- Messages
- 4,479
- Location
- Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, USA
We have the same problem. Our home is too residential to do something. But we had a major issue with roof damage from some of the local tree rats. For firs time in my life I needed a BB Gun. Everything I had in the safe was just far too dangerous to shoot in our neighborhood. So I purchased a moderately high-end pellet rifle. The problem was solved but not before $600 in damage to the roof.
You might be able to get away with a pellet rifle. Not that they can't be dangerous. They most certainly can. But it's a far safer option than a 3006.
And I won't recommend this by any means but a buddy of mine who is a scientist has gassed these critters out. He went totally WWI one them and figured out a way to gas them in their trenches. Even he ran away from the toxin he created. Not sure what it was. But if he says it was dangerous then it was probably banned by The United Nations.
I've also had luck with traps from the local hardware store but I have no idea how far you have to take your critter away before it won't come back.
See, I worry about safety. We currently live on a 50 by 100 foot lot, surrounded by other lots of the same size. We've got kids who run through the yards, etc. Also, while I know a pellet gun isn't a "true" gun, it is illegal to discharge a firearm here under the town ordinance. I also live next to a cop and two houses down is a lady who calls the cops on everybody. (She also sues everybody she can, but that is another story.) So... I use a pellet gun somebody is going to know.
My problem woodchuck lives under a neighbor's shed, but they are all over the neighborhood. If I smoked one out with a woodchuck "bomb" it would be replaced by another one. There's probably five on this block alone. Besides that, the neighbors aren't interested in getting rid of them, even when I offered to do the dirty work. They don't have gardens.
So, the new place I will bomb them. We'll only be in the current house another year, then I'll wave bye-bye to Mr. Woodchuck.