Well, its not really a job, more of a favor. My uncle owns this house you see and this groundhog has been living under his tenants house for two years! I have a large raccoon sized live trap, pretty sure I could get a gray fox in there, and some Marsyada's Digger Bait. If I set the live trap by the hole with some bait smeared carrots or something leading into the trap, do you think I'll connect. Haven't been out there yet, just trying to make a game plan.

I like apples over carrots for groundhog.

Okay, just slice 'em up and put half or so in back?

If you are good, you do not need bait.

Comstock traps are the way to go!!!

Don't think I'm that good
Would that method work with a single door trap, or do you need a double door?

Cut one in half and throw it in the back of the cage. Use some of your bait also. That's what I would do with what you have to work with.
I set comstocks when possible as first choice. When baiting I use apples and woodchuck crap that I save as lure. But, I also use Jamesons woodchuck paste and woodchuck gland lure. When baiting for woodchucks you will catch a lot of non target animals. An unbaited, positive set directly over the woodchuck den will eliminate most non-targets.

If you are a great trapper, use a single door. Otherwise, you better stick to double door.

Positive sets are my preferred method for woodchucks. If not possible I like brocolli and cantelope for bait.

Double door or single door shouldn't matter. Woodchucks are pretty easy to catch.

Cover the wire on the bottom of the cage with dirt from the hole preferably (has chuck scent on it). I find they do not like walking on wire. Clean traps work better than dirty traps, Trap that recently held a woodchuck works best.

Wisconsin Woodchucks must like going for truck rides. I have never put dirt on the bottom of a woodchuck trap and have never washed a woodchuck trap even if they held a raccoon or opossum.

Nate must have those dumb southern Wisconsin woodchucks. The ones I have been chasing aren't exactly college graduates either but they keep moving and moving and then moving some more. The holes look fresh as a daisy, you positve set them, and nothing. You didn't scare them because they had already moved on before you got there.

Please explain " positive set" . My nieces neighbor has a chuck under her front porch that needs to go! Have single door cage traps that I use for coon, that I can put to use. How would I set these single door traps. I utubed Jim comstocks woodchuck system, man if I had one more chuck to deal with I'd pull the trigger! Thanks in advance gents!

Miley, a positive set is where you give the animal no choice but to go in your cage. If you screened every part of your niece's neighbor's front porch, except where the cage was, that would be a positive set. And yes, they should really be called a "sometimes positive" set.

Miley use some hardware cloth a clean cage and make a positive set I do it all the time no big deal no secrets no special cage its a rodent not a magician.

Ya, you can use a single door trap with bait and wait, or a single door trap at a den if you want to have half a chance, not knowing if the rodent is in or out, so why not go to a baitless double door at the den and catch the critter going out or coming back in less than a day, sometimes minutes? Chucks migrate from hole to hole, so good holes don't always catch because they might be 50 yards away in the next hole, but will return to your set at some point no doubt. At least with a positive set you know you have the right bait, and you know if he's there, because he's in the trap.

One guy just called the other day, had been using bait and single door traps for a chuck, no "luck." Guess he changed baits, moved the traps, added traps, nothing. He finally got a double door cage, set the den, what a surprise, a few hours later he had the chuck. Only later did he divulge that he had been using 4 baited single days traps for 16 days!

The concept can be used for skunks, squirrels, fox, badger, possum, coon, armadillo, anything that has a den, comes through a fence, has a path or follows structure. No re-baiting, client calls when you make the catch so it saves you time to go set more places and saves the client money, they like that.

Good advise Jim but dont rule out single door cages I picked up 6 today all baited with my own bait so lets not rule out bait all cages were set yesterday and two reset today that I had to go back and collect.Same as trappin anything else you gotta know there weakness and habits.

Trapster, sounds like you're in really good woodchuck country. I kinda got hung up on the Comstocks myself. They've certainly changed the way I trap chucks. Set a Comstock for a skunk yesterday and she was waiting for me this morning. UPS delivered 2 more Comstocks around noon and they're both set up at customer's homes already.

In anything, there is good, better and best. I guess I would be a type, A, never satisfied, always striving to improve, no matter what I have been doing, no matter how good it was. No question that baits run a good percentage. I used baits for years too and caught a pile of chucks like everyone else and then I missed some here and there, like the fellow who told me the 16 day story, which is not all that rare. When you hear the utter excitement in their voice when a positive set has ended a long stalemate with bait, very rewarding. I simply wanted better, more on my side for chucks, a set that would attract virtually no non targets, a set that did not depend on me attracting the chuck to what I had for bait, a set that would be maintenance free, a set that would have no additional expense, and that would be the blind or positive set that would keep on working for days on end, justing waiting for a critter to move. After experiencing 100 plus 'cat seasons in the chaparral in the 80's without a drop of bait or lure, no flags, nothing but a well made set in the right place, I thought why not everything else? We simply applied the same logic to chucks, much easier, more profitable. I quit with the bait years ago on chucks, never looked back and have found it to be far superior to anything I have tried to date. Very nice to know definitively that if the animal is not in your trap, it is because he is simply not there, rather than an unknown variable that exists in the fact that he may not be interested in what you have. Baiting a chuck in a garden, that's a real tough one. So easy to catch him coming or going in or out at a choke point. Judy just said, "what if you can't find a positive or blind set." If you can't, he's not there. LOL. Look at it this way, if you were positive setting and it didn't work, you would be less apt to revert to a bait set, but instead when the bait does not produce you can go to the positive sets, which usually wrap up the project quickly. I simply circumvent the inevitable, chucks that don't want to come in to bait from the git go, and bring out the big guns first to end pretty much all the jobs in a hurry. The only chuck that's trouble is the one that leaves. Really can't think of any off hand that stayed and were not caught.

Beaver, that's a different gig. "Brown Gold" is hard to beat.

Jim - I am going to print off that info...great talking points for my techs.

Just ordered a few more chuck traps with the nose cones today from you Jim. Love the traps, I use broken safeguards as nose cones over vents and under soffits for raccoons. Your traps nest perfectly inside the safeguard raccoon traps. They are the best traps I have found to catch what I consider the hardest critter to trap, momma skunk.

I try to be analytical, merely going over each of the known, anticipated scenarios one by one, which will in the end usually dictate the correct approach or at least make you aware of the trade offs, plusses and minuses. When we set conibears in a positive set in a den hole we don't think twice, which is the basic premise for a double door cage trap, just a "wire box conibear" with a live chuck. The cage is quick and easy and comes with peace of mind in suburbia. Never want the "cure" to be worse than the disease.

I was asked the definition of a blind set. It is merely an unbaited set placed anywhere in a trail or travel way or a den, which has been named a positive set. When I get a call on skunks or chucks I usually ask, "do you have a fence or an out building." Most often the answer is yes and the land owner will frequently volunteer that there is a hole under one or both, great blind sets. A flush mount internal door double door cage trap or cage trap with an external door and a nose cone will cover either opening to take the chuck, skunk, possum armadillo, whatever, both coming and going, just like a conibear, but minus the danger. As a plus, in using both cages and conibears I have found that cages are no less effective a tool than a conibear for these animals and more, actually more effective for several reasons concerning the nature of the function of each device, another topic.

If den holes are not readily available, the hole is on the neighbors property and for some reason you can not access it, chucks love to travel along the edge of buildings, fences, walls etc. any structure, so a pinch point between a wall and a bush is all it takes. Set and place the trap, done. You can see where chucks part the grass especially when it is tall. Again a double door cage in the travel way will take him. I like to put some grass in the bottom of the cage and sprinkle some on the cage to blend it, but chucks don't seem to do a lot of avoiding. They are used to humans and all the plastic, metal and junk we leave all over the place.

Had to laugh about a story of a coyote caught in a double door cage. The 'yote was coming in to a junk yard, nothing but steel. They had a pinch point and covered the trap with mufflers, tail pipes etc. Nabbed him first night. Guess its all relative.

Once you have made a blind set, there is nothing to preclude you from adding some bait or lure if you feel the need, but then you are back to attracting the non targets, which slows the process in more trips and sometimes the client will balk at additional charges for a mess of unwanted unintentional catches.

RF, I love your shot about the broken Safeguards. If you repair them using Tomahawk parts, do you then have to change the name to Tomaguards or Safehawks?

Paul, you're just too serious, as always.

I know Jim. Perhaps if you and Judy stopped here on your way to the FTA, you could get me to lighten up a bit.

To me a trail and blind set are one in the same. A positive set to me is a set made on a structural entry, over an established or suspected den or frequented harborage site.

Set this job up yesterday.

Two holes going under house. Hole 1 is not visible in the picture but was full of grass clippings. Hole 2 is where the hose goes under the house and had no grass clippings. I asked home owner how long ago he mowed and he said day before. Grass clippings told me which hole was the primary. I stuffed a brick in hole 1 and set trap by hole 2.

I just set the trap on the ground. I do not mess around with putting a bedding in the bottom of the trap. Threw a piece of cantelope in the back of the trap and was on my way.

Customer called 2 hours after I set the trap and let me know we caught our woodchuck.



I always prefer a positive set but this trap is only used for woodchucks and the smell of countless woodchucks inside of it make it work great without worrying about a positive set.

I do the same Nate. Still catching hogs.I will agree though sometimes a posive set is the answer but I set snares in a couple holes on a farm and ended up with a possum the secret to bait is to keep it fresh.