This groundhog liked to hang out under a log pile near my fenced in garden area. So I set up some temporary fencing between the logs and garden that acted as a funnel where the groundhog would need to pass through a have-a-heart trap if it wanted to access its point of entry to the garden. Not sure if that makes sense, so here’s a sketch to try to help visualize it.
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Probably the most humane way to kill something in a live trap is to bag the whole trap and connect it to a tailpipe. If you can’t shoot it.
Woodchucks are great food for the buzzards and even a couple Bald Eagles came for dinner this spring.
check your State wild life protection law first，I know in state of Illinois，you need state permit to trap， dispose ，release etc wild life. common pests, racoon bunnies ，ground hog are included
Here they came again. After catching 4 last summer we had a quiet summer without residence groundhog. But nothing stays empty for long time. My neighbor told me she spotted one near old borrow, and I offered her to catch it. I placed a nice peach in the trap just to find out that opossum decided to have a midnight snack and got caught. Neighbor let it go. I didn’t have any more peaches, so she volontired to get some. I showed her how to set the trap and I left it set without any bait. 2 days after that she came to my door and said: -“We have a groundhog. But you know, I never bought those peaches…” So furry thief just knew that the best food is usually behind the fence. And just went directly in. I don’t mind 
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And he is back again. Finished 5 heads of lettuce last night, and 4 more this night. The worst thing it ignores the trap with peanut butter in it. May be I need to buy fresh peanut butter - this one is year old… I want to take out all lettuce and give it away. Better than feed the creature.
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Put the lettuce in the trap
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Step 1.
Get a nice big glass of iced tea.
Step 2.
Get a comfortable lounge chair.
Step 3.
Find a spot with a good view.
Step 4.
Get an accurate .22 with a scope
Step 5.
Have fun
Mike
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I caught one last year with sweet corn cobs and apple core
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@ltilton - it will wilt in few minutes, it is 91 and going up outside…
@MES111 - this is a great idea, unfortunately, 1) I don’t know how to shoot and 2) if i miss I most likely get one of my 4(!) neighbors
@Derby42 - peanut butter works great, it just has to be fresh. And served on a half of juicy peach! I caught 4 of them last year.
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I would transplant the lettuce into those dollar store net baskets. You can probalbly lift most of the roots and then water well. I plant vulnerable plants in these and they are reusable. Top dimension is 9"
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, this is exactly what I used - covered them with dollar store basket and used thin bamboo sticks to attach them to the soil.
Do I understand you to say that the rodents still got to them in the submerged baskets? Or that you just protected them in this way?
If the rodents are getting them from underneath via tunnels, you would have to plant into them.
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no, I just protected them today, after loosing 9 heads. If you plant in the basket what do you put on top? I don’t see why they can’t just get in the basket from top and fest… And another question, how many seasons before the metal will rust to the point of loosing integrity? My lettuce this year is in the concrete blocks of retaining wall,
so planting in the basket is a not that simple, I will have to smash the bottom to fit into the block.
But seems like an interesting idea!
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Oh OK. When you said ‘groundhog’ I was thinking of the kind of rodent that burrows under the ground and then eat the roots and lettuce from underneath. I have had that done before where the plant disappears down a hole. Usually voles are the culprit but these kinds of problems are regional. So my solution to those kinds of varmints is, when I plant in an unprotected bed (many of my beds are lined with 1/2 " hardware cloth to prevent this, but not all), I dig a hole big enough for the wire basket that is about 1/2 the size you pictured here, and plant in that. I’ve seen moles circle the basket underground trying to find an entrance. What then usually happens is the field mice, or voles, use these tunnels to eat down the veggie from underneath. And that is what I thought you were referring to.
But yours are eaten from above. I saw in another post you had some insect netting over your plantings. That might be of use here too.
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This is great to know! I have been catching squirrels with peanuts and peanut butter, but had not read that groundhogs liked peanut butter. I have a trap set for one and have baited with apple and lettuce without luck… but I keep finding my squirrel trap tripped and tipped over by something trying to get at that peanut butter! Perhaps I now know my culprit! I will try the peanut butter with the groundhog and hopefully have better luck catching it, and then squirrels since it won’t be tripping their trap! Thanks!
That’s my problem - squirrels setting off the groundhog trap. I do not kill them, no point, new one come on their place, in few days, but before letting them go I bang on the cage for them to remember where they shouldn’t come again. Yesterday I have 2 of them. Today - so far no visitors.
Groundhogs are very careful creatures - the trap should stay in place for several days before they brave enough to get in.
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Yes, very careful until they come into our gardens/orchards… then they throw caution to the wind! I wish they were as adventurous about venturing into cages as they were about eating the fruits of our labor!
Good idea with the cage rattling; next time they will think twice.
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Galina,
I honest think squirrels have short term memory deficits. I don’t think they will be scared very long. They usually are back soon.
Groundhogs are very skittish. Sometimes, when we move inside the house while they are in the garden, they stop as if they hear us and run away.
Much harder to trap them.
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Probably, but after catching two on Thursday, no visitors so far, so I hope I have smart squirrels 
.
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In re: the neighbors…
I see it as “survival of the fittest”.
If they are in line with the squirrels… oops!
Come to think of it…One of my neighbors hasn’t been around for a while. Hmmm!
Mike
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