Are there any other tracks that aren't so muddy? It's hard to tell with the mud.

One vote for Opossum tracks...mostly because of the 'thumb' in the bottom right track of your pic and the similarity to the pic below:

This post was edited by LKZZ on Fri, Jul 5, 13 at 13:47

no I don't have no pics that aint muddy bc that is the only set of tracks I have found. whatever it is it keeps eating the leaves off my eggplant.

I think I just figured out what is eating my eggplant. I just went outside to my garden and I seen a groundhog. I don't know if that is his tracks or not but there is a groundhog for sure out there. Now I got to get him to go into the trap so I can catch it.

Oh, no! I too just saw my first groundhog ever in this neighborhood, munching contentedly on grass and weeds, sprawled low and chunky near the brushy woods. About 100 ft. from my high-fenced garden (but I understand it's the bottom of the fence I should worry about). What are the rules about trapping and I guess transporting groundhogs? Every state different? Are they protected?

Carol

they are very destructive animals. rules on trapping groundhogs and other animals I think it depends on the state. I know in nc you are not to trap them. you have to have a license to trap wild animals.

well I just caught my first groundhog. one down and many more to go I am sure. hopefully I can keep them away from my garden.

When you say "trap", does that mean trap and kill? Or does it mean get them into a live trap and then release them somewhere else? I live in NC as well and am very curious.

In SE PA, a pest animal cannot be transported to a new location, so if you've trapped it, you have to kill it or release it on site. I use a BB gun on groundhogs. It doesn't kill them, but it seems to hurt them enough to make them cautious - they jump - it's very funny.

Sorry guys , but lead posioning works best. BB gun only stings them and trapping them you make them someone else's problem. Best to just kill them . They are good to eat believe it or not.

My ground hogs scale my deer fence and gobble up tremendous amounts of foliage under 24". They even dig burrows some years. My wife won't let me hurt them, much less eat them, so I trap them (using a Have-a-Heart trap with apple, kohlrabbi, carrot, and zucchinni slices) take them to a park and release them to struggle/starve in an unfamilar place. I end up trapping one or two per year, since they keep moving in from other yards. Just never seem to get around to modifying my fence so they can't climb over.

I don't have a gun or a dog, so for groundhogs I use wire fencing with the 2x4 inch grid. I encircle the plants they like the best - like lettuce and cruciferous vegetables - with the fencing.

Now supposedly woodchucks can climb and they also dig, so I cut the fencing about 2 feet high, and cut it so there are pokey wire ends coming out the bottom and the top. The bottom pokey ends are stuck into the ground and the top stick up like skewers. These wires are sharp as anything - and the woodchuck can't get past them.

I have a small veggie garden and don't have many plants to protect so it works great. I just have to watch out I don't skewer myself! (Probably not the best method to use if you have small children though).