Crash! Boom! Ouch! The sounds of spring are not so peaceful when you hit a groundhog hole while driving in a field or pasture. Ohio’s largest member of the squirrel family is quite the engineer when excavating dens.
Groundhog dens include a nest chamber, a bathroom chamber, and usually two entry holes. The main entry hole is where the tractor axle integrity gets tested. The main hole includes a pile of excavated dirt, sometimes referred to as a front porch. Here, groundhogs will often stand on their back legs and survey their territory. This heaved pile in front of a lower entry hole is what makes unknowingly driving over one a turbulent experience.
In addition to tractor turbulence, groundhogs can cause extensive damage to row crops like corn and soybeans. An adult groundhog needs to eat more than one pound of vegetation each day. Freshly sprouted soybeans are a delicacy, and it takes a lot of soybean leaves to make a pound. This is evidenced by areas of bare ground in soybean fields that can often be measured in acres. Hayfields and pastures can see the same type of damage.
A side effect of groundhog activity is the expansion or introduction of unwanted plant species in the absence of crops or forage. It is common to see noxious weeds such as common burdock and poison hemlock growing in the disturbed area near a den. Of course, groundhogs do not feed on common burdock or poison hemlock.
Groundhogs also have an affinity for excavating dens under structures. Structures such as barns or shops provide cover from the weather and a more stable den. Perhaps a vegetable garden is located next to the shop, and the edge of a soybean field is a few yards away, now habitat conditions are ideal for groundhogs. Some groundhog management to prevent damage probably needs to take place in this scenario.
Enter the varmint hunter. Growing up on a dairy farm in Loudonville, OH, I’ve conducted my fair share of groundhog management as did hunters my dad allowed on the farm’s pastures, hay fields, and soybean/corn fields. Year after year, many groundhogs were removed via rifle and year after year there were just as many groundhogs. One day, as a teenager, I was bottle feeding calves and a car pulled up the farm lane. The carload of hunters was excited to tell me that they had shot several groundhogs in a hayfield. They told me to tell my dad, “You’re welcome,” implying they had done a huge service and possibly saved our family farm. Predictably, next summer the same number of groundhogs were seen sitting on their “porches” in front of their holes.
Hunters should not be disparaged, but what should be pointed out is that it is hard to shoot your way out of a groundhog problem. It is one piece to the puzzle, not the solution. Several methods need to be integrated to reduce damage caused by groundhogs. In the professional wildlife damage management world, this is called Integrated Wildlife Damage Management. Think of it like this: there is no silver bullet that will solve the problem. Usually, a few methods need to be implemented to achieve the best results.
A proper groundhog management program includes treatments with rodent gas cartridges. These are pyrotechnic fumigants that produce carbon monoxide when burnt. To use, a fuse is placed into the cartridge and ignited, the cartridge is then placed deep into the den or burrow, with all the entrances tightly sealed with soil/sod to prevent the gas from escaping. Ideally, the dens are marked with flagging and inspected 7-10 days after treatment to assess the success. If holes are found unsealed, they can be retreated with another gas cartridge or trapping efforts using body-grip style traps. Supplemental shooting during gas cartridge applications or trap checking is a great way to integrate multiple methods.
Gas cartridges cannot be used in or around structures such as barns because of the risk of fire. This limits groundhog removal to trapping and shooting but it does open an opportunity for another management method, exclusion. This is the most expensive and time-consuming method, but it is the closest thing to a silver bullet available. Installing a buried apron made of hardware cloth or chicken wire around the perimeter of the barn or concrete will exclude groundhogs from digging under the structure or into the barn.
Integrating management strategies like gas cartridges, trapping, shooting, and exclusion will yield the best results and ensure less turbulent times on the tractor. Contact 866-487-3297 for more information on groundhog damage management and purchasing rodent gas cartridges from USDA Wildlife Services’ Pocatello Supply Depot.
Thomas Butler is with the USDA Wildlife Services
This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Groundhogs causing damage? Here’s how to manage them
Reporting by Thomas Butler, Special to the Times-Gazette / Ashland Times Gazette
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