For some reason, every year at least one groundhog has taken up residence under our front porch. You have to experience it yourself to know what damage they can do. Last year, one or more chewed up woven porch furniture and stole artificial flowers from the porch for winter bedding. It also neatly bit in two the wire for our outdoor decor lighting that my wife, a.k.a. Sweetsums was so proud of.

I thought I had eradicated them last year and maybe I did but this spring there was more evidence of digging so I knew at least one was back. The outside lights had been rewired and put in conduit so no damage was done to those yet.

Generally, groundhogs have made the mistake of going out in the open on my lawn but this one proved to be much more sneaky. It would be seen briefly from time to time. Once Sweetsums while on the porch saw it and scared it away; I said how COULD you do that? It wrecked one chance to kill it.

I started wearing my Ruger Redhawk in 44 Remington Magnum while working outside hoping, as had happened while doing yard work before, to see it and kill it.

Actually, that came close to happening. After doing some yard work, I sat down for a few minutes to talk to Sweetsums. She alerted me when she saw it come around the corner of the house. I pull my revolver out of the holster and, trying to do things slowly and smoothly, attempted to draw a bead on me but it saw me and, while not running, headed rather fast for the field. I got off one shot at about 50 yards that missed it by about 6 inches.

Last week, I heard a noise on the front porch. The groundhog was up on the porch with a dust mop in its mouth trying to take somewhere. I got my gun however by the time I returned the ground hog was gone but had managed to pull the mop off the porch on to the ground. I put the mop back on the porch. The first photo shows the groundhog hole under the porch and the dust mop; I don't know how the stupid thing intended to get the mop down its hole. The whitish spot on the edge of the porch near the pillar is where I hit the edge of the porch in my previous effort to kill the groundhog.

I've learned that groundhogs, once they decide to line their nests for the winter are quite persistent and not easily scared off so I with my gun stood on the porch above its hole and waited.

It started coming out of its hole and I fired and missed. Actually, hitting something very close and precisely, in this case about 3 feet, can be harder than you think. In traceing the trajectory of the bullet, which put a hole in the edge of the porch Sweetsums doesn't yet know about, either the bullet was very close to the nose or perhaps the groundhog was pulling back into its hole just as I shot. In any case, the game was over for that day.

A few days later, while exercising in the basement, I looked out the window and saw the groundhog in the yard. By the time I got my gun and came outside, it was gone.

Today, on arriving home from work, I found Sweetsums on the front porch with a determined look on her face and carrying her Taurus Ultra-Lite Nine in 22 LR. Sweetsums is not a hunter but she hates animals that live under her porch. She is also somewhat of a reluctant shooter and her son, the po po, though he would probably prefer she carry a 50AE, was only able to persuade her to shoot a 22 LR handgun. She went on to use it to take her CCW class so can now pack heat (I'm proud of her).

Anyway, I took over and told her to wait in the house and let me know when supper was ready. I went to the edge of the porch and waited. The groundhog poked it head out of the hole and I pulled the trigger. There was a loud CLICK. When there is a click rather than a BOOOM when you're expecting a BOOOM, the click is very loud.

I thought, well, it must be a dud round. Sweetsums came on to the porch to call me for supper. I motioned her back inside and continued waiting. The groundhog poked its head out the hole again. Again there was a CLICK and another CLICK. At this point I was totally disgusted with Taurus and went in the house and got Glock 19.

The waiting game started again. Again the groundhog poked its head out of the hole (did I mention groundhogs are persistent?). I didn't want to put another hole in any part of the porch and I wanted the shot to be a sure thing so I waited until it was clear out of the hole and fired. This time there was a satisfying BOOOOM!!! and I put a 147 grain 9mm Parebellum Speer Gold Dot hollow point bullet in its pointy little head.

The groundhog is dead and I'm the hero around here for awhile. Sometime when Sweetsums is away, I'll get out wood putty and paint and maybe she'll never know I put a hole in her porch.

Good job and good story.

I'm glad that you reached an end to your ordeal, however it did make for an interesting summer. Thanks for sharing the story.

Good job Grumulkin!!

"I don't know how the stupid thing intended to get the mop down its hole."

Perhaps it intended chewing it into bite-sized pieces, given enough time.

Are semi-auto pistols legal in Ohio for the taking of game animals?

A leghold, body-gripping, or box trap certainly would have done the trick without all the drama of mis-firing weapons and damaged porches.

Dave, what's the fun in using a trap??

quote:

Originally posted by Whitworth:
Dave, what's the fun in using a trap??

.. Wheres the adventure in setting a trap .,. [ I know trapping is full of adventure .. ]

What would be wrong with using a semi auto to hunt with ?????????????????????? ...

Yes, semi-auto handguns, unlike PA, are legal for taking of "game aminals" in Ohio within certain provisions of barrel length and bore diameter. Of course, a groundhog isn't considered a game animal so anything goes.

I actually had two traps set for this thing. Last year I caught one in a Havahart trap and executed it. Leg hold traps are out since I would be too likely to catch something I didn't want to catch. In fact, I set two Havahart traps simultaneously for this groundhog and, instead of the groundhog, caught a skunk. Getting the skunk out of the trap in one piece without getting stunk up was a challenge and a gamble that I didn't want to repeat.

caught it live and made a pet out of it. i heard you can train them to a litter box like a cat...not a polecat but house cat hope the misses dont see the wound on her porch you may need to make that whistle pig hole a bit bigger if she does