I was wondering what I should use to catch a groundhog in a boxtrap.

Cantaloupe cut and placed behind the pan and a trail to the cage, gets em everytime

Comstock

I had a gray fox keep tripping my trap doing that once Cantaloupe definitely works though.

I don't disagree with you guys about cantaloupe. My problem is that we have approximately 43,000 raccoons for every woodchuck. This

is why the two-door, no-bait trap, like the Comstock, is so species selective. And when I say species selective, I'm not only

referring to woodchucks. I recently had a customer with "a" raccoon under her deck. 10 raccoons later she's wondering if all of those

raccoons lived under there. Since I was using Comstocks and no bait, I'm guessing the all did! Either that or they were going

through the cages to pick up their date for the evening!

Salt! My previous boss caught 31 woodchucks in one year in his box trap using only salt as bait. The chucks were coming from a neighbors farm into his garden. I wouldn't of believed it but he brought the culprits over to the shop for dispatching.

A blind set using the entry or hole for bait. Cover it with a coni if ethical, a double door either the advanced, a comstock, a traditional trip pan they all work fine. I T stake it to make it difficult to raise of the hole.
If a blind set isn't an option I clean the trap unless its last job was a groundhog. If I am going to use cantilope, cabbage or any other fruit or veg I sprinkle it with salt as it preserves the freshness. I also like to cover the trap because the shade keeps the food fresh longer and it makes the ground hog look better if some one sees him in the trap. Sweet feed for cattle or horses is a great ground hog attractant. If I use a lure I use jamesons formula one and his trailing scent. I also like pro line sweet sabotage but it is very atractive to non target coons and squirrels. I also save ground hog poop from previous catches to put in the trap.
When I catch a ground hog I transfer him so I can keep using that trap on site.
A silk flower with formula one holds up well.

Had a customer put in a piece of pound cake. Pig was in the trap in an hour after two days of nothing. Go figure.

Big Bear, that was only because the 'chuck was lucky enough to beat you to the cake, right?

we catch 2 to 5 groundhogs a day using nothing but my baits and lures. and on a occasion we will force them LOL

Ron, what is your website for baits? Yes Paul he did beat me. Quick devil.

Lots of types of fruits or vegetables can be used for baiting hogs.

However you cant beat a good lure, bait and gland lure combination set by a den or travel lane to and from a burrow as Ron stated. We catch hundreds of hogs a year with lure and bait. Some applications forced trapping works also. Just depends on the different variables that you must work with.

Bob, seeing as I have had great success with your squirrel baits, I ordered your woodchuck 1 bait from Alan. Waiting on Ron's catalog. Have to find out what these Ct. Hogs want besides cake.

Good lure and bait combos are very effective with visual eye appeal for groundhogs.Like Ron we have caught thousands over the years with that presentation. As long as you do a good set up they come pretty easy. Like a pretty girl in a bar you have to take a look at her and think MMMMM that looks pretty good. Ghogs arent much different. Just dont crowd them, give them some breathing room with your traps.

The rest is all instinct and the mood they are in at that moment of their encounter with your set up. If they are unharrassed and have the time to see and smell the set they are mine.

Got a call the other day at 10a.m., chucks eating the flowers, arrived at 2p.m., set 2 positive sets. Got a call just two hours later at 4p.m. , "you got him."

Set 7 positive sets on a closed landfill recently, 4 chucks first morning and an incidental coon, all but done with the job in 8 hours. Left the traps two more days, got one more. Except for a traveler, jobs are usually done in hours. I know there are some very good baits out there, but I have not used any for the past 5 or 6 years while moving to positive sets in order to remove the element of "chance." With a positive set, all they have to do is move, in or out, whether the set is a conibear or a double door cage trap.

For small areas, backyards, one or two traps are enough for the most part. For large areas where the holes are in clusters, fill in a couple of the grouped holes and set the one that looks best or easiest, though it seems any in the group will do. If the holes are spread out over a large area you can cover each with a trap the first night, then after catches are made or holes go dormant, fill in and move to new holes while watching to see if any of the closed holes are reopened. It is quite common to take only one chuck at a den.

If you push a chuck into a den as you arrive and set it, the catch can take as little as 5 minutes. You can set, take out your lunch and load them up before go.

And it doesn't hurt the set one iota if you trail some lure through the center of the Comstock cage either. Of course, if there is

more than one animal, you might have to post a sign that says, WAIT, YOUR TURN IS NEXT! ( Or you could use a couple of cages )

I'm with Jim on this subject. Positive sets only for chucks. As a matter of fact I try do do absolutely everything positive. The way I do things and sell my jobs the exclusion is the biggest part of the job (money wise). I sell solutions, not a trapping service. Yes there are exeptions to this such as beavers, muskrats... Yes there will be times you have to cage a chuck with bait but those situations are few and far between. Positive sets on jobs will most definately speed up the process, with 3.50 gas efficiency equals more money in your pocket and to me that's the bottom line.

X 2 on what Bob said. with that being said, Hey there is nothing wrong with a positive set!!!!! you know the old saying if you can't catch it force it! Heheheheheheheh LOL

My whole take on this subject, probably because I have used Jim Comstock's cages so fantastically successfully, is that if you are

using a lure, not necessarily even a trailing lure, and you don't catch the target animal, you need a new lure, not a new cage. I

guess in this day and age, it becomes necessary to tell you that, outside of some "Thank Yous", I receive absolutely nothing in the

line of price breaks, free cages, or anything else that could be misconstrued as a benefit from anyone that I recommend! ( If they

did, however, bribe me in any way, I would feel a moral obligation to tell you. But I would still keep the bribe. I ain't stupid )

Ron, I can see where a lure maker would not use positive sets much. Kinda cuts down on the whole testing thing lol. I honestly have never tried your baits however I have heard very good things about them. Whenever I have baited in the past I have used Bobs stuff and it worked very well. I will have to try some of yours so I can have an honest opinion.