Animals re-opening plugs

[VTColonialDigger]

I have seen discussion of this topic before, but wanted to share my quick story & pictures.

I was taking the dog out for a walk this morning when I noticed two plugs in my yard had been disturbed.





At first I thought maybe I had somehow forgotten to fully fill them in, but I always fill in my holes, and this is in my front yard which faces the road, meaning I would not have left these plugs like this. I remembered some folks on here talking about animals digging up their plugs, and upon closer inspection I noticed what looked like claw marks in the hole pictured in photo #2. My best guess is a skunk came by digging for grubs and opened these two plugs up again. I live in rural Vermont with lots of woods surrounding my house & yard with many places for skunks to live. I think it might be time to get the havahart trap out and try to catch the culprit!

I'm just glad this didn't happen in someone else's yard where I would have gotten blamed!


Have you all had similar experiences with animals re-opening your plugs? Share your story if you have!

 

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[xr7ator]

Yes. Birds do it as well as squrrels, let alone the bigger animals like skunks and racoons. Try smaller plugs that are hinged. When replacing, comb the grass blades around the plug outta the way before hinging the plug back in place and then give it a good tamp with the foot when getting up. Done, well, in good most soil, the plug wont even turn yellow. If you are in marginal or dead dry ground, good luck keeping the critters from finding the easy dig and taking advantage.
HH ALL

 

[VTColonialDigger]

Yes. Birds do it as well as squrrels, let alone the bigger animals like skunks and racoons. Try smaller plugs that are hinged. When replacing, comb the grass blades around the plug outta the way before hinging the plug back in place and then give it a good tamp with the foot when getting up. Done, well, in good most soil, the plug wont even turn yellow. If you are in marginal or dead dry ground, good luck keeping the critters from finding the easy dig and taking advantage.
HH ALL

Thanks, xr7ator! Never thought of birds, there are lots of crows around here, maybe they had something to do with it.

That is the problem, we have have real dry dirt right now as you can see from the picture. As you pointed out I didn't do such a great job with these plugs because of the dry soil as well as fact that this is in my yard, so I don't mind too much what they look like as long as they are filled in . The dry dirt is actually what caught my eye when I noticed them in the first place. We need some rain.

 

[ticndig]

I'd rather have a hole in my lawn than a skunk in my trap. but have caught and released a few with out them spraying.
maybe your dog likes to help and digs holes for you.

 

[DizzyDigger]

Anytime you disturb the dirt/ground, it is going to be seriously
investigated by every critter that comes by, especially predators.

Best bet is to leave -0- soil on top of the ground, as they can smell
that from some distance, and to a predator (dog, fox, coyote, hawk)
that means a possible new source for food.

Consider that to the local critters, this is like their living room...if
you came home and noticed something had changed in your living
room you'd most certainly wonder what happened...same goes
for critters.

 

[Carolina Tom]

I had a spot that had a skunk, and he would dig up our holes. He was relentless!

Be careful to NOT get sprayed.

 

[Toecutter]

Raccoons are good at it, farmer let me detect his yard he woke up the next day to a fricken war zone..lol

 

[FloodcityTom]

Decades ago I was digging a big Civil war regimental camp in a field that hadn't been plowed for like 30 years, the Farmer had horses and cows both in there. I began the practise of turning the "plugs" upside down so that the grass was facing down not up as the animals would come along and take a bite of grass and pull out the "plug" leaving a rather deep hole for them to step in. Everything was 6 or 7 inches or more in that field.

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

I have had crows follow me opening up my plugs. ever since I have done a hinged plug. I thought I was going to get yelled at by our parks guy but he told me he knew I closed my plugs and he hasn't had an issue, then he also noticed the crows were pulling my plugs I will use sticks to pin the plug shut in that park now, tap them in at an angle.

 

[DizzyDigger]

A very basic trap set for coyote, fox and bobcat is commonly
known as a "hole set". You simply take a long handled trowel
and dig an 8"-10" hole at a roughly 45º angle. Spread the
fresh dirt from the hole around the entrance (like it was recently
dug).

Toss a stick with some lure on it in the back of the hole, and
you're pretty much guaranteed that every predator coming by
is going to stick their nose right in that hole, and take a whiff.

If I had a game cam I'd love to set up a few spots (no traps,
just cameras), and then enjoy watching those critters working
that hole in hopes of finding a prize inside.

 

[diggingthe1]

It's frustrating when you want to leave the neighbors yard nice and the next morning there are holes everywhere. It is so dry in Colorado you can't hinge the plugs. I have to come back the next day and fill back in the plugs again with dirt. The critters around here are relentless they even scoop away the dirt. Maybe some kind of spray repellant. I don't ask permission from nice yards, but I would if I had something that worked. I see a market simular to FuFu juice

 

[SultansOfSwing]

Happens to me quite a bit. My theory is that when we cut the plug, and inevitably chop thru some worms, the dead and dying worms put out an irresistible odor to the skunks and raccoons and they flip open the plugs.

 

[ToddsPoint]

If you catch a skunk in a Havahart trap just throw a blanket over the trap and you won't get sprayed. Here in IL it is illegal to relocate a skunk. If you catch them you have to kill them. Gary

 

[pepperj]

I pride myself on doing the invisible plug to where I can get a signal go to dig and realize that I had missed another target in the same hole.
I found out about the skunk/raccoon wrecking the plugs and causing me grief-in the middle of the day no less this skunk comes along out of the bush line and starts rooting up the plugs right in the front yard.
Some of the helping solutions to keeping them in the ground.
Hinged plugs.
Stomping the plug down.
The best solution:
Throwing out any worm and especially the land shrimps (Grubs) a foot away from the plug.
Sit and watch and here comes the skunk for it's friendly/easy digging/pickings and BINGO! it worked!
It walked around getting the free little entrees of grubs/worms laying around in the grass. Leaving my neat plugs alone.
Now does it work all the time-no-but it sure helped at this location as we had the place for 6 months and I detected it daily.

Over the years I have graduated to the field/bush locations and I don't really care any longer if they dig up a plug.
One field location in a meadow I was chuckling at how much work it must of done digging up the shovel sized plugs up again.
It didn't cause any grief really, just looked messy and I just kicked in the dirt again just that I didn't trip in any of the holes.

 

[No gold in NY]

You guys gave me an idea.
During dry spells I carry a spray bottle of water for the hole and plug to help the grass recover. I just may use HINDER in the water. Hinder is a deer and rabbit repellant that works well. I use it on my wife's flowers. I carry a windex bottle in my pouch. Really no bother and could save you some problems. Birds could still be a problem. I understand birds can't smell.

 

[VTColonialDigger]

I have had crows follow me opening up my plugs. ever since I have done a hinged plug. I thought I was going to get yelled at by our parks guy but he told me he knew I closed my plugs and he hasn't had an issue, then he also noticed the crows were pulling my plugs I will use sticks to pin the plug shut in that park now, tap them in at an angle.

I've heard people tell me that they do this because they are looking for seeds to eat. My neighbor does a huge amount of gardening and he told me that he planted a bunch of corn one time, went back the next day and every single place where he had planted a corn seed had been dug up by crows looking for the corn seed!

 

[VTColonialDigger]

A very basic trap set for coyote, fox and bobcat is commonly
known as a "hole set". You simply take a long handled trowel
and dig a a 8"-10" hole at a roughly 45º angle. Spread the
fresh dirt from the hole around the entrance (like it was recently
dug).

Toss a stick with some lure on it in the back of the hole, and
you're pretty much guaranteed that every predator coming by
is going to stick their nose right in that hole, and take a whiff.

If I had a game cam I'd love to set up a few spots (no traps,
just cameras), and then enjoy watching those critters working
that hole in hopes of finding a prize inside. View attachment 1864501

Never heard of that before but it sounds like it would work! Like you said, I bet it would be interesting to set up game cams to see how many coyotes/foxes and the like would stop and investigate!

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Racoons do it a lot too digging for grubs.

 

[VTColonialDigger]

If you catch a skunk in a Havahart trap just throw a blanket over the trap and you won't get sprayed. Here in IL it is illegal to relocate a skunk. If you catch them you have to kill them. Gary

I believe they put these rules in place because skunks can be rabies carriers. My dad and I have trapped lots of skunks over the years, we have a few different ways that we deal with them once trapped.

 

[VTColonialDigger]

You guys gave me an idea.
During dry spells I carry a spray bottle of water for the hole and plug to help the grass recover. I just may use HINDER in the water. Hinder is a deer and rabbit repellant that works well. I use it on my wife's flowers. I carry a windex bottle in my pouch. Really no bother and could save you some problems. Birds could still be a problem. I understand birds can't smell.

That's a great idea!