wood chuck under house

[radioman]

apples worked good for me for bait in traps. I just put whole apple in there and leave it.

 

[MossRoad]

My place is infested with them, so, unfortunately, I'm getting lots of unwanted experience in this situation.

First, get a good wire cage trap. I got mine from Tractor Supply. It needs to be SOLID because ground hogs are very strong and will bend a cheap trap.

Next, figure out where he lives. If he hangs out in the hole under the house, wait until he goes in there and then set up the trap in front of the hole. Doesn't have to be real close, several feet away is OK.View attachment 273914View attachment 273916

Then, set up a couple of boards on end to form a chute to direct the animal to the trap. You would think he would just climb over, but they don't. They are lazy and creatures of habit, so he will just follow along the boards until he gets to the trap and will walk right in.

Use something sweet for bait. Ones around my house like apples and carrots. Throw a couple of concrete blocks on top of the trap to hold it down as they don't like walking into a trap that is moving around.

Once in the trap, relocate to the place of choice. Watch your fingers when handling the trap, they have long front teeth and will bite you through the cage if you get your hand up against it.

That's almost exactly what I did three weeks ago to get a groundhog out of our garden after he burrowed under the compost pile. You know the groundhog is in the hole when the flies are buzzing around. Those things attract flies like nothing else. I dug out the front of the hole to make a level place for the live trap. I then lined the bottom, and sides with patio blocks so he couldn't dig under or around it. Then I put patio blocks over the trap, too. Kind of a concrete tunnel that he had to go through. Then I used a piece of pipe and jammed down through the pile until I felt I was in his tunnel. I removed the pipe and inserted a garden hose. Turned it on and waited. Over an hour of hose running and he finally came out and had to exit through the trap. I got him. We took him for a ride in the country to our tree farm.

 

[Ed of all trades]

Thanks again guys. I caught one on a live trap and fed him to the buzzards. The problem is it was only a small one, about 3 or 4 pounds. It mom and I suppose its litter mates are still unaccounted for. O if you have one that is just in a hole somewhere and not in the crawl space of a house or something, there is an easy fix. Pour about a pint of gas on an old shirt and push it down the hole as far as you can and cover the hole with dirt. The gas fumes will do the rest. Thanks again Ed

 

[RobertBrown]

Woodchuck meatloaf?
Oriental Groundhog?
Man... I'm gettin hungry, we don't have woodchucks down here.
:licking: :beer:

Woodcock Recipes

 

[lockhaven]

they are not that good I have tried them yuck, now a good old road killed possum yummm

 

[MossRoad]

A note about gassing them in their holes... my brother in law had one under a shed behind their garage. He tossed in a gopher gasser and immediately plugged the hole with dirt, a board and a cement block. They never saw the groundhog again. However, several days later they started gettting "dead animal" smell in their house. Seems the critter had dug under the shed, under the garage, under the breezeway and next to the house foundation. It took two weeks for the smeall to go away.

 

[MossRoad]

Thanks again guys. I caught one on a live trap and fed him to the buzzards. The problem is it was only a small one, about 3 or 4 pounds. It mom and I suppose its litter mates are still unaccounted for. O if you have one that is just in a hole somewhere and not in the crawl space of a house or something, there is an easy fix. Pour about a pint of gas on an old shirt and push it down the hole as far as you can and cover the hole with dirt. The gas fumes will do the rest. Thanks again Ed

If you want to account for them, fill in the hole lightly and see if they dig it back out. No dig out, they are gone. Dig out, they are back and you should resume trapping.:thumbsup:

 

[ALBALD1]

I once poured a trashcan full of water in a groundhog hole. when they came out for air, my dogs took care of them. got a bunch of little ones and the momma within 15 minutes.

 

[easygo]

When I had one under my house my neighbor suggested I use mothballs. Groundhogs supposed to hate the smell my neighbor used it several times. The problem is I can't stand the smell of them either. I took him up on the offer of loaning me a .22 I cought it out of the hole the next day and the neighborhood animals took care of the remains within two days.