Groundhog

You may recall I was trying to catch a groundhog in a live cage and kept getting skunks.  I approached them holding a tarp in front of me (assuming a weird floating tarp would not cause spraying).  I released one twice, running like hell after it emerged.

Then the 3rd time, I caught 2 skunks in the trap.  OK, THAT'S IT!  I dropped the tarp on the cage, waited a few minutes for them to calm down, and dunked the cage in a tub of water.  Well, what else can you do with a caged annoyed skunk?  After the 3rd time, it was obvious they were living here.

I sure didn't want to meet then while I was clearing the wild blackberry brambles from the backyard (my next project).    Even dead in the tub they STANK!  I dumped them in a storm drain.  Which is logical.  They rot and the water carries the bits away in small pieces, no smell.

The whole area where I caught them still smells after a week.  Their spray is an oily substance and lingers even after days of rain.

I got the groundhog though.  A bit of canteloupe slice as bait.  The amazing thing is that I SAW it go into the cage!  It sniffed all around the cage, found the opening, went inside, stepped on the lever that releases the door, and I had it!  And you know what it did then?  It calmly ate the last melon slice!  LOL!

After I dipped it long enough to assure it was dead, I dumped it into its own borrow and filled the op;ening with the dirt it spread out all around.

I hate groundhogs.  The skunks were just accidental pests. 

Next week, I'll see about renting a brushcutter.  Those wild blackberries HAVE to go.  The patch attracts too many varmints.

SKUNK!

Well, I trapped and eliminated the groundhog that took up living in my bramble-filled corner of the back yard a manth ago.  And usually there isn't more than one that moves in per year.  But when you live in one place 30+ years, you know what you normally see out the windows and what is not normal.

A few days ago, I noticed an un-normal movement out of the corner of my eye in the far back yard (I am far-sighted) and saw a small groundhog slipping back into the brambles.  I don't want any around.  They can dig well and get under the garden enclosure, they love to eat meadow flowers, and they are hard to chase away.  They can eat almost an entire garden in a couple of days.

I don't mind them personally, but they are amazingly destructive.  If they would stay in abandoned fields munching of food that does support them there, I would be thrilled.  But when they start eating things I grow, it is them or me. 

You may not like this, but when I catch one in a live-cage, I just drop it in a large tub of water and drown them.  It is the fastest way I know of.  They don't understand what is happening, they blurt out some air and are dead.  I've made myself watch...

So I had another groundhog set up residence among the blackberries.  I saw the burrow while picking some ripe berries.  So I set the cage with some honeydew melon slices.  They love those.

The next morning, I saw some motion in the cage.  Great!  I went out and discover a skunk in the cage.  Oh damn.  How do I get an angry skunk out of the cage without getting sprayed?

I stood watching it (from a safe distance) and thought about it for a few minutes.  Then I went to my she and took out a 6'x9' plastic tarp and held it in front of me as I approached the cage. 

From the skunk's POV, it wasn't a threat, just some weird blowy thing .  When I got to the cage, I draped the tarp on it all sides but the front.  Then after letting it get used to the cover (to calm down), and open the front of the cage, it walked out and I ran away 20' "just in case".

I had to spray the cage with hose water hard to clean it.  I let it dry for hours, and set it up again with more honeydew melon to try to catch the new groundhog.  If I catch it, it goes into the watertub and gets buried.  If I catch the skunk again, it will go that way as well.

And no, there are no pictures.  My focus was getting the skunk out of the cage without being sprayed...