Older Woman the boys mow for has groundhogs geting under her deck and making tunnels along her house.

I lethal her know the damage being done out of sight and she said she had tried to trap them with I'm guessing cage traps and didn't get them. I told her my boys are successful trapping figured it would not hurt to help the older woman living on SS a hand and save her damage and cost. When the boys wet to look at the mowing job she told them what she would pay them each ( Instead of asking she is prob 75 year old black lady quite an interesting lady.) the boys told her no and a lower price to do it than she was offering knowing she was limited on money. I was proud of them same as shoveling snow for free for a few older ladies with no disposable cash last winter. ( sometime.i think I must be doing something right. Definitely proud dad moments.)

She was wanting them gone but then said BUT I then they may have babies now! I told her they probably do and left it at that for now. I figured she will probably want them gone later I'm the year or sooner after she thinks on it some. But then I thought about it. Typically I snare or body grip them have foot hold and box trapped them as well but prefer snare or body grip. BUT this is in town and all the possible downfalls of that. Also I don't think a box trap will be as effective at geting rid of them. Big difference from messing around and trying to catch one vs planning on wiping them all out. Also I only have one nice function box trap.

I would not want to have to spend more than a few days to get them all not wanting to do all the driving back and forth. May be better and more fun for.the boys to set them up with air guns and shoot them but our air guns are l almost as loud as a .22. subsonic .22 suppressed would be more quiet but not legal. X bow is another option.


Anyway if you were going to help an old lady out what methods would you pick.

Bait pile and a 22 CB cap with a backstop it would not take much to stop it.

back yard has no fence and one down from the corner so has about 5 yards with clear view from the side street and and 2 more slightly obstructed by thin tree line on the next road over. It does run downhill some not much. Safe shooting can be done with care still not legal. would be something I would do myself anyway if it were my yard and I could comfortably take my time on shots and time of day. But I don't/won't let the kids do anything illegal especially with guns in town and not far from a school.

But if it was my yard I could easily check traps and just trap them. I agree standard velocity cci segmented suppressed.22 would be ideal for shooting them if anything passed through at all the pieced broken up would be so small and out of energy i dont think they would penetrant a can. Just not a practical legal option

when I was a kid and lived in town I would never have thought twice about shooting them. But in today's climate and being an adult... It sure does make me think about and respect what the full time ADC guys have to work with day in and day out. Bunny huggers I thought would be the worse issue untill I really thought about legal possibility.

cages , caught my last couple wood chucks in a cage on dog food , fish oil , corn mix that I was using for coon
as well as blind foot hold sets at eh entrances to the burrows

I would be very cautions using 160s over the holes it would depend what is around to get into them that I wouldn't want to. they would be a maybe

shooting also depends lot on location

I’d go snare over a 160 just leaves more options that way.

Cage trap them
have the lady check the cages and call you

Shooting them would take just as long. they don't all come out at once.

I find a lot of elderly homeowners really enjoy checking the traps every day.
Cages and lettuce/melons would be my first go around at 'em.
I certainly wouldn't do anything even remotely illegal in that situation.

I had snares set up in a farm place when I worked for the State many years back. Never caught the fox that was coming in the yard of a younger couple newly installed house trailer. Noticed changes in the snares so I asked the lady if anyone had been messing with them. She informed me she closed the loops when she lets her dog out.

160s with some wire cages over the traps. I trap where I catch 40 some chucks each year, and the place is full of bird watchers and dog walkers. Never caught anything but chucks and a few grinners.
I wait till July to trap then all the young of the year have moved out and are on their own.

Seeing a lot of road kill Marmots the last few year, in the middle of St Louis Co, Deer too along with the odd 'Yote. Pretty impressive to see the wildlife adjust to big city ways.

If you're creative and have enough traps., when the babies are big enough to be caught in cages, you can mop the whole litter up in one or two trips. Side by side traps with fencing on the sides and tops.

Live trap and once you catch one, use their scat for bait to catch the rest. Babies are dumb and you can sit by the hole and grab them by hand as they come out.