Doctoring a groundhog ( Sunday funny )

[RoninPA]

I guess this would be the area to relate this true story that happened yesterday.

Saw a big fat groundhog gnawing and scratching on the doors to my shed. I went to see and he took off. Well, I figured something was medically wrong with him for wanting to eat my wood doors so I waited and watched (covertly) for him to come back. He did in about 10 minutes and started going at the door again. Well, at this point I figured he needed to be cured of these actions. So, Doctor Ron injected him with 3 doses (40 grains each) of lead and miraculously he was cured and didn't do anymore chewing on the shed doors. I used one of those new fangled automatic injectors (Suppressed Ruger Mark III) - Boy what science can come up with to make giving shots to varmint animals easy.

Oh, and being the animal loving environmentalist that I am, I even helped feed the turkey buzzards that hang around in the field behind my house 5 minutes after curing the groundhog of his wood gnawing habit.

 

[arfmel]

You are a good and thoughtful person

 

[GRAMPS 51]

They seem to like anything that is made with glue in it like plywood and texture 111 i kind of miss having those little buggers around but the coyotes wiped them out around here
Gramps

 

[contender]

Good for you on your proper doctoring of the groundhog.

As for the reason they chew on some wood,, it can be salt or other stuff in the chemicals used to treat wood. I've dealt with a few wood chewers myself.

 

[nekvermont]

Don't woodchucks gnaw on things to keep their rodent teeth worn down?

 

[contender]

Generally,, yes, many rodents do need to keep their teeth cut down some. Normal feeding & such does this. But a groundhog prefers a softer food,, so they don't need to do it like a beaver does. Beaver's food is bark & so they cut harder stuff to get the trees down to be able to get to the bark. They have evolved to where their teeth grow faster & need more "use" to keep them in shape. Squirrels are similar,, because they enjoy nuts with harder shells.

Groundhogs chewing on the wood of a house is usually for the stuff added to the wood that smells like food or salt to them.

 

[RoninPA]

Good info ^^^^ from the guy that takes care of these critters for a living. Just odd, I've eliminated a lot of groundhogs over the years and this is the first time any of them were chewing on the door and I built the shed 20+ years ago. Now I wonder if in the past they had been chewing on all the wood I split for my basement wood burner. Last year after my back surgery, I put a halt on burning wood after this winter (going to go to propane) and all that I normally stacked (2 years worth) is completely gone so no wood stacked up for them to gnaw on.

 

[RoninPA]

Well I found out that ground hogs don't have any fashion sense either. So I helped another one yesterday by giving one a nice choker necklace made by Conibear. It was a nice model 160 and he just died when he got it. They're really self centered though, he never did thank me for that gift.

 

[Bob Wright]

In some parts of the country these critters are known as "whistle pigs."

And I had a man, a worker at a grain elevator, tell me that if you skinned out a coon and a groundhog and laid them side by side, you could not tell the difference. Never tried it myself. Took his word for it.

Bob Wright

 

[contender]

Yep,, the good 160 necklace does wonders for them,, at least just once!

I can tell the difference in them when skinned.

 

[nekvermont]

^^^^ Seems like the skulls would be completely different, and of course the teeth.

Anyone ever eaten a wood chuck? I never have but it seems like they would be OK.

 

[contender]

Yes,, I've eaten them a few times. Not as bad as many would think! But like ANYTHING,, proper care in cleaning,, and correct cooking go a LONG way.

 

[jmca]

Just like Rabbit! The younger, the better!

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

I think trapping them would be a cottage industry. Put the teeth on a string and use for a necklace.

 

[nrobe50]

Noticed that a sack of garbage in the garage had been torn open by some critter so the next day I threw it in the back of my pickup which has a tonneau cover, drove to the transfer station to dump it. Got to the transfer station and opened the tail gate removed the garbage bag and seen movement in the front of the pickup bed. There hiding behind a couple of milk crates was a groundhog. Didn't take the critter long to remove himself from the pickup and find a new home 15 miles from his old home. Hope he enjoyed his ride. Still can't believe that he was inside the garbage bag when I loaded it in the truck. Probably saved his life because if I had seen him in the garden, things would have worked out a little different..

 

[contender]

"I think trapping them would be a cottage industry. Put the teeth on a string and use for a necklace."

Unless you trapped them under a trapping license,, selling wild animal parts is illegal in many states. And even then,, there are still certain restrictions.
Besides,, getting the teeth out could be a chore, as compared to the return you might get.