Spring must be here, saw my first woodchuck today. Does anyone have a solution other than shooting or gasing them to get rid of them? They have lots of other places to live, seem to prefer our old barn. But since we started being considerate and not letting the dogs run loose, we are overrun. My mother used to just shoot them, but I am not as good a shot, and those dang critters are not an easy kill. Thanks for any suggestions. Chris
I saw my first one a week ago. I like the target practice and found the .17 Hornady rimfire I got a couple years ago to be an excellent choice, but there are SO many holes out back this spring I have thought about gassing them, or whatever else is living in those holes....
Someone posted about ammonia and bleach dumped in the hole, but I'm not sure how to go about that. It seems like it would soak into the dirt if you just poured it in. Do you have any idea, Chris?
I only know that mixing bleach and ammonia makes a very unsafe substance! I have sticks that you light and put in the hole, plug the hole, and let the resulting gas do it's job. Guess I will have to search out the dens. At least that is easier in the spring! Chris
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I have sticks that you light and put in the hole, plug the hole, and let the resulting gas do it's job
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I didn't know they had such a thing. I'll have to look around for those. Thanks
Got these at a Meijer (grocery and everything else) store. They are back with the pest controls in the gardening section. Have also seen them at the local hardware, with the mole traps, etc. Hope we have a good hunting season! Chris
Don't try this without adult supervision:
Mix flowers of sulphur (powdered sulphur) and potassium nitrate (salt peter) and pack it in a paper tube made from a rolled up sheet of paper. I'm not going to do the math just now to get the EXACT proportions but use something like 75% potassium nitrate and 25% sulphur. You can fold the one end over before filling so the stuff stays in the tube. The other end can be crimped a bit.
You could light one of these with a propane torch or you can make a fuse by soaking a piece of cotton string in a solution of potassium nitrate and drying it thoroughly. Dry your fuse horizontally for even results. Stick the fuse down into the tube an inch or two so it will contact the contents when burning and give yoiurself a few inches of fuse on the outside too. This fuse will not be nearly as fast as fireworks fuses which have black powder in them. This sort of fuse is called a "SLOW MATCH."
You can regulate the speed of the "slow match" by varying the concentration of the nitrate solution where more nitrate is faster burning (my personal pref is for pretty fast as it is hotter too.)
Be careful, be very careful that you don't have any part of your or anyone elses anatomy near or under the device as it may send out sparks and or drip come molten burning sulphur which is not fun if it hits bare skin or your clothing which it may burn through.
Anyway the deal is that the burning sulphur produces a large volume of sulphur dioxide gas which is poisonous. The nitrate is an oxidizer and provides oxygen to allow burning the sulphur in a confined space where insufficient "air" wold be available. It also burns the sulphur a lot faster making a quicker job of it.
To use one of these "Rodent Bombs" yo have to open up a holel into the rodent tunnel and place the device inside and cover the hole. I use a piece of scrap plywood and dirt. IF you can get the fuse lit and then using a stick, push the device a ways down the hole you can cover the opening with dirt but without putting the dirt directly on the fuse which may put it out.
If you are really wanting to optimize the mixture, make one to burn where you can watch it (standing upwind) and see if there is a lot of left over sulphur or maybe no sulphur but lots of little colored balls of melted nitrate. Adjust your ratio to try to get no left over sulphur AND not a lot of left over nitrate. If you get a lot of both left over then most likely you aren't mixing the stuff very well. Do not use a mortar and pestle or blender as the heat of friction could possibly light the stuff. This is what the commercial stuff is make of. You can add water to make a paste to pack it in the tubes better but then you have to have a safe way to dry it like placing in the sun and waiting a long time. I have used glycerine but a little cooking oil might be worth trying, just enough to help pack it in the tube.
When you use one of these, look around for smoke/vapor coming out of the ground. The rodent tunnels usually have multiple entry/exit points. Cover over any "smokers" with a shovel full of dirt and stomp it down. If you add just a couple percent of confectioners sugar there will be a lot more smoke produced so it is easy to find "hidden" portals. Stay under 5% or so of confectioners sugar as potassium nitrate and confectioners sugar are the two ingredients of a low grade rocket fuel.
Potassium nitrate is available at the garden department of most big box stores. It is sold for stump remover. The sulphur is used for dusting roses. Alternatively Chilean saltpeter sodium nitrate may be used. Think high nitrate fertilizer. I hope the CIA or Homeland Security guys don't tap my phones for mentioning any of this stuff as it would be a waste of taxpayer money.
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
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<font color="black"> </font color> Thanks, Pat, but I am 53, and about as adult as I plan to get! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] My mom is now 86, but in her time she was a crack shot! Your home-made formula sounds very similar to the "gas sticks" I purchased. Now I just have to scout out those holes. Thanks, again, Chris
lovethesticks, Your store bought gas sticks are fine and my homebrew is essentially the same thing. I balked at the prices for the store bought stuff at a local feed store so I made my own knockoff. It isn't rocket science. Well, I guess it almost is since the formula runs around the edges of a simple rocket fuel and black powder. Made anywhere reasonably close to my instructions and it will not explode, yet I would not recommend holding it in your hand while it is burning since dripping molten burning sulphur is nasty stuff to get on you as trying to wipe it off just spreads the fire on your skin. This is one of the things the defenders of a besieged castles used to pour on the attackers, molten on fire sulphur.
I can take my wife to dinner on the differeence in cost of a batch of my home brew versus the store bought. Yes, it is a cheap date but worth it.
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
Thought they would be about the same, but I'm not handy that way. But I do appreciate the info, will pass it on to my son, perhaps he will mix it up. Have a great date! Chris
Just an alternative method of gathering the woodchucks.
Southern parts of Alberta and Saskatewan have large colonies of Ground Squirels [ we call them gophers ] .
It has been claimed that some people have made use of vacum trucks to suck them from their burrows and deposit them at another location.
Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
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