Groundhog or ??? Opinions needed

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  • phylodog

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    So I had three of these large holes in one of my pastures, two of them were 40yds apart and the third 50+ away from either of them. I filled them all in a week ago and have checked them a few times since and they were untouched. Our horse trainer was here this morning so I was walking the pasture and found that this one was opened up again, no sign that I'd ever filled it in. The holes are approximately 8" in diameter and at least two of them took a lot more dirt to fill than I expected. I want to say groundhog but I'm not sure. The odd thing is that all three of these are in low spots of the pasture which dry up last and hold water first when we have heavy rains.

    Groundhog? If so what happened to all of the dirt I used to fill the hole in? There are no mounds of dirt around the holes at all, just a hole. I'm kind of baffled, if it's a critter I'll be spending the next warm evening sitting on the fence with a thermal scope waiting to eliminate it.

    0vc5hgmh.jpg
     

    Cameramonkey

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    Perhaps the beginning of a nasty sink hole?


    He may be onto something. Know where the drain tiles are on your property? That looks suspiciously like a caved in clay tile. Mom's rural property has one going thru her yard and Ive seen several of these. And the dirt? Its washed downstream toward the nearest ditch/creek.
     

    KellyinAvon

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    Look for other holes nearby. Whistle pigs have multiple holes.
     

    DoggyDaddy

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    He may be onto something. Know where the drain tiles are on your property? That looks suspiciously like a caved in clay tile. Mom's rural property has one going thru her yard and Ive seen several of these. And the dirt? Its washed downstream toward the nearest ditch/creek.

    This sounds plausible. I had the opposite problem in my shed last year. It's got a concrete floor, pretty cracked since it was built in the early 1950's, but one day I went out there, and there was a big pile of dirt up against one of the side walls. It even covered up an old wooden tool box that was sitting on the floor. I nearly filled a 5 gallon bucket with the dirt, but once I got it all cleared away, there was no sign of a hole, and there has been no further activity ever since. I know I have chipmunks out there, but this was a helluva lot of dirt for a chipmunk, and like I said - no hole. :scratch:
     

    phylodog

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    Sinkholes were one of the possibilities I'd considered and part of the reason I posted. I don't know where the drain tiles are but I know where they sure would be helpful. I do have a large sinkhole a couple hundred yards from the pasture but I don't think it would be the same tile.
     

    Leadeye

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    I'm inclined to go with sinkholes into a tile as groundhogs always have some dirt around the hole as was posted earlier. Dirt would go down sinkholes with the rain we have had. Ground hogs also don't usually dig in areas where it stays wet like that. As you have horses you need to figure out the problem as an unknown 8 inch hole can break a horses leg, I grew up with horses and always remember what my dad said about them. He said that God made the horse strong because he didn't make him very smart.:)
     

    phylodog

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    I've decided to put a 5 gallon bucket over the hole to keep the horses off temporarily, hopefully the goats won't knock it over every five minutes. I'm also going to put a trail camera on it justin case it's a critter of some sort. My plans to install tile will eliminate the issue if these are sink holes but I'm not sure when I'm going to get that done.
     

    Trigger Time

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    Looks like the start of a sinkhole. You can see the vein or crack of it running across the ground it looks like. I've seen a lot of these like this. Be very careful around that area with any kind of equipment.
    Wonder if you could tie a wireless camera with a small bright light taped onto it and send it down the hole
     

    Mongo59

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    Every low spot in your pasture that can hold water will tend to sprout a sinkhole.

    If you can grade it to let it run off instead of pool then your problem will go away.

    My ground is the same way but worse because I am in the un-glaciated part of the state.

    Disc up the high spots around the new sink holes, put your bucket edge straight down toward the ground and slowly push the sod clumps in toward the hole. Go all around but make sure to drag the lowest part most to allow future drainage.

    Back drag over the spot when filled but I tend to leave it a little high in the problem area to allow for settling.

    Seed and straw it and watch it after every rain for a while to see if it is holding and the water is running off instead of pooling. Mother nature does the rest.

    And no, your property taxes don't go down because you have less ground...
     

    phylodog

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    I don't think I can grade the pasture without creating another problem, potentially worse. I have about 80 acres immediately west of my pastures which drains right through them. This is what I'm dealing with (usually not this severe), I'm guessing there probably was a tile here at one point.

    [video=youtube;gvaK0dGrUSI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvaK0dGrUSI[/video]
     

    DeadeyeChrista'sdad

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    I looked up Arcadia. Not unglaciated, and CM is probably the best guess. Dig into it with that fancy tractor and have a look. But first,. What's the number to call and make darn good and sure you're not going to rupture a gas main? 811? 211?
     

    ditcherman

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    Don’t fill the hole in. If it’s a drain tile the dirt will enter the tile, partially plugging it, or completely plugging it, then that basement drain you are worried about, well, we’ll know where that inlet leads to.
    If you don’t have a tile probe you can use a piece of 3/8 rod, maybe weld a handle on top or bend it, and push it in the ground. A tile probe works better in general but if you have holes in the ground already you are not going to need to push that hard. When you hit something that sounds kind of hollow (a rock is a duller thud), twist or spin the rod around and pull it up. I’d guess you will see orange on the tip of the probe, clay tile. There is a possibly that it is cement tile and it will be gray, and you can’t differentiate that from a rock. You will also get an idea of how deep it is.
    Call 811 if you want to dig it, or go online and put your address in, hold times have been unbearable as of late.
    If those holes are in the vicinity of the swale you have a picture of, and in a general line, I’ll bet big money it’s a tile.
     

    Cameramonkey

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    Two of the three holes I initially filled in would have been well under water in that video.


    That leads me to believen its drain tile. they run those along swails and low spots typically to supplement the normal drainage flow downhill.

    You can look up your drain tile locations here. you just have to enable those particular layers.

    https://gis1.hamiltoncounty.in.gov/GeneralViewer/
     

    phylodog

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    That leads me to believen its drain tile. they run those along swails and low spots typically to supplement the normal drainage flow downhill.

    You can look up your drain tile locations here. you just have to enable those particular layers.

    https://gis1.hamiltoncounty.in.gov/GeneralViewer/

    Thanks for the link. Just pulled it up and it's not showing any drains on my property. I'm pretty sure there's at least two but I'm pretty new to all of this.
     
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