Groundhog or ??? Opinions needed

[Cameramonkey]

Make sure you select every conceivable layer. It could be categorized as something that you don’t expect.


Then again at my office many years ago they struck a waterline while directional boring for fiber optics. It wasn’t marked but was still there. An old guy With the water company showed up during the repair process and said that he recalled that the line was there,But admitted that it did not show up on any maps. He just knew about it because he worked on it many years ago.

 

[ditcherman]

The county web sites are are good places to start, and you’re lucky if you find a legal drain on your property. (Well that’s arguable but generally it’s an asset) Anyway, the county only manages and records legal drains, that is drains put in by them or thru the cooperation or lack thereof by neighbors. The millions of feet per county currently being put in per year by landowners are not recorded by the county. The majority of tiles installed in the past are not recorded.

The legal drains in Hamilton county are generally well physically marked for the most part. There is usually a piece of galvanized corrugated metal pipe sticking up 3 feet with an orange sign. Common to mark at road crossings and low spots, sometimes random fence rows.
The highway departments have done an amazing job of keeping track of where tile crosses the road over the last 120 years, in many instances, there will be a culvert under the road. Sometimes it looks logical and some not.

 

[phylodog]

I contacted Hamilton Co a month ago and asked for guidance on installing tile in my pasture. They're supposed to contact me when all this covid crap is over.

 

[WhitleyStu]

If the holes are in somewhat a straight line I would go with the tile issue train of thought. If holes are random then critter holes. You can usually hit the tile with a probe 3'-5' down in most areas unless you are on very rolling acreage.

 

[Old Dog]

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.

If it was a field tile installed in ag land during the last 150 years it will not show up on any GIS data unless it was recorded as a "legal" or "court" drain. Most field tiles were installed "privately" and there is no record, other than a farmers memory, which can be way off, I know as I have spent many hours trying to locate with a probe. Get the backhoe out there and dig. I bet you will find a tile. Option- try your local Soil & Water Conservation District office, if the tile was designed by the Soil Conservation Service (now NRCS) they may still have a record of it.

 

[Leadeye]

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.

A good idea, they will notice a bucket and not step on it. Back in my ag days though we would have had to secure the bucket some how as the horses received their grain in buckets and always associated them with food. A group would kick and chase an empty bucket around a field like kids playing soccer.

Groundhogs in a pasture were always shot quickly or burned out. Never wanted to take the chance of a broken leg.

 

[Tactically Fat]

Make sure you select every conceivable layer. It could be categorized as something that you don’t expect.


Then again at my office many years ago they struck a waterline while directional boring for fiber optics. It wasn’t marked but was still there. An old guy With the water company showed up during the repair process and said that he recalled that the line was there,But admitted that it did not show up on any maps. He just knew about it because he worked on it many years ago.

In my former life I hit a water main down near Madison. Main. Not a service line or a branch line. Water. Main. Then there was the day we hit a sanitary sewer in Pendleton. Right downtown. Or the day we hit a major fiber optic line that serviced, among other things, a hospital.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

In my former life I hit a water main down near Madison. Main. Not a service line or a branch line. Water. Main. Then there was the day we hit a sanitary sewer in Pendleton. Right downtown. Or the day we hit a major fiber optic line that serviced, among other things, a hospital.

No offense TF, but I think I see why that might be your "former" life...

 

[Tactically Fat]

No offense TF, but I think I see why that might be your "former" life...

Hey, this was the days before all utilities were forced onto IUPPS / Holey Moley. There were paper trails of locate requests!

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Hey, this was the days before all utilities were forced onto IUPPS / Holey Moley. There were paper trails of locate requests!

Oh I can only imagine. And I've got no business busting anybody's chops. I once put in a post next to the corner of my garage to hang a dinner bell on. We practically live on the back deck from April to November, so I put a sign on the front door telling people to ring the bell by the garage if there is no answer at the door.

Anyhow, I'm digging away with my post hole digger when all of a sudden there's a loud hissing and dirt is blowing up out of the hole. Yep - gas line. The fact that I was about 3' from my gas meter didn't sink in apparently. I called 911 and got the gas company there pretty quick while waiting for the house to explode at any minute. I've never felt like such a dumbass in my life. Fortunately they were cool about it and I didn't get fined, because I could have, and would have deserved it.

 

[Tactically Fat]

Oh I can only imagine. And I've got no business busting anybody's chops. I once put in a post next to the corner of my garage to hang a dinner bell on. We practically live on the back deck from April to November, so I put a sign on the front door telling people to ring the bell by the garage if there is no answer at the door.

Anyhow, I'm digging away with my post hole digger when all of a sudden there's a loud hissing and dirt is blowing up out of the hole. Yep - gas line. The fact that I was about 3' from my gas meter didn't sink in apparently. I called 911 and got the gas company there pretty quick while waiting for the house to explode at any minute. I've never felt like such a dumbass in my life. Fortunately they were cool about it and I didn't get fined, because I could have, and would have deserved it.

That reminds me...

We also hit a residential gas service line one day, too. Not too far west of Ft. Wayne off of SR 14. May have very well been at the 14 / Timberlake Trail intersection.

All the while we're working / finishing up, my almost chain-smoking coworker kept saying he smelled gas. Which was impressive since smokers generally can't smell, and it was a breezy day outside. So he/we are peering down the hole we'd created...with his cigarette in his hand or in his mouth. We'd just BARELY nicked the service line - but it was enough.

For sure at that time service lines weren't marked by the marking folks.

 

[bobjones223]

Old clay field tiles....make sink holes like that all the time....not an animal because there is no dirt deposited nearby. If you look they are probably in a line.

 

[Steel and wood]

I am sure your sink holes are broken clay tiles that were put in years ago. Were you say they are makes since because they are last place to drain. The missing dirt is being sucked down into the tile and filling up with dirt which will eventually plug them up. If they are private the county will not do anything to help. There are county ditches and tiles all over that they are responsible for. And are map out.
If you live in Jackson township I can guarantee you that Becks knows every inch of tiles around them, if you are on good terms with them stop by there they could help you.
I would just dig around them and replace the broken ones it’s very easy to do. I did this for 30 years when we farm in whitewater twsp.

 

[Cameramonkey]

I am sure your sink holes are broken clay tiles that were put in years ago. Were you say they are makes since because they are last place to drain. The missing dirt is being sucked down into the tile and filling up with dirt which will eventually plug them up. If they are private the county will not do anything to help. There are county ditches and tiles all over that they are responsible for. And are map out.
If you live in Jackson township I can guarantee you that Becks knows every inch of tiles around them, if you are on good terms with them stop by there they could help you.
I would just dig around them and replace the broken ones it’s very easy to do. I did this for 30 years when we farm in whitewater twsp.

Concur once again. Was out at my moms and took another good look at her broken tile hole. Looks Identical. She doesnt want to call the county though. Her tile uphill is so awful she's getting better drainage direct into the hole than relying on the entire system to work.

 

[PRasko]

I had groundhog issues and they move a literal crap ton of dirt around the opening of the hole. They can move around 750 lbs of dirt in a week.

The fat bastard dug under my foundation wall into my crawl space.

I sat on my porch for a week with a shotgun waiting on it to pop out. He went to little groundhog heaven.