my old 12 ga. helps them stay quiet for a long time. Darn things can make a huge mess and ruin foundations

Pete in MD · Mar 13, 2011

Use a big nail and punch a lot of holes in an apple. Soak it in antifreeze in a small can. Roll it down the hole and poke it out of sight with a stick. When your nose tells you it's time, shovel dirt in the hole. If you have a dog, cover the hole until it's time to shovel.

C.R. · Mar 14, 2011

GOOD boy ZEKE!!

Woodchucks in my barn

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