Air rifle- ( less problems regs wise depending on your area) quiter ( some have anti noise devices factory installed) cheaper up front and what it likes to digest. there are several that push 14 gr pills out at 900 fps in .22, even from 30-40 yards out- that will do in a chuck. there are also .25 cal little more wack in those, same chassis. Chucks and coon are tough so the .25 might be a best bet. these are spring powered units - I have taken chucks and coons with .177 but do not recommend that as you need to have about perfect shot placement.
I was negligent this year - usually I trap out the parents early, mostly because they make a mess around the wood piles. So have never had them around attacking the gardens. Deer, peanut butter fence snaps them good and they're gone. 13line gophers, I try to plant early to beat the rush (of offspring) so things are up before they get them. But woodchucks, need to get on it early.
I'm not sure why it works, however, I have planted garlic, LOTs of it, in with broccoli and green beans. I don't get bothered with groundhogs or cabbage worms when I do that. I can't get around well, but I would dump garlic in their ground hole if I had access. My Miss Molly isn't any kind of hunter, but other dogs I've had would take care of groundhogs. Those vermin never stood a chance of getting out of the yard if the dogs got on their trail. My son's siberian husky doesn't like any wild animals in the yard. He has had a few nasty wounds from his encounters.
Lead poisoning seems to happen around my area a lot. The little woman isn't much for killing things but she is all out "kill everything that moves" when it comes to her garden. We try the natural stuff and the only thing that guarantees a non return to the garden is all natural lead...comes in a few varieties from about 20 some grains up to about 60 grains depending on the distance. I moved from a more cityish area to my current house out on the outskirts of the township... zoning seems to stop about 1/2 mile from my house, guns, burning, construction all seem to just go on without incident. I just wave to the local cops making their rounds and they just wave back. About my first month working on redoing my house, I was grilling out in the back yard and I here a pretty hefty boom of a high powered rifle... I peek around the corner of my house to the neighbors and see a groundhog thrashing about 50 yards from my house and I see an AR go back inside from the neighbor's upstairs window. He comes out a few minutes later with a beer in hand for me...introduces himself and hopes I wasn't surprised but he had been after that ground hog for the better part of the summer digging under his pool. Been a great neighbor ever since.
My buddy has a Jack Rustle that absolutely hates ground hogs. He has killed a few this year, including going into the hole after them and dragging them back out and killing them. He has been bloodied up a few times but he doesn't give up either. Also, if you grab the 22-250 by their deck door, he goes absolutely crazy until you shoot then he wants to go make sure whatever you shot is dead, or he will take care of it.
We had ground hogs last year and they first stripped my cucumber vines to last inch of the stem basically destroying them for that year. After that I started inspecting my tomato plants that were not thriving last year and looking closely I noticed that some critter had been carefully pruning them all along stunting their growth. I then borrowed my brothers Have-a-heart trap, but the darn things would not go inside. My neighbor across the street was having the same problem so I lent him my trap and in two weeks he caught about 5 squirrels and a skunk before catching a ground hog Then nothing after that. This year it happened once again about 3 weeks ago. The cucumber plants were decimated once and then again and so we made a makeshift fence out of that garden green plastic netting and corralled the cucumbers and tomato beds up with the stuff. Things have been ok since then and oddly enough about 4 days ago during this past heat wave there was a dead bloated ground hog in the street and it died in a position looking like it was on its way to my property. I am wondering what killed it..The heat? someone poisoning it? I live right off a golf course which is why I get so many critters, but perhaps they poisoned it...who knows? but hope it was the elusive punk eating my garden.
My buddy had a colony of them in one of his fields. They were making holes and mounds everywhere to the point he was getting worried he was going to have a horse break a leg. We set up shop under a shade tree about 75 yards away. Lawn chairs...tall bipods...rifles...cooler full of beverages and made a morning of it. Dusted 6 of them. Some of the best fun I ever had. When you relocate a critter one of two things is most likely going to happen. 1. It becomes somebody's else's problem and they kill them. 2. It dies anyway because it doesn't have shelter. Might as well kill them yourself because there's a good chance that's going to happen anyway.
Shoot, shovel, shuddup. Out in the free states we call it triple s. A .22 rifle, especially one with a .22 short in it, draws surprisingly little attention. Alternatively, many pellet rifles, especially the gas piston or pneumatic cylinder types, can be very effective, especially close range head shots.
years ago I had a pair of Brittany spaniels - male- favorite thing to do was go after wood chucks- the female , bless her heart, liked to play with skunks. the springerss I have now , sisters, critters- Bell finds them and Sky takes care of the dirty work, includes 2 legged types as well.
Yeah, I have a chihuahua, so basically useless . Unless incessantly barking at my guests is something I can be proud of
No offense Urban Woods but my neighbor raises them. They have been a pain in our axx since they moved in a few months after we did. They have a female that is very aggressive. It has come onto our property gotten up and has gotten into our faces and our dogs. We have talked to him plenty of times. He tells us they moved out in the country so Jo's dogs to tin free. Fine keep them on your property not hours. I notice earlier this year that they now have a beware of dog signs posted.
No offense taken. There's really not much good about these dogs I can say to counter your experience and subsequent opinion other than they are small, low maintenance, and cheap to feed. This was not my dog of choice, but it was sort of a rescue from a breeder who didn't want it because it was an accidental mixed with a Mini-Italian greyhound. People told me the dog was being left in a basement and ignored. At the time (7 years ago) I was suffering with a bad hand injury (still am) and this dog I took on because I was considering a therapy dog and I liked the fact that they don't mind being caged because my wife and I both work. Of course as luck would have it with these self serving pests I mean pets, the dog hasn't liked me from day one and only tolerates me. He loves my wife though who didn't want a dog ..go figure? I can relate to what you're saying about their nasty ways because as time goes on he's becoming more protective of my wife and acts like freak when company comes over. If you're a male you can get bit and he will sneak attack time and again throughout a visit if you happen to get out of your seat to go to bathroom or walk outside and then come back inside. So he now has to be held on a leash for company, but on the good side his bites are basically harmless and only hurt your ego if sensitive. He does love children and females. Still he's a scary fast moving little devil and when he goes I will make sure to get me one of those "mans best friend" dogs.
Not that big. Correction .17mm. A little different. I have been known through a few 45 cal round balls at them from the smoking pole.