Wildlife And Golf Courses

So you purchased a home on or near a golf course, welcome to the country club! One thing you may not have realized is golf courses are irresistible magnets for Southwest Missouri wildlife, specifically groundhogs, raccoons, skunks, beavers, opossum, armadillos, muskrats, fox and coyotes. The finely manicured, highly fertilized and well watered landscape of a golf course and your neighborhood is a paradise to wildlife. It is no surprise that many of our clients around Joplin, Carthage and Neosho live on or near a golf course.

A golf course's abundance of water and places to hide and hunt is attractive to wildlife, such as coyotes and raccoons, who may wander over to your home when they are looking for new territory to explore and exploit. The lush landscape and rich soil are also an attractant to wildlife; particularly those that like to burrow and dig. What happens when skunks, armadillos and other lawn destroying animals get tired of the golf course? That's right, they will go directly next door to your lawn and your flower bed will become dessert! These animals digging in the soil for insects, grubs and worms are going to go for the most lush lawns and flower beds in the area - that's you.

Beavers chewing down trees in and around a golf course are very common. It is also very common for a beaver to come through surrounding areas overnight and do thousands of dollars worth of damage to trees. Beavers also plug up storm drains and dam up drainage ditches creating flood hazards. Beavers and muskrats can do significant damage to the banks of ponds, levees, dams and roadways when digging dens causing hollow areas that can collapse and cause erosion and flooding.

Golf courses are attractive to wildlife. Part of the draw and enjoyment of golf courses and golfing in general is being outdoors and enjoying Mother Nature. Because of this, many, but not all, golf courses do not do any kind of wildlife control whatsoever and it falls on the surrounding home owners to handle issues that directly affect their homes, pets or property. Home owner associations will sometimes pay for services related to water dwelling nuisance animals, such as muskrat removal and beaver removal. But generally, problems like raccoon removal, skunk removal, or other wildlife damage occurring on your actual property or inside your home are your responsibility. Our technicians can evaluate your specific problem and develop custom solutions that will resolve your wildlife conflict.