# How do we get rid of pesky groundhogs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 3, 2009, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-get-rid-of-pesky-groundhogs/495173 "2009-05-03T14:24:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MizQuirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/94ad74/32.png) [@MizQuirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizQuirk)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-get-rid-of-pesky-groundhogs/495173/1 "2009-05-03T14:24:41Z")
In Ohio, a friend’s house is in a lightly wooded area and the yard is becoming overrun with these creatures. They’re trying to invade the house too. Hate the thought of trying to kill them some way, but please, what’s a single woman to do? ---
**Author:** ![Wallflower](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Wallflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallflower)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-get-rid-of-pesky-groundhogs/495173/2 "2009-05-03T14:34:01Z")
I don’t think this will help you a whole lot, but it is hilariously funny. [Classic Dope thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=15906). This was my introduction to the Dope. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-get-rid-of-pesky-groundhogs/495173/3 "2009-05-03T17:34:31Z")
> [@Wallflower](#): > > I don’t think this will help you a whole lot, but it is hilariously funny. [Classic Dope thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=15906). This was my introduction to the Dope. Bingo. That thread is why I ponied up the $15 to join. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-get-rid-of-pesky-groundhogs/495173/4 "2009-05-03T17:55:54Z")
Hmmm…here’s some things I’ve done in my Ohio home to get rid of them… 1. Let the dog kill 2 of them. 2. Let the neighbor shoot them with a bb gun. 3. Let something else kill it and then have some extremely large birds feast on it for 4 days in view of all other groundhogs. 4. Dig a trench around the garden and put up landscaping boards plus a fence. 5. Get rid of places around the yard for groundhogs to hide (waste piles, wood piles) Still not sure how much “rid” of them we are, but I don’t see them grazing in the yard as much as I used to. Persistent little buggers, tho! ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-get-rid-of-pesky-groundhogs/495173/5 "2009-05-03T23:18:21Z")
Get a [havahart trap](http://www.havahart.com/). I trapped a bunch in my yard and relocated them far from people. I used apple slices for bait. Or shoot them. A BB gun is not sufficient to do anything except inflict unnecessarily cruel wounds. A .22 long rifle would be the minimum I’d use (and good marksmanship) for a clean kill. Here’s Havahart’s page on [groundhog control](http://www.havahart.com/advice/critter-library/groundhog-control) ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-get-rid-of-pesky-groundhogs/495173/6 "2009-05-03T23:20:38Z")
Use a 410 gauge shotgun or rottweiler. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-get-rid-of-pesky-groundhogs/495173/7 "2009-05-03T23:28:18Z")
Theoretically you could kill a groundhog with a .410 but it wouldn’t be my choice. Ground hogs are tough, you need something with penetration. Maybe .410 slugs, if they make those. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-get-rid-of-pesky-groundhogs/495173/8 "2009-05-03T23:56:00Z")
Here is a friend’s favorite groundhog remedy. I only recommend this if their tunnels are nowhere near your house. Mix equal parts powdered sugar and quick-set concrete mix in a ziplock bag and drop it down one of their holes. They’ll eat the mix and the concrete will set in their stomachs and kill them, but they’ll most likely die underground. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-get-rid-of-pesky-groundhogs/495173/9 "2009-05-04T00:03:56Z")
> [@Wallflower](#): > > I don’t think this will help you a whole lot, but it is hilariously funny. [Classic Dope thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=15906). This was my introduction to the Dope. Any idea why the OP’s name doesn’t show up in that thread ? Or is it just with me for some reason ? ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-get-rid-of-pesky-groundhogs/495173/10 "2009-05-04T01:06:44Z")
Just one of those mysteries of the conversions we are not meant to know. 🙂 For those who don’t already know, the author is Scylla, still active but now a guest, which may have something to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-get-rid-of-pesky-groundhogs/495173/11 "2009-05-04T01:26:33Z")
By the way they just burned down an old house infested with groundhogs under the floors. It got rid of them. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-get-rid-of-pesky-groundhogs/495173/12 "2009-05-04T01:43:57Z")
Groundhogs are not sensitive creatures. A rotting groundhog corpse of one of their own will not concern them. There’s a story in one of Michael Pollan’s books where he is attempting to discourage/kill groundhogs, and stuffs a recent groundhog corpse into the entrance of a burrow. The occupant merely tunneled around it and went on his merry way. Pollan later tried pouring gasoline down the burrow and igniting it, discovering the hard way that flame seeks a source of oxygen, which in this case was at the entrance to the burrow where he was standing, not the burrow itself. I have relocated these beasts caught in a Havahart trap. They are nasty chittering rodent slobs. To keep them from getting onto the property you’d need a secure fence with at least six inches of it underground, of a material they cannot chew through, or a couple keen dogs on patrol, or yourself on patrol with a weapon (which the neighbors would no doubt love). ---
**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:** [May 4, 2009, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-get-rid-of-pesky-groundhogs/495173/13 "2009-05-04T02:54:41Z")
I can confirm that A Havahart trap baited with apple is effective. More effective is a Havahart trap, a slice of apple and a .22 rifle. They are a lot easier to hit when they are actually in the trap. This is not a sport: groundhogs are destructive. Once they start tunneling around building foundations your troubles are just beginning. ---
**Author:** ![MizQuirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/94ad74/32.png) [@MizQuirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizQuirk)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-get-rid-of-pesky-groundhogs/495173/14 "2009-05-04T03:05:51Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Any idea why the OP’s name doesn’t show up in that thread ? Or is it just with me for some reason ? Do you mean the OP in this thread–me? That thread seems to be from 2000, and my friend wasn’t newly widowed then and in need of help with groundhogs. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-get-rid-of-pesky-groundhogs/495173/15 "2009-05-04T03:17:34Z")
Groundhog! Groundhog! Stand, Old Ivy, stand firm and strong. Grand Old Ivy, hear the cheering throng. Stand, Old Ivy, and never yield. Rip, rip, rip the chipmunk off the field. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-get-rid-of-pesky-groundhogs/495173/16 "2009-05-04T03:22:37Z")
Two words: Caddy. Shack. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-get-rid-of-pesky-groundhogs/495173/17 "2009-05-04T12:18:26Z")
> [@MizQuirk](#): > > but please, what’s a single woman to do? A single woman in the Dallas area should be able to do a whole lot better than groundhogs. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-get-rid-of-pesky-groundhogs/495173/18 "2009-05-04T12:48:33Z")
I have had rodent smoke bombs work for me. Wait until after dark drop one or two in their holes and forget about it.