Bob is right, chucks do a lot of den hopping. We have had the same thing happen with chucks, skunks etc., long periods to catch, but at least you are not changing bait or wondering if the animal likes your bait with a den set. Nice part, no maintenance and you know if you are set over the den and you don't catch, the animal is not there, roaming. Have set for chucks, caught one first night and then sometimes its a couple of weeks for the second male to come back.
On a bit different but related subject, I do like closure, catching, not just "trying" or going through the motions if I can help it, providing results for a client rather than excuses. One local company here offers 5 days of trapping, M-F, one set, 4 checks no matter what, results or not, not the hot set up. Sometimes, like Paul, it takes many days and some patience. The set is good, just have to match it to the critter when he returns. I mentioned a coon set on a roof, not my job, but it was there frozen in ice and snow for 2 months, thawed out and got the coon on the first warm day, hard to beat. Patience, one of the toughest parts of all this, has surprised me many times. A client will ask, after a time has passed, do you need the trap? I tell them I will hang in there if they will. Certainly not every job ends with a catch, but the client knows you have been more than fair. At times, depending on circumstance, after receiving payment for the long effort, I offer to return, set the den another time free of charge because it takes but seconds to do and to try again if the animal has been spotted. They just pay for the catch or catches.
