I finally got to see a groundhog under my above ground basement steps (coming out the top) and I am seeing a big hole under my deck. I think this is two different groundhogs. I want these darn things gone. I have a big hold going down below my stairs. Unfortunately I live in the suburban and cannot shoot anything. What are some ways to eliminate this varmint?? Will air rifle do this if its shot like 10 yards away? May have to buy a bow to do the deed but I do not bow hunt. My son has wanted a bow or cross bow but he will have to become proficient quickly. My wife read where you can catch one in a cage with a slice of cantaloupe but he I like cantalopes too! BTW my son said it looks well fed and fat so I guess its eating well on my expense! Any ideas?

Buy yourself a bag with individually wrapped pieces of bubble gum. Put on clean disposable rubber gloves. Open the bag of bubble gum and remove the wrapper from 6-8 pieces of gum and throw them in and around the hole(s). Then dump 10-15 pieces of wrapped buble gum in and around the holes. The groundhogs will eat the gum. It plugs up their intestines and they will die. They may stink for a bit when they die in their holes. Cover the holes for a while to stop the smell for a couple weeks.

Bow or air gun. Poison or torturing the things is not necessary

They like it under my back deck. I've trapped from one to four a year until this year. (None showed up this year) I'm in a suburban area so no guns, didn't want to risk an air rifle wounded chuck from dying under the deck, so went to live traps. And yes, cantaloupe is the best bait.

Get a decent quality trap. My first live trap was a cheap version from tractor supply. An adult groundhog was able to get its claws around the edge of the door and bend it enough to get out. Went to havahart traps after that. The groundhogs get a one way trip to the country afterwards, sometimes with a .22 pistol along so they don't become someone else's problem (sometimes a .380!)

And don't leave the traps set overnight if there are any skunks in the neighborhood!

Not in to torture either. I never use poison, it does not discriminate. Sometimes, there is no other way.

I find them tasty, fried up like squirrel.

If you have a .22 rifle that will shoot longs try some CCI CB Longs. They are silent out of my Marlin 39. Nobody will hear it, just watch your backstop.

LMFAO.

One word, carbon monoxide.

A good live trap is the way to go.

Your local Animal Control Agent will set a box-trap with bait in it, and will remove the critter to a release area in the country.

Jim

By the way, don't get caught trapping and moving one in Virginia by yourself - it's illegal to relocate them. You can kill them, but you're supposed to hire a permitted pest controller to relocate them. Go figure. So I take a gun and the woodchuck out somewhere I can shoot.

That's funny. Where I live it takes 45 minutes to get a response from law enforcement, it you get one at all. The usual response is: we can't get to you, shelter in place. There's missouri, and then there's MISSOURI.

Decon or other mouse poison is easy and gets rid of other rodents too!

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Check out Golden Malrin flybait/soda. But it is illegal to use in this way and extremely deadly.
You will find anything that drinks it within a couple feet. Again it will kill anything that gets into it.

Amish guy near us used that flybait stuff to get rid of a coon that was tearing things up. Found 18 coons dead laying in his yard the next morning lol

yes, they die right there. A co worker got rid of a bunch of chicken killing coons.
Last week, something was starting trouble again. He set out a pan of medicine,
come morning it was all gone. No victims. No idea what could drink that, and leave.

Actually, it's two. Must be some of that new common core math 🤔

That's why I rarely use poison or traps, and suggested the bubblegum. AFAIK, it doesn't kill other stuff. Your co-worker has no idea of what he killed. Like I said, the bullet is the best, but not always possible.

CB caps out of a 22 LR bolt gun will be less loud than a BB gun. Groundhogs are crepuscular. They feed at dawn and dusk. They also have lousy eyesight. Put on your turkey hunting duds and go sit in the yard, at sunrise and sunset and hunt the booger. I kept my yard clean of chipmunks for years that way.

My problem is , sometimes they are tearing the place up, but I just don't have time to sit there day and night to wait and kill them, or I don't want to damage my other property where I may have to shoot.

Buy a couple of #3 steel traps and hide them under some loose dirt where they are going under your stuff or a 330 conibear trap.. They are a lot of stink if they rot under your house from poison or a shot that lets them get away. I am speaking from first hand experience. They stink so bad it will make you want to burn the house down to get rid of the smell. They are fairly smart once they see one in a trap and will dig it out and flip the trap over.

Sorry for getting back online since I posted this first message. My computer's Malwarebytes application went haywire and I stayed off the computer mostly because all of this schit malware floating around and us using CC to buy stuff I did not want to compromise my CC and other stuff.

Anyway for the GH...I saw at least two (one bugger than the other) but this past few days they did not show up. Not sure if something got them or what? Normally they come out in the mornings and the evenings. But it is raining today so I doubt they will come out. They are and can be quick if you open the sliding door. I have decided I will shoot my rimfire and will go to the range and verify it is spot on at 25 yards. I will shoot them from my bedroom window on the second floor of the house and since it will be pointing down probably 30 degrees I think I will be safe. I know this will not be a range shooting outing but one shot I think I can nail this sucker and be done with it. I see them out from my kitchen window fairly regularly. And I have seen fox just outside my yard so I know those foxes and other predators can get a GH.

Of course I'd like to get an air rifle but that is around $300 and RF is pretty cheap especially since we have several RF in the house. The reason why I post this question is because I know guys are shooting them with their 223/222 at a minimum and was wondering if the 22 RF will work but after thinking it over, at 25 yards the 22 RF will definitely work. A few years ago I fired a 22RF into a 2X6 weather treated board we have for our garden and if I remember correctly the RF bullet went in the board about 2" so that should be enough for DRT. I however need to kill them before winter sets in...and I rather not go to the poison method just in case they die in the hole and stink up my place. I need to verify if its still around but hard to do when I head to work. Hopefully on the weekend I can catch them ...

Not sure where in VA you live, but the more I think about this, the more I'm convinced a live trap is the smart solution. Other stuff might be legal where you live, but also might not, and even if it is, anything that could be perceived as cruel might get you in more trouble than you want. You don't want ANTIFA camped on your lawn over a woodchuck, or Channel 7!

If you can get a shot at him, I think the gun is the way to go. Poison and traps don't discrimminate. Only a person with the ability to reason with their finger on the trigger can do that. I'd rather not have to deal with releasing a non intended catch, or the consequences of a killled or maimed dog, cat , bird or anything else. You reasoning is sound to make sure you are dead nuts at that angle and range, and figure a way to quietly open the window to get a shot. Even if you trap it, you will have to shoot it in the trap, which is not that pleasant of a task. No one in their right mind will let you relocate it near them. I prefer my .17 WSM which I used to kill four groundhogs and a raccoon in the first month of owning it. The .22 ought to be up to the task at that short range, and as always, you use what you have. Everyones situation is different. I don't worry about neighbors on my 471 ac, but with how well you've thought it out, you have considred all these factors.

Have had the same situation more than once. Shot one with a .22 pistol out the kitchen window. 2 in the lungs. Shot a couple out the upstairs BR window with a .22. Head shots. Most recent one the Dog did the deed. There were 7 living on the bank by the driveway. Five now, a couple days ago cars got two. They come up in the yard and eat, sit on old stumps along the driveway and are fun to watch. They stay there, they only have the Dog and cars to worry about.

If the shooting circumstances or death concerned me, I would trap it. Take it down the road and turn it loose in the woods. They will like it there.

It's a Groundhog, not a nest of Rattlesnakes or a Black Bear hibernating under the porch. Which happens around here not infrequently. Bud had one in his garage, he did the deed with a ball peen hammer. Groundhog for clarification.

Not that big of a deal. Really.

Use a conibear 220 kill trap to get rid of that critter.

A local farmer said to throw a shovel of human feces into the hole, they will move out and not return. I practice SSS personally.

22 cb. Use regular rifle safety. Unless your neighbor is outside it won't bother anyone.

Catch it in a trap and feed it for a few days and they usually tame up fairly quick. You want a pet few others have, now is your chance.

I've caught cats and dogs in steel traps.Both were difficult to let go especially cats. None were maimed or had any broken bones.Their skin didn't appear to be broken either.
Just make sure if you shoot one that it doesn't go under the house and die.

Dog killed one last week that made it under the deck to die. Stunk for 3-4 days then it was gone.

Got one from under my barn yesterday.
Live trap with 1/4'd apples for bait.
Had him in less than 2 hours.
Now he sleeps down in the gully.

Live trap. Executions at dawn.

Fly bait works but you will kill anything and everything that eats/drinks it.

^^^ This. The cheapest & most humane way if you are doing it yourself. Otherwise call your local wildlife control person.