I do a little trapping as a hobby for yotes and cats mainly but I have been asked buy landowner to trap the ground hogs in their yard. I have caught a few in past with conis. Question, can I use a live trap? If so what to bait with? Any advise would be appricated.

You mean a cage trap I assume. A lot of people use cage traps for wood chucks.

Ghogs are fairly easy to trap in cages, we use are own ghog bait and lure. Advice? Don't overthink your setup for the animal. I use 11x12x36 cages and slap some bait and lure on an object in the rear of the cage. That object could be fruit/veggies anything for appeal.

A couple of things I have found. Cage needs to be clean. No coon, possum or cat smell. Ground hog smell is good. Cage has to be close to hole. Can not draw a ground hog very far.

When you set traps also set up a camera. Watch to see if they pass by the baited traps.

If you are considering buying cage traps, look at Comstock traps. The double door works great at dens. The animals get caught going in or out. Excellent traps!

positive set, right over an active groundhog hole, two door cage with a nose cone as needed. No bait. Easy Peasy.
Comstock traps.

Easy peasy if the setup is there. Sometimes more frequently than not, the den is on the adjacent property with a homeowner who want's nothing to do with trapping them. Runs a clinic on the neighbors garden or causes problems doing X, then heads back. Still fairly easy but a little thought not much but jus a little goes into the setup. Basics like the attraction to the property etc. I try to "rinse" off all the blood after jobs but even then depending on the target animal blood isn't always a bad thing. I use the same cages as I do for raccoon skunk and opossum. I believe the odors help at times regardless of other beliefs, not too concerned with the multi catch in same traps. I've always trapped them with no issue when I used a cage that wasn't specifically used for ghogs.

Woodchucks in my area don't seem that smart.

I never noticed avoidance due to smells before.

But, to be fair, they may have avoided the trap 12 times before they comitted to it.

Snares or Cable restraints are my number one tool, cages are next. use sight smell and taste.

Any idea how to keep cats out of live traps for ground hogs? I've used cantaloupe in the past with good success. But today for a customer I caught 3 of his cats, never had a problem with this until now. Any suggestions?

Positive set on the hole. Cats dont go down the den.

It's under the shed, set traps on the area where he is coming out.

I would use a double door trap with a nose cone. JMO

Picture of the setup? Every once and a while a good power wash'n on the cages are due. Lots of odor from other animals can create curiosity of unwanted visitors, the cage alone is an eyepiece odors associated with it doesn't help with cats. I don't use nose cones or any other gadgets besides a cover.

I've caught several cats in positive set double doors. But I agree that you will catch many fewer than in baited sets. Also agree that traps need ocassional washing- especially if you already caught a cat in one.

I very seldom set positive sets for ground hogs and I do not catch cats in groundhog traps guess I am lucky.

Just a thought.....would putting a thin strip of wood in the bottom of the cage trap to absorb ground hog odor help? I know folks that trap armadillos swear by wood for that purpose.

"There's more than one way to skin a Groundhog."

Just a few ways how I set for grounghogs around sheds, porches, or at den holes. Always posi set, no bait.