How do you know they're chipmunks and not moles or gophers? Just because he trapped a chip doesn't mean it was the responsible party. I used to have chips galore at my other house, and I never noticed any tunnelling in the lawn, although they did nest under the old patio (which was wood).

I’m just now reading online various sites re the chipmunks. I try to concentrate on site:.edu to get reasonably reliable info…. We have certainly seen lots of chipmunks here, both this year and in the past. Perhaps the removal of the ash tree disturbed their tunnel system and they are now rebuilding parts of it! Apparently a lot of chipmunk tunnels run along major tree roots so the grinding out of the ash stump and some of its large roots might have been a trigger for them. From what I’ve read so far I think my best option is to fill the holes on the lawn and cut the grass short so it gives them less cover from predators, so discourages them from crossing that space. The neighbour behind us whose son’s crew did the re-sodding of the lawn basically planted a forest in their backyard and currently have a family of screech owls there! There were 4 screech owl babies this spring so there are lots of predators for the chipmunks to avoid! One problem at the moment is that DH is leaving the grass on the lawn fairly high when he cuts it to allow the new sod to root well…. I don’t care if the chipmunks live on the property; I just want them to avoid certain places, like the lawn and front garden.

Late this afternoon we were talking to a neighbour across the street. She said they had ’hordes of chipmunks’ at their place. When I was reading stuff online it was commonly noted that after a ’mast year’ when the oak trees produced lots of acorns in the Fall, population numbers for things like mice and chipmunks would rise the following spring as they had lots of food in the winter and therefore a higher survival rate and perhaps would have two litters (one in spring and one in Fall….) the next year. Both we and the neighbour have oak trees and I remember seeing lots of acorns last Fall. iI checked and, yep, last Fall 2021 was a ’mast year’ around here…! I think our timing re removal of the ash and resodding the back lawn was just bad and we have to just focus on things like filling the holes and mowing the grass shorter and hope the problem stabilizes….

With the neighbour’s screech owl family increasing the predator situation, that should help control the chipmunk problem I think/hope! To see a recent picture of the owls (adult and recent fledgling) checkThis link

The look on that one's face!

We had a mast year with acorns galore last fall. I hadn't connected that to the large number of chipmunks this spring. Thanks Woody! Foxes are eating mine.

mxk3 - those screech owl faces never look happy! Their prey might die from just seeing that face approaching :-)

cecily - years ago there used to be some nice foxes in the neighbourhood. Then they - and a lot of dogs in the neighbourhood - got mange. Then coyotes moved in and either drove out or killed the foxes. The coyotes don’t seem to be as efficient at controlling either rabbits or chipmunks :-(

Our chipmunks tunnel everywhere. I hate them!

I am fighting a chipmunk war here, and I know they are chipmunks because I see them.

I have had the best results with peppermint oil.

I dilute it in a spritzer bottle, add a couple of drops of detergent to emulsify it a bit, shake, and spray. I spray it around attractive habitat like my woodpiles and any stumps that are decaying. I also go around and spray it inside all their holes. and I spray it anywhere my dogs seem to think something is in hiding- where the gutter downspouts go into the drain lines, etc.

It seems to be working and everything also smells really fresh, lol.

I could live and let live if my dogs didn't go after them so badly- I have really high prey drive dogs and they'll go through a wall to get at one, so my smaller plants suffer as the dogs are quite large.

I investigated trapping and relocating, which at the recommended ten miles is too far to drive every day to dump traps. I looked at pepper which I think damages their eyes- I want them to leave, not suffer horrific pain and blindness. I'll revisit traps if the peppermint oil lets me down but so far it seems to be deterring them enough that I haven't seen one in a couple of weeks. Of course now that I've typed that I'll see 20 today.

omg, the chipmunks are absolutely HORRIBLE here this year! And not just in my yard -- I'm seeing chipmunks everywhere I look. One of my cats was the best chipmunk hunter ever, but I lost her in 2020, so they've had free reign in my yard ever since. The damage they're doing is awful, and the little ba$+@rds scream at me and taunt me, so I've finally started the 'scent war'. lol! Good luck to us all!

eta: I was thinking of soaking cotton balls with some 'scent' they don't like and then drop them into their holes. I read that their holes generally go straight down for about 3 feet before they turn. I somehow doubt that.