Groundhog problems...

I just purchased a home and have discovered that it has a major groundhog problem. My backyard looks like swiss cheese! I am buying a havahart trap and the groundhog deterent that they sell. My only issue is what to do with the groundhog after I've trapped it. In NY one is not allowed to transport an animal without a license, so relocation is out. According to NY State, the suggested method is euthanization (since these are vermin). In trying to think about ways to get this done, I thought about the use of a BB Gun -- Has anyone had experience at dispatching groundhogs (at close range) with an air pistol? Is it doable?

Reply to
youaregreat
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Most folks I know shoot 'em with either rifles or shotgune and they don't go down easy. Forget an air rifle or a BB gun as you'll just have a pissed off groudnhog on your hands.

Call the local animal control folks and let them deal with it.

Loki

Reply to
Loki

rifle or shotgun are out. Illegal.

Animal control will cost me each time.... I've got a lot of groundhogs to deal with. It could get costly.

Even at point blank range an air pistol won't work?

Reply to
youaregreat

Nope. They're honery critters.

Loki

Reply to
Loki

Use the have a heart, trap them and take them a few miles away. I'm in NY too and despite the law I'm not paying some load to catch and rid me of these things. I got rid of 4 last year. Just drive somewhere wooded away from houses, etc. and let them out. I put mine on the passenger side seat with the head end facing the door. I pull over, open the door, lift the gate on the door site and the little bastards fly out and into the woods. Whole thing takes a few seconds. I cover the trap to keep it calm and cover again when done and drive home.

Reply to
Johnny Borborigmi

I use Hav-a-hart and transport to park. Transporting in trunk of car, you will probably not be caught, and I cannot imagine getting into serious trouble if caught.

One of my neighbors traps them but puts trap in garbage can and drowns them. Another neighbor shoots with his .22.

Reply to
Frank

A spring piston air rifle is plenty strong enough to kill a groundhog, particularly at close range in a trap. A .22 rifle or pistol may be as cheap or cheaper and you can use the low power, low noise, CB long cartridge to kill the groundhog. When you move the animal somewhere else it will die over the winter anyway as the disruption of digging a new burrow and finding food interupts the buildup of a winter fat supply. If you are a gardener a good groundhog is a dead groundhog.

Reply to
Butzmark

Sounds like trap and release is the suggested method.

.22 is out - not legal.

I had a friend that used the drowning method on rats that ended up in his trap. They were a lot smaller than groundhogs.... The truth is that drowning gives me the creeps more than a quick headshot....

Reply to
youaregreat

"Frank" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@e56g2000cwe.googlegroups.com:

hefty fine. seriously, no one wants you freaking problem foisted off on them. if you think they are a pest in your yard, why do you want to move them to someone elses property? just kill it & be done with it.

that's the sensible solution. even in a suburb i don't see why a point blank shot to the head of a trapped groundhog would be illegal. it's not like you're shooting into the air. i know guns are illegal in NYC, and shooting within X yards of a dwelling, but you would be shooting down towards the ground. it's not like you could accidentally hit something besides the trapped groundhog. i'd discuss that option with the local PD & animal control. lee

Reply to
enigma

put into large garbage bag, put in chunks of dry ice, squeeze the air out and the CO2 will kill them. Ingrid

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Reply to
dr-solo

I feel the same way. I like to hunt but don't kill non-game animals and don't like to see them suffer. I have taken a couple of groundhogs while bow hunting for deer. Ate a small one - tasted like chicken. Larger one actually bit my foot as I was retrieving arrow. Fortunately boot leather was not pierced. I mention this because trapped animals can get very nasty. I've transported squirrels, groundhogs, possums and raccoons to park. Some are docile but others are in a frenzy. Keep them in trap in trunk - just imagine what would happen if they got loose in the car ;)

Frank

Reply to
Frank

Are you for real? How is one supposed to get the groundhog into a large garbage bag? Trap and all? Those traps are too big and awkward to handle that way. Without the trap? I hope the OP likes rabies shots, tetanus shots, sundry other shots, wound debridement and suturing, medical bills AND the fine for disposing of a wild animal illegally.

Reply to
Pennyaline

OK -- So, how about an Air Rifle (1000 fps or the like) at point blank range?

RE-the garbage bag idea/dry ice -- I thought of garbage back and piping in the exhaust of my car:-)

Reply to
youaregreat

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@y43g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

NO!!!!! trap & release is not suggested (except by complete idiots that know nothing about wildlife). first, if you don't want it, then no one else wants the problem either. second, trap & release is a slow death to the animal, who will be in a strange location & need to dig a burrow/find a home, won't know where food is & will likely have to fight a resident animal for it anyway. third, you don't know what diseases the animal may be a carrier of & you will be transporting those diseases to a new area, where the local population may not have immunity. there are *reasons* trap & release elsewhere are illegal & carry fines. just shoot the trapped animal in the head, pointblank, with an air rifle & long point.

fine, use an air rifle. i've used one on a fox. they aren't tougher than groundhogs.

it's less humane than a headshot. besides, do you have a bucket big enough to get the entire live trap submerged?

lee

Reply to
enigma

You and I are on the same wavelength about trap/release - hence my questions.

I think air rifle is the way to go.

RE: Drowning -- a garbage pail is what I had in mind, not a bucket.

Thanks!

enigma wrote:

Reply to
youaregreat

I often tell folks that I transport the groundhogs to more affluent neighborhoods where they will be better off ;) Frank

Reply to
Frank

I heard a story about a guy that spraypainted the critters he caught with funky colors before dropping them off in more affluent neighborhoods.

Reply to
youaregreat

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

oh, good. i know that trap & release *sounds* like it's humane, but it's really not.

how big is your trap? my bigger Hav-a-Hart won't completely fit in a normal size garbage pail. it'd fit a small coyote though, so it's pretty big for groundhogs. drowning is fairly quick, but i don't like doing it. lee

Reply to
enigma

Drowning is NOT quick and it is certainly not humane. I don't care how much the little bastard is inconveniencing you!

If you do choose to drown an animal, you are hereby cursed to be rendered motionless at the animal's side with your eyes riveted on it through the entire time, able to neither turn away nor avert your gaze. And then, when it's all over, I curse you with the memory of an elephant.

What animal could possibly be bothering you THAT MUCH?

Reply to
Pennyaline

From a personal experience: I put a trap out in the morning and when I came home after work; the captured groundhog was dead. The trap was in the sun and the g'hog couldn't take the heat. Maybe, that's why they live in those nice cool tunnels.... :-b

enigma wrote in article ...

Reply to
TomC

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