# Help me get rid of this woodchuck. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 8, 2005, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-rid-of-this-woodchuck/320650 "2005-09-08T13:48:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mr.Roboto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@Mr.Roboto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Roboto)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-rid-of-this-woodchuck/320650/41 "2005-09-10T18:42:15Z")
How about a Ferret? I live at the Beach and have only seen Woodchucks in the movies or in Books. I have no expierience with Ferrets but I understand they will travel through the burrow and drive the Woody out…Possibly into a cage for transport to a Wooded area? It doesn’t get any better than this! ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-rid-of-this-woodchuck/320650/42 "2005-09-10T22:10:07Z")
> [@Mr. Roboto](#): > > How about a Ferret? > I live at the Beach and have only seen Woodchucks in the movies or in Books. > > I have no expierience with Ferrets but I understand they will travel through the burrow and drive the Woody out…Possibly into a cage for transport to a Wooded area? > > It doesn’t get any better than this! Ferrets are too small to kill a woodchuck. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-rid-of-this-woodchuck/320650/43 "2005-09-11T01:09:11Z")
> [@Mr. Roboto](#): > > How about a Ferret? > I live at the Beach and have only seen Woodchucks in the movies or in Books. > > I have no expierience with Ferrets but I understand they will travel through the burrow and drive the Woody out…Possibly into a cage for transport to a Wooded area? > > It doesn’t get any better than this! Have you seen a ferret? As Bosda says, woodchucks and ferrets are not remotely similar in size nor temperament, and I fear the woody will eat the ferret alive. Ferrets can be clever and sneaky, but I don’t think they’ll be great in a fight with a creature 20 pounds or more heavier than them. ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-rid-of-this-woodchuck/320650/44 "2005-09-11T03:38:05Z")
If you are not willing to keep a large dog then your best bet is a live trap. A slice of apple is good bait and will attract a woodchuck/groundhog even after is dries out. Once in the trap the problem is disposal. I just shoot them, but I live in a rural area where there are no “citified” restrictions on discharge of firearms. You maybe assured that groundhogs are tough animals. Generally it takes two in the ear to make sure the creature is truly eliminated. I suppose you could take it out in the country and dump it but you need to worry about, first, how the guy you are dumping the animal on is likely to accept an unsolicited addition to his wildlife inventory, and, second, just how you are going to safely extract a frightened 20 or 30 pound, frightened rodent with very big teeth and an instinct for self preservation from a live trap. My vote is to live trap the destructive vermin, take in out into a rural area and shoot it in the trap then dump the carcass for the benefit of all the local carrion eaters. Liquid and smoke poisons are just too dangerous to use in a populated area or where there are household pets who are as likely to take poisoned bait as the animal you are after. A .22 caliber piston is ideal for administering the coupes d’ gras. ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-rid-of-this-woodchuck/320650/45 "2005-09-11T03:41:09Z")
Am I the only person who is amused by all the folks who aren’t reading the thread? For the reading impaired: The woodchuck was caught! ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-rid-of-this-woodchuck/320650/46 "2005-09-11T05:11:42Z")
So what? There are other chucks out there all set to lick somebody’s tires. I’m an old Boy Scout and Being Prepared with the vast panoply of solutions to a woodchuck problem, final or not, is in my interest, and I assume that of others. People, do not forget that just because he was alive when you caught him doesn’t mean you have to keep him alive. A live trap can also serve as a fine mechanism for keeping Chuck still if your aim is unsteady because of stong drink. A head shot will leave a fine pelt. ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-rid-of-this-woodchuck/320650/47 "2005-09-11T12:49:39Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > People, do not forget that just because he was alive when you caught him doesn’t mean you have to keep him alive. A live trap can also serve as a fine mechanism for keeping Chuck still if your aim is unsteady because of stong drink. A head shot will leave a fine pelt. My point, precisely. Groundhogs are destructive and prolific animals. Wait until a colony commences undermining your buildings or until you walk out some fine morning and find a brown, furry bowling ball actually reclining on the lettice while eating the Brussel sprouts. Wait until you find a litter of groundhog babies frolicking among the nasturtiums. Their burrows cause expensive damage to harvesting equipment and are traps for livestock. To paraphrase Uncle Billy Sherman, the only good groundhog is a dead groundhog. Don’t get me started on squirrels – rats with furry tails and hell on song birds – or feral cats. ---
**Author:** ![drhess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@drhess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drhess)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-rid-of-this-woodchuck/320650/48 "2005-09-11T18:04:19Z")
Are we talking woodchuck or groundhog? I thought groundhogs were just a bit bigger than chipmunks (see photos of both at [http://www.dougrhess.com/newmexico2005.htm](http://www.dougrhess.com/newmexico2005.htm) the chimpmunks have the pointed snout). My parents love feeding them at my uncle’s cabin, but want to shoot them in their own yard in WI. Are the groundhogs in WI as “trainable” as the ones in NM? I know they have different stripe/spot patterns, and are smaller. Personally, the way to get rid of them is liquid amonia (used cat liter?) down the hole and then clog it up (after the vacuation). Maybe you can use a pipe to stick one end in the hole and pour the amonia down in it and/or later stones/gravel/dirt? : ) [yes, i know the critter was caught, whatever it was.] ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-rid-of-this-woodchuck/320650/49 "2005-09-11T20:24:13Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Now you’ve to eat him - It’s nature’s WAY! Now throw out or better yet bury the “tasty”? meat and eat the plate! ---
**Author:** ![JXJohns](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jxjohns/32/469_2.png) [@JXJohns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JXJohns)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-rid-of-this-woodchuck/320650/50 "2005-09-11T20:39:26Z")
[QUOTE=drhess] Are we talking woodchuck or groundhog? [/QUOT [Woodchuck](http://toadstool.se/journal/snapshots/644-thumb.jpg) [Groundhog](http://www.hoghaven.com/pics/groundhog_family.jpg) I’ve always interchanged the names for the same animal. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-rid-of-this-woodchuck/320650/51 "2005-09-12T12:42:56Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > A head shot will leave a fine pelt. And every women I’ve ever met would just love to snuggle up against a warm, furry groundhog pelt. Yep. Second only to Opossum. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-get-rid-of-this-woodchuck/320650.md?page=2)