My wife discovered groundhogs have taken up residence in our pumpkin patch. It in the pasture probably 1/2 acre. She was dismayed after harvesting several really nice pumpkins only to discover that had been gnawed on on one side.

In a quick search I found 3 holes that weren't there when I planted. I set 2 220s and a 1 160 rbg. Caught one the first day nothing the 2nd and 1 and one empty fired trap yesterday. I'm away at work and the wife a and kids aren strong enough to reset so I'm down to one set tell Friday morning.

I also have a new groundhog hole I. One of the syals in the barn i caught one in a different hole in the barn a few months ago.

My boys also shot a few this summer.
Anyone care to guess how many I will catch.

no guess
but urge you to invest in small setters so the family can reset your traps and teach em to stabilize them, etc.
Teach em to make a short tunnel of brush that not only camo's the trap, but gets it bout 5-6" from the hole, so trap closes cleanly, fast.
don't forget the 2 twigs underneath, perpendicular to jaws, to act as a runway, so the jaws don't grab debris.

Caught 33 In 3 checks off this one location. Just jam the trap right In the hole and stick a rod or 2 though the corners of the trap to stabilize It.

Hard to tell how many are there without looking and even then it can still be hard to tell, about like guessing how deep a muddy puddle is. Just did a spot with 15 holes or more over a large area and got 7. You might just have up to 6 or so in the immediate area. At another area there were 32 last year with another 15 this year that move in from outlying areas. I would use a safer cage trap, a double door trap with nose cone much like using the conibears, but safer for the user and for pets. Kids can set them and they are less apt to get sprung without a catch. After catching you can fill in the holes behind you and then watch to see if any are reopened as you set more dens. Go out at dusk and look for chucks. I like to run them into holes and then set the double door cage traps at the den after they go under. You will often find chucks and holes you didn't know were there that way and can sometimes catch them in 5 or 10 minutes.

Beav, what do you like to use, triggers or pans? And how do you like to configure if you don't mind me asking? I'm thinking top down and bell shaped?

The reason many, like me, went from pans to wire triggers for chucks and skunks was because pans can easily get jammed in the dirt and prevent the trap from firing when chucks go over them. Though I always tried to dig out a spot under the pan it seemed that pans still got packed and chucks just walked over them, prolonging the trapping. With wire triggers the traps can actually be worked into the dirt to cover the cage wire on the bottom without any worries of the traps not firing from jamming. Also, with a wire trigger you can either add or subtract dirt in the bottom to accommodate the size of the animal you are trapping. In spring, when young chucks are first moving around, really small, I will add an inch of dirt to the bottom to, which raises the bottom and puts the little guys right into the trigger wires. With the larger chucks this time of year I have been using only one top wire as that's all that is required. The big chucks just duck under.

No new groundhogs so far but I did catch a skunk. Much nicer caught in the 220 than by one of the dogs. Wistfully thinking make me think maybe I got them all but I don't think so. I haven't caught anything out of the holes going under the barn yet either. Do they have several den locations they move between?

They can move a lot from yard to yard, be gone for long periods of time and travel some distances when they temporarily run out of good feed. Catch a bunch of chucks and more will often come in from the outlying areas in a few weeks when outlying areas also have feed and no trapping pressure. No real certain way to tell what is there in the beginning. You may catch one chuck and be done with no more to return. Other places you can catch a half dozen and then repeat the process several times a summer. If I have caught a bunch but when the catching stops for a few days, I usually back off and ask the client to watch for more activity. If a few more show up a few weeks later, time to trap again. I have set, caught one and then not caught a second for another 10 days and then no more. Took 13 days to catch the first once, but got 6 when it was over. Some places I leave traps for weeks in town as new chucks drift in once a week or so. Getting cool her so don't think they will be around much more this fall.

220 is too big.

Other than snares and one round body grip that is a little smaller it's all I have. I have caught them in all 3 and only once had a fired empty trap and it was thr rbg.

Just becuse smaller fits in the hole and trail better? I am over due to make my run to my dealer( ernies feed store) and I can pick up few smaller traps along with the snares and mb 550s I'm planning on getting.

Edit to add .. I thought I got them all and had no activity for quite a while. Went to pull them and had freshly eaten pumpkins and squash. Guess more moved in or they made their circle back around..

Had another one in a 220 on my last check.

Awesome.