Now the groundhog is in trouble

[MontyJ]

Give him the death penalty!

http://blog.al.com/wire/2013/03/punxsutawney_phil_taking_heat.html

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

his prediction rate is worse than a weatherman/meteorologist! it's about time someone put his fat little behind on a spit and roasted him!

 

[MeggsyGardenGirl]

And here I thought I'd find some handy tips to rid my garden of a voracious groundhog that mowed down too many veggies last year. But noooooo. You all have to taunt me with images of that infamous groundhog that got it all wrong. Again. It snowed again here this morning and my cold frames haven't gotten much higher than 55 degrees on a sunny day, and then only for a few minutes before plunging down toward freezing. Aaaaarg!

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

oooh, i have a tip. put a fence around the garden. when you spook the rodent as it's munching on something it will run into the fence and not know what stopped it's forward motion. i took one out when this happened a few summers ago. as gruesome as it sounds i whacked her with a garden hoe. my neighbor took the rest of her family out after catching them in the trap. i think between me and the neighbor we scared off the 5th one and haven't seen any groundhog damage since!

 

[MeggsyGardenGirl]

oooh, i have a tip. put a fence around the garden. when you spook the rodent as it's munching on something it will run into the fence and not know what stopped it's forward motion. i took one out when this happened a few summers ago. as gruesome as it sounds i whacked her with a garden hoe. my neighbor took the rest of her family out after catching them in the trap. i think between me and the neighbor we scared off the 5th one and haven't seen any groundhog damage since!

HA! I'd love to get a chance to whack one with my garden hoe, or better yet a sledge hammer...well, no, not really. But I would like to figure out how to trap one. Can't tempt it into our have-a-heart no matter how we bait it. Any tips there?

 

[MontyJ]

Bait it with lettuce, apples and tomatoes. That works well for me when I'm not shooting them.

 

[lesa]

The bait that mine seem to fall for every time, is a leaf from a sunflower. If that doesn't work, I use cantaloupe. I figure use whatever they are munching on in the garden- I let them choose. So far, it has worked! I find them to be very stupid and easy to trap. If I put the trap at the opening of the fence (where they are digging under) they walk right in.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I had a problem with one last summer. He always saw me before I saw him and was long gone before I could get the shotgun loaded. Then one day I saw him first......

A neighbor used overripe peaches and trapped some. He also build a low fence that formed a funnel to the opening to the trap from the den opening. Not sure what worked better, the funnel or the peach.

 

[MeggsyGardenGirl]

Okey Dokey...lettuce, apples, tomatoes, sunflower leaves, cantaloupe, peaches, shotgun...check, check, check, check, check, check, check. And building a funnel to the trap is brilliant! If none of those ideas work, then I might as well save up to send the pest off to college, because he's way too smart for me. Thanks, all!

 

[hoodat]

I read on the news this morning that the charges had been dropped. I think the DA was just bored.