Ground hogs.

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.

Chuck gland lure will boost woodchuck captures greatly just out of pure over whelming curiosity. Plus it makes older dirty traps smell like a hogs back side and his toilet areas. For years back for those of us who knew about such things would keep the hog feces from captured hogs and kept those cages for hog work only. Hogs have as good of a nose as any animal. This information wasnt as freely given out or known as some things are today. Jonesie knows about such things.

Don't forget that tid bit..Squirrels have a great sense of smell as well.

Oh the things I have learned over the years. I sure wish I knew some of the things that I know now back 50 years.

For some it takes some several >>>>>> years to understand this scenario. It is basic biology and animal husbandry. I can catch them with and without bait by just using gland lure. Posi sets are effective as are lured traps. Many nuisance operators just use liquid bait and gland lure and catch them every time, no visual eye appeal at all. It is all in what you find works best for you. i stopped telling clients about gland lure when they asked due to the loss of future revenue.

If you catch a cat and don't want to dispose of it , give the trap a good shaking up. The cat will exit at a high rate of speed, you can't catch it a second time. old243

Bob the learning curve was long back in the day. When we understand the critter we do not have to always force the animal.

Positive dens sets, trails, under fences, along walls, no bait ever with short double door traps, 18 and 24 long. Bait is not necessary. Sometimes will leave a nasty trap out with feces that also works well. I know guys get more than we do, but we did do 142 chucks last summer without bait. The pics above show it clearly. When I was with the carnival in the early 70's the saying was, "if this ain't easy, chicken ain't greasy."

Here is the bottom dollar, there have been years where 300 plus was caught with bait. And then again there are jobs where I force or positive set. I will walk up to the job and decide what I am going to do at that job. Both ways are right, and both can be wrong if done just because that is what I do, and not willing to do the other. if the situation calls for it.