Woodchuck Bombs

[mkirsch1]

There's a woodchuck living under my shed. Bugger burrowed under the wall into the lean-to, then dug front and back doors to his home under the main shed.

We used to use "woodchuck bombs" to kill woodchucks in the fields. These are just glorified smoke bombs, woodchuck sized. Haven't seen one in 20 years, and don't remember how they worked.

I'd like to toss one in the hole under my shed and suffocate the SOB, but I also don't want to set the shed on fire... Anybody know if these smoke bombs actually burn with open flame, get really hot, or what?

[Mitch]

Could you use CO2 to suffocate him, since it's heavier than air?

Too bad they don't make M80's any more.

[Don Klipstein]

The ones that I set off about 30 years ago worked by burning of a mixture of red phosphorus and some oxidizer. They do get hot. There is definitely a flame, though I don't see it. The flame may be dim and obscured by the smoke.

- Don Klipstein ( [e-mail])

[SteveB]

Tried lots of things on local pocket gophers. Am currently making a oxygen/propane device to flood the tunnel and ignite it. Down side is that you don't want to use it anywhere close to buildings, as a couple of Canadians recently found out. 20 acres burned and $200,000 damage to outbuildings and machinery. They got off with a $1500 fine each, IIRC.

Try exhaust. Lawnmower, tiller, ATV, car, whatever you got.

They can throw up a blockage in a tunnel in a heartbeat, so it may take a couple of three tries to get them.

The tunnel exploders have an advantage in that they collapse a lot of the tunnel, burying the occupants, and not just hanging out a "Burrow Empty" sign for the next interloper. But not that close to any structure. I've gotten some pretty good low "thump" sounds from deep explosions, and then some shallow surface ones that sounded like a .357 Magnum with a short barrel close to your ear. If the gas goes out a vent, it hugs the ground and can ignite grass or anything flammable, as was the case with the Canadians. If it fills a shed, you got one of them Mythbusters explosions.

Steve

Steve

[Steve]

Could you try flooding the little bastard out with a garden hose? Being that it's a shed, water shouldn't really cause a problem to the structure unless it is also close to your house?? Then when he comes out just be ready with a club or something?

[Harry K]

If yiou can find a local pest control with a 'gopher getter" (I think that's the name) it does a very good job. Pumps liquid ammonia nitrate (fertilyzer) in. doesn't take much, it turns to gas and kills almost instantly.

Harry K

[Mitch]

I can't remember the name of this device. It looks like a big metal detector. It floods the burrows with flammable gas, then ignites it.

The concussion kills everything instantly.

I thought it was something like The Ratinator, but I didn't find anything like that.

I do remember that they were availble for rent.

If you shoved a ferret down there, who would win?

[Mitch]

YEAH!

RODENATOR!

[hallerb]

how about a havehart trap and move the resident far away.

its your own fault if you had poured a concrete floor a room for rent sign wouldnt be outside your shed.......

as a neighbor of mine found out.

i put in a concrete floor, he cheaped out on wood and has had all sorts of residents.

just curious exactly how is his presence damaging you?

[SteveB]

Would that be the smoke from the smokebomb, or the smoke from the shed? If his shed is anything like mine, there's years of oil and roots and shavings and just "stuff" that would burn. And that's just in the ground. It would take a HAZMAT team to go through the rest of whatever's in there.

Steve

[SteveB]

Rodenator. Google it, and watch the videos. Impressive, but a little ambiguous, and some safety practices of theirs concern me. Notice how close the guy is to the hole he's putting gas in. Like standing close to the muzzle of a cannon.

Steve

[SteveB]

Could you try flooding the little bastard out with a garden hose? Being that it's a shed, water shouldn't really cause a problem to the structure unless it is also close to your house?? Then when he comes out just be ready with a club or something?

I've done that and gotten them, and then just ran water into a hole for two hours with no sign of where it's coming out.

Steve

[HeyBub]

Turn it into a pet?

I met "Harriet" at an Audubon Society sanctuary near Pittsburgh - just kind of ambling about, just doing her thing. Since we don't have those in Texas, I offered to trade an armadillo for a ground hog. The executive director was aghast!

"No way!" he said. "Can you imagine what would happen if an armadillo wandered out in front of a little old lady walking our nature trails?"

As an aside, I did see one clever item at the Audubon Society. Take a three-sided aquarium (you can find them next to the dumpsters at apartment houses), line these three sides with one-way window film. Fashion a top and mount the whole thing in your breakfast room window.

Open the top, dump in some bird seed, replace the top.

Presently, the little birdies will come to join you for breakfast! They see only their reflection, but you see them, really up close.

[Red Green]

"SteveB" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I want to come by, bring a kettle BBQ, lawn chair, some dogs, chips and drinks for this.

[Stormin Mormon]

As I understand, woodchuck bombs are to get em to the surface, so you can shoot them. I tried a couple in a farmers field, one time. No woodchuck came out.

My trailer had (past tense) a woodchuck. I got two buckets of rock from a farmer's field. Lit a 15 minute highway road flare "fusee" and stuffed that in the hole. Quick, dump two bucket of rocks in, and back fill with dirt. No more woodchuck.

[ransley]

You could put the bomb in a long pipe with one end closed and have only the gas come out, since it burns like a flair maybe a 6ft pipe, how about mothballs or amonia or a radio.

[SteveB]

Me, or the Rodenator? In the videos, they appear to do an effective job. Yet a couple of times, you see the operator take a face shield full of dirt. They use full face shields and ear protection, but anything that will blow dirt fifty feet in the air will blow a rock fast enough to put a hurt on you.

I've done this four times now, and learned enough to reconfigure the device. It's getting to be gopher time around here, and I want to arrive at a final design so I can try to make some money with this. I already have a couple of ranchers interested. I just want it to work when I go out to do it, and not have any nasty surprises.

Steve

[Red Green]

"SteveB" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Take a cell phone if they work there. Hopefully you still in shape enough to call!

[SteveB]

Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right.

Henry Ford

[gpsman]

They still make M-44s...

-----

- gpsman