Ground Hogs

Hello All,

Have a ground hog job set a positive set at the hole on Friday. I checked the trap today. The client hasn't seen the ground hog seen I set the trap. Could the ground hog be afraid to come out?

Thanks

Chuck

I had a positive set that we made on 5-5-15,and caught it yesterday on the 10th. Set one with a nosecone on the 6th. over a single hole, they said he came out and went into the cage, but didn't trigger it and went back down. He still hasn't come out on the 11th. Not sure exactly how long one will hole up, but it seems 5-6 days is pretty common. ( and you know the minute you pull those cages, and tear the job down, he will be back the next day)

I had to post this here too because it was about ground hogs. I had a fella call this week with a ground hog problem and I gave him a quote on the phone and he said "how can you charge that much when your still getting all that money from selling the fur too!" I still just can't stop picturing what a ground hog coat would look like? Let alone feel like!

I don't trap a lot of groundhogs but when I do I often have problems getting them in a cage trap, even positive set. After a couple of days I switch to a conibear and have them pretty quick.

I have seen it mentioned on here a couple of times not to catch other species in your groundhog traps(or clean them). That is probably my problem.

Well, if I used a coni-bear trap in Massachusetts I hope you all would write to me in jail.

Coondog6, you know that we would all show up at the jail with picket signs proclaiming "Police Brutality". Just don't expect us to

provide bail money; our friendship only goes so far.

Caging hogs is pretty easy with a good lure and bait or positive set cage traps. However, using cages with residual(contaminated)odor of coon, skunk, opossum, feral cat etc. can slow things down or can cause refusals or reluctance to enter the confined space that a cage trap represents.

I have caught hogs with multi caught species traps years ago but learned that by delegating some traps for g-hog use only is the best way to go and never wash them out. Keep the feces and urine odor in those traps. Many operators are too prone to clean their traps too much which actually works against you for acceptance by a target animal.

Acceptance is far superior with something that smells like home then something that may cause alarm or cautious behavior.

"Many operators are too prone to clean their traps too much..." I just wish that I could be more thankful that our operators have

never cleaned a trap in their lives and I doubt that they even know which end of the hose the water comes out of.

LOL I guess that could be a two sided blade also Paul.

What is it that we always hear about things should be done in moderation using good sense. The good sense part is what is lacking in some.

When they smell bad enough I strap them to the top of the truck for the rain, wind, and sun to clean.

Caught a hog other day in a bucket trap...i use jamesons formula one & two and cantaloupe

I like ________________________
www.jamesonsultrablend.com

Chuck mate lure and Chuck Matrix lure. Good products. Also J.R. & Sons Ground Hog Paste Bait.

Sometimes I have made a catch right away with a positive set and didn't catch another for a couple of weeks. Know others that have done the same. Set a couple of spots this year that have not yet produced, 2 weeks plus I guess, easy to lose track of time. I don't need the traps, so will just leave them for a while to see if I get a surprise. Did notice that there was very little for them to feed on, poor grass at best, nothing else growing, sand patch. Never know if someone else catches them somewhere else or they squashed.

As long as you don't need those traps anyway, can I borrow some? Every one of ours is out and I've got some more ordered but they are

really in demand and we haven't got our order yet. It seems like every day we get another woodchuck and another muskrat job. By the

way, with the right size culvert, that 30x8x6 of yours works really great on muskrats.

Glad to see you are using 6x8 for 'rats too. We have caught a few rats in them ourselves, the smaller ones. Judy was with me one night when I reached up into a rat hole to clear out junk and the little guy tried to bite me. Slammed a 5x5 into the den entrance quickly and got him as he came sailing out. Judy was surprised to see me back at the truck in 5 minutes with the rat. Found out that small bass swim into those rat holes often. Catch and release. When at a Marshfield, Wi. convention several trappers who did not see the trigger noticed a spring on the doors and said "that colony trap won't work with the spring." If you look quickly some don't see the trigger panel or trip rod and believe it to be a colony trap. After hearing it a number of time we realized that if the swing panel trigger is wired back and the door springs popped off, the trap goes from single catch to become a colony trap, kind of a transformer.

Hi all. I'm new here. I set my first conibear this week. It took 3 days for the woodchuck to come out but I got it. I'm guessing the noise of pounding the stakes in may have scared it for a few days. I'm waiting for the next critter now. It's been 2 days so far.

Tom