Groundhogs and Live Traps

[mrurbplanner]

Does anyone here have any experience with live trapping ground hogs that could offer some tips and lessons learned?

I have discovered one on my lot and am looking to live trap it and relocate it. It looks as if the groundhog just set up the den within the past day as the sand pile down from the hole is fresh.

I live in an urban fringe / suburban area so am also curious as to how far I should relocate the ground hog once I trap it. I am considering a location in a wooded area about 6 kilometers away (10 minutes by car).

Thanks

 

[benjamin]

it can work, but they eat anything green so they're not that easy to attract. if you catch him in the den put the trap over the entrance and wait. I'd go a lot further than 6km if I did catch him, or use lethal means.

 

[LLigetfa]

I saw a TV article on a guy that turned an old septic sucking truck into a gopher catcher. Called his business Dog Gone something or other. Worked a charm... sucked them suckers right out of their hole.

They stuck a TV camera inside the truck and you could see them dogs fly. The guy put in a big piece of foam cushion so the dogs had a soft landing. It was hilarious watching the dogs bounce off the foam with a dazed look.

I doubt you could entice them into a live trap.

 

[BrotherBart]

That was Gay Balfour. Invented it back in the early 90s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAWokZuszuU

 

[LLigetfa]

Dog gone funny! Cracks me up.

 

[JustWood]

Bait with apple.

 

[ChipTam]

I had a buddy who successfully trapped ground hogs near his vegetable garden with a live trap. The suggestion to bait with apples sounds good........they love apples. I asked my buddy what he did with the critters once caught. He said he wanted them to live the good life and released them up in Barton Hills.....a super pricy, exclusive residential development in our little town.
ChipTam

 

[Hunderliggur]

I find 30 minute road flares and a shovel work well. You need to cover BOTH exits. Oh - you said live trap - never mind.

 

[LLigetfa]

I find 30 minute road flares and a shovel work well...

Propane works well too... heavier than air. No shovel needed. Matches optional.

 

[billb3]

Males supposedly can have a 10 mile range, so you might want to go a little further.

I've gotten rid of young ones by disturbing them, but apparently this only works until they've established a home.

I've read that it is important to fill the holes as best as possible and this does seem to help.

My father used to live trap them all the time, but I don't remember what he used for bait - probably whatever they were eating in his garden.

 

[Reggie Dunlap]

I'd drive a .22 bullet through his cranium and be done with it.

 

[semipro]

Maybe peanut butter as bait?. It works for a lot of other critters. I think it works well because of the smell.

 

[Jags]

Any kind of veggie will also work. Carrots (with tops), lettuce, etc. in the raw. No lima beans though - nothing eats them darn things. Yuck!

 

[billb3]

I'd drive a .22 bullet through his cranium and be done with it.

I'm pretty sure they just bounce off.


Either that or there's plenty of room in their for some more lead.

 

[benjamin]

I find 30 minute road flares and a shovel work well...

Propane works well too... heavier than air. No shovel needed. Matches optional.

An old Hmong guy recomended my cutting torch for that purpose, he couldn't tell me where to get the grenade to ignite it though, and for some reason he wasn't willing to throw the match either.

 

[zzr7ky]

Hi -

My kids catch them in a box trap using carrots. Works pretty well. I think the quickest was about an hour. The .22 idea does have merit.

 

[daveswoodhauler]

If you got a shop vac, put some cayanne pepper in the tub, and move the hose from suck to exhaust...stick it in the hole and see what happens

 

[gpcollen1]

Trap how you like but they are nothing more than large rats to me. Just remember that those suckers don't live in the woods. They need lots and lots of greens to survive. Wherever you dump them, they will either die or become someones new problem. You are not really 'setting them free"!!

 

[kenny chaos]

There's a very successful old sniper dude who enters the local "biggest woodchuck" contest every summer.
He fattens them up ahead of time with cooked potatoes and walnuts.
The farmers all drop a few of them real big round gum balls near the holes.
See, they don't like gum and will move on. :coolsmile:

 

[Dix]

A. Trap

B. CO 2

C. Snipe.

D. All of the above.

We're going with "D". Damned things are all over the pastures, going under run ins, and just creating havoc.

No one wants there horse to step in a hole.

 

[Bobbin]

Last time one of them appeared in the vegetable garden I turned the dogs loose on him. Lol. He put up a good fight but was no match for the quick grap and shake.

I prefer eliminating them rather than relocting them. Solve the problem once and for all.

 

[delaford321]

Thanks for all the great tips, but does anyone know if these ideas would work for gophers and moles? We have a ton of them in our backyard and it is driving us nuts.

Thanks in advance for your advice

 

[Hunderliggur]

A mole would be a more challenging snipe ;-)

 

[kenny chaos]

does anyone know if these ideas would work for gophers and moles? We have a ton of them in our backyard and it is driving us nuts.

Some people choose New York.
Some choose the hurricane belt.
Some choose 'tornado alley.'
Some live on a fault line.
You chose gophers and moles.

 

[firefighterjake]

A. Trap

B. CO 2

C. Snipe.

D. All of the above.

We're going with "D". Damned things are all over the pastures, going under run ins, and just creating havoc.

No one wants there horse to step in a hole.

OK, got to ask . . . how do you eliminate a woodchuck/gopher/prairie dog or other nuisance critter with carbon dioxide. Keep plying him with enough soda until he has too much of a gas build up and explodes . . . keep plying him with beer until he gets drunk and wanders off on to the near-by highway or decides to play chicken with the lawn mower . . . fire off a carbon dioxide extinguisher into the hole to convince him that it's winter time and he decides to go into hibernation again?