"Ignoramus13320" wrote in message
...
On 2010-06-18, Ed Huntress wrote:

"Ignoramus13320" wrote in message
...
On 2010-06-18, Ed Huntress wrote:

"Ignoramus13320" wrote in message
...
I think that he lives under a porch. It is furry and the size of a
big cat.

http://igor.chudov.com/Animal/

i

Groundhog (woodchuck).

http://www.frugalyankee.com/files/groundhog_main.jpg

http://mypunchbowl.files.wordpress.c.../groundhog.jpg

I have a recipe for woodchuck in sour cream, from the old Gourmet
magazine,
should you need it. g


I tried eating squirrel, it was disgusting. I prefer chicken.

i

I remember that you said that. You just need better recipes. d8-)

As for whether it's a "bad animal," the biggest problem they cause is
that
they dig some God-awful holes and tunnels. If he's living under your
porch
(is that what I read?), expect his main hole to be somewhere under there.
Look for a little hill of dirt alongside the hole. Then there may be
another
hole into the tunnel, if he's had enough time to dig it.

I have a lot of them; they dig up into the dirt floor of my garage. I
also
have a huge, single-ended Havahart trap that I use to catch them. Bait
with
a slice of apple. Then I haul them to a county park where the local
animal-control people told me to take them. There must be a 'chuck every
10
feet in that park. g

If you're thinking about shooting them with your air rifle, I'd advise
against it. They are remarkably tough and difficult to kill. A .22 Long
Rifle is considered inadequate, except with a head shot.

I've killed well over 200 of them, with centerfire .22-caliber varmint
rifles. In fact, woodchucks are the target which many of those wildcat
cartridges were designed for.


I cannot use anything bigger (louder) than .22.

Sounds like havahart is the way to go.

i

Make sure it's a BIG one. They don't like to be crowded. I have a 1079,
which also is good for trapping stray cats and raccoons. You can get away
with one that's slightly smaller.

Or, if you have a tablesaw, find a plan for a wooden box trap online and
make it a project with your son. My son was about 9 or 10 when we made one.
He loved it. He caught four or five squirrels with it and was the big man of
the neighborhood. g

Unfortunately, chucks don't seem to like wooden traps with solid sides. I
made ours with slatted sides, having been through that before. It worked
fine on chucks but it was a lot of ripping with the tablesaw. I screwed it
together with deck screws and it held up for years. Then someone gave me the
Havahart and that's what I use now.

--
Ed Huntress