This morning I caught a decent size male. I reset and checked again just after lunch and had a big female that appears to nursing. Do they just run around jumping in random holes or is there a pecking order?

The only good ground hog has stopped breathing .

I think they have designated holed but other "whistlepigs" will come around and check out the hole. I know because my grandpa caught 18, yes 18 out of one hole last year. What's worse the hole was under his shop.

X2

The males maintain a harem of females between several holes and will visit each den in their territory.

Also, other "claim jumpers" will do the same. It is very common to catch multiple adults at any den site.

Their guard hairs make great tails for fly tying... That's all I know about 'em...

All I know about groundhogs is. You put the cross hairs on them and squeeze the trigger.

They will have from 2 to over a dozen holes and will not stray to far from them. Getting in between them and their holes was one of my favorite things to do, they make cool sounds, chop teeth and want to fight. They are mainly herbivores. After hibernation the males get the itch and start visiting the burrows of the local ladies and present themselves as suitors. When they make the love, after about 32 days the little ones appear and by fall's end they will start their own burrows and the cycle continues. This time of year is all about the love and you can catch a bunch of males going to see the ladies. Later on, if you haven't already caught the female, you will catch the females and young ones. Ground hog is one of my favorite meals, good eats!

I'll take your word for it.

If I'm still hungry after I carve out my own appendix and eat it, I'll give them a try.

Your missing out Hobbie, I have some great recipes!!

I have eaten it also .It is fine as long as it is prepared correctly .I would suggest that the smaller ones be used if you choose to try it . When you think about it they mostly eat grass ,soybeans and whatever you happen to be growing in your garden .They can to destructive to crops ,fields and buildings .Their digging around foundations should be stopped as soon as it starts.

They make good shoe laces.
If you can find a civil war reenactment group, you can retire selling era specific shoe laces.

The young ones are good roasted.

I'm no expert on ground hogs but I do know after you shoot one from a den it doesn't take very long for another one to move in.

I used to be crazy about hunting them lol, my grandpa even gave me a 1 dollar bounty for every one I killed. One summer I managed to get a little over 200. Best time to hunt them is sunny mornings and evenings. A conibear over the hole is also a very effective way to get them. Catch 22, if you could send me a pm about your recipes , I’d appreciate it. I Never could cook one to where I wanted to try it again lol.

Ave, You can par boil them for 30 minutes or so and dump the water, don't pull them up through the skim layer in the water. Let them cool, roll in flour and your favorite seasonings and fry like you would chicken. Or, roll them in flour and seasonings and fry them just enough to brown them up good and then bake them on 350 for a hour or so. You can also bake them in the oven or slowcooker with potatoes, carrots, celery, just like you would a roast. Back in the day we used to have a big invitational shoot at the archery club and my buddy and me would get a bunch of groundhogs and slow cook them in a big roaster. Then we'd pull the meat off the bones and put the meat back in the roaster and add BBQ sauce, like pulled pork and made sandwiches. Those were a big hit, everyone loved it that way. Enjoy!

Thanks!

Groundhogs (woodchucks) breed in February, he does not come out to look for his shadow but for females. Little ones are born in April. If a female should give birth and something kills the young before 1 month or so of age she will re-breed and have a second litter. This is why the males keep scouting the female holes in May. Raccoons will do the same thing (re-breed if a first litter is lost) having another litter in June-July. That is why once in a while you catch a 1 or 2 pound coon on the fall trapline.
Best bait in a cage trap to catch adult groundhogs are droppings from a groundhog from a different area, they are territorial and have to check em out.
In 2008 my assistant Ben and I snared over 5000 doing ADC jobs.

Awesome, Eric do you have any pics or tutorial type info on your snaring techniques?

One of my neighbors has a farm of about 110 acres .They do their own ADC on ground hogs because of the damage they do to crops and by digging holes .On average they get 75 to a hundred every year .Just for their own info they keep track and without fail about 65 % of the catch each year is male .So they are very prolific and apparently the larger # of male being caught is because they wonder in from other properties . Eric of that # do you have a rough estimate of how many different properties you did work on ?