I use a trap and catch one almost everyday...I take them for a drive and then release.

Get a good hunting cat!

David, if you have woodchucks/ground hogs, where you live, a 2 1/2 foot fence won't keep them out. They can do tremendous damage. I've seen them climb 6 and 8' fences. I once shot one off the top of an 8' fence post, and more than once, as a kid, I picked babies out of grapevines, out in the woods.

A small live trap, as daryjurassic is alluding to, will do a fine job catching chipmonks. Also, as Anney mentioned a good cat is very effective.

But if you have ground hogs you need a good terrier or like minded dog, a 22 rifle or a large live trap. There should be a good, and long, thread in the archives on dealing with ground hogs.

George
Tahlequah, OK

David, I have created a veritable Fort Knox of a garden- mine has walls, roof, and floor made of chicken wire. I've managed to keep out everything except chipmunks, which eat the entirety of the strawberry harvest year in and year out. I've tried making them "walk the plank" (described elsewhere on Garden Web), tried traditional rat traps, pellet guns, havahart traps... all to no avail. This year, I've been using a few of the "better rodent traps" baited with strawberries. The traps are the plastic kind where the spring loaded top clamps down on the critters when they mess with the bait. Most hardware stores around here carry them. I've had great success. One a day, I'd say. There is a seemingly endless number of the chipmunks around, and they are still getting a good number of berries. But we are getting to share in the harvest this year, as opposed to years past. I'm hoping to thin the population before we start getting tomatoes ripening... they are just another appealing looking berry to the 'munks. I wish you luck- this is the first year I've had any success with these frustrating adversaries.

Enjoyed the humorous response. I will try the traps. Do you have a name brand to suggest?

Also, someone else sugested sprinkling crushed red pepper around the plants. Doesn't sound too bullet proof, but worth a try. Of course, that probably only lasts until the first good rain anyway.

Poison pellets. Just leave a few outside the chipmunk hole, and one day they just won't come out. I had literalyl dozens of chipmunks runnign amok. Their numbers were inflated so high because they were feeding exclusively off of my garden, so I balanced things out. Now there are only a few and they are still pests. You won't ever get rid of chipmunks.

try used coffee grounds, it helps keep the cats away and the squirrels from digging in my garden areas.

I also use a woodmans trick cayote urine product called shake away animal deterrent. It worked for raccons for me also.

I have be using a rat traps with a small piece of fresh apple. Jut put the traps where the chipmonks have been running. They very rare run in the open, usually they run along something. I bought 6 traps this winter and in the last 2 weeks I have TRAPPED 9 and counting. :) I tried the traps tonight for the baby rabbits. Thats the only thing getting into my garden now. they ate my beet leaves, my little bean plants and two of my just planted eagplants. we will see if the traps work on the bunnies tonight.

DavidfromDetroit:

I'm in Metro Detroit as well, central Oakland County. I've had tremendous trouble this year with chipmunks destroying seedlings -- corn, squash, cucumbers, beans, etc. Or, more accurately, not destroying them, but digging up the seed and then replanting it somewhere in big clumps. So, instead of a flat of squash transplants, I had a giant clump of various, mixed squash come up in one of my big barrel planters outside of my greenhouse -- what a waste of good seed.

Go to the hardware store and buy yourself a WHOLE BUNCH of the good, plastic snap type rat traps -- the kind that are all plastic and highly reusable. They cost about $5 each, but are worth it. I bought 4, but probably should get 4 more at least. Seems that there is a never ending supply of chipmunks. After I killed the first one, I thought I was safe -- wrong!

Use peanut butter and birdseed as the bait, and set the traps all over. Chipmunks seem to like to run along the perimeter of buildings, etc -- I've had particular luck setting the traps right along the foundation of my greenhouse.

In fact, I had a 2 for 1 today -- got kill #11 and #12 within about 2 hours of each other this afternoon. Planted a new Corkscrew Willow tree this evening, so it got some nice Chipmunk fertilizer at the bottom of the hole. I'll think fondly of Alvin and Theodore whenever I look at it!