I live on a 1/2 Acres suburban lot. Over the years I have trapped and relocated at least a dozen groundhogs. (Grew up on a farm and learned to dislike them.) There is a euphemism in each of the preceding two sentences.
I had a female appear next to the front of my house and did not spot her until she had young. Got rid of her and four little ones. Filled in the hole. About two years later I spot a full grown one who has dug out the same burrow and started using it. I get out the Hav-a-Heart traps and set them. Bated with cantaloupe. So far I have caught a half grown possum. Something is going into the traps and taking the bate but not tripping them. I have tuned up the traps and weighted the triggers. Nothing. I suspect the groundhog has moved on. I need a Trail Camera to watch and tell me what's happening. What is taking the bait? Is the groundhog still around? I'm tired of feeding the bait to whatever is getting it. I am considering setting a rat trap inside the Hav-a-Heart trap.
No idea on what could be taking your bait, but I have had luck setting the trap over the bait. That way the animal has to work at getting to the bait and typically will trigger the door. Think about taking a small can (old tuna can, cat food tin, etc.), digging a small hole in the ground, placing the can in the hole and setting the live trap with the trigger plate just about even with the hole with your bait in the can.
Perhaps something too light weight to trigger the trap?
We just had to trap a raccoon at work. He had decided that one of our cameras made a dandy outhouse. This telescope has a bit of an odd arrangement, normally things aren't quite as exposed as with this one. Anyway, the nice thing about raccoons is that they love really stinky food waste and are very easy to tempt. Only trouble is one of our night staff felt sorry for him in that trap and kept feeding him, based on the state he left behind.
Could be ants. I tried peanut butter on my squirrel traps and it disappeared overnight. It turned out to be ants. According to Wildlife Control Supplies the best bait for groundhogs is mellon.
In NYS it's illegal to catch, transport and release live any wildlife. Very hefty fines if you get caught. It also just moves the problem to someone else.
Where are you putting your bait in the trap? For groundhogs I set up two traps near each other at 90-deg, openings toward the same spot. I put a small piece of melon on the ground at this spot, another small just inside each trap but in front of the trip lever, and a few pieces behind the trip lever. If something trips the trap by trying to get to the bait from behind I put some blocks or boards around the back side. Watermelon works too but I prefer cantelope.
For groundhogs I've had limited success with the smaller traps that easily catch raccoons, skunks, and possum, but use larger traps, dog/coyote size. Unfortunately they can be expensive.
>>>I don't know if I would want to use a trap that easily traps skunks.
Then you'd better stick to traps that won't hold anything bigger than a chipmunk! Any trap big enough for a raccoon, groundhog, etc. can catch a skunk. I've caught dozens of skunks over the years. The trick is knowing how to handle them.
Once I put out three traps in my garden. The next day I had one raccoon and five skunks, two in one trap and three in the other. They were all small but still could have been "potent" if I'd let them.
I set out tramps for armadillos and have caught the same possum three times. At least I think it's the same one based on the scars on its' nose. The last time after I opened the trap it walked not ran about five feet turned around and looked at me. It just strolled away like it was an everyday event.
approach from door side slowly with a tarp out stretched. Lay tarp over trap...GENTLY. Pause. Open trap door and prop open with a block of wood. They are usually so cozy they will not leave till dark. In fact you may find them sleep during the day resting for the night shift of digging up grubs and yellow jacket nests. For this reason they are spared the fate of coons which have no useful purpose on a farm. Things on the farm that become free-loaders are eliminated, or deported.
Being mostly a city dweller, I don't know anything useful about trapping critters. But I did enjoy your wry remark about euphemisms. I'm guessing you "relocated" some past offenders to groundhog heaven, no?
At previous houses I released skunks when I caught them accidentally when trapping raccoons. They didn't really harm anything. Like someone else mentioned, skunks usually don't run out of the trap until dark so I propped the trap open and left it covered until the next day.
But skunks, possums, and raccoons are not welcome on my farm. They destroy entire nests of eggs and sometimes kill the hen nesting. They will climb and kill birds roosting. I've lost $1000s in eggs and birds. Guineas and peacocks that nest on the ground in the woods are especially vulnerable but I have found raccoons inside my chicken house. One big female pulled two guineas off the roost a few months ago and left me two nice piles of feathers. One raccoon pulled a young chicken through a 1/2" gap under a door and ate it outside. I trapped a possum at a friend's farm after it killed at least a dozen of his chickens over several days.
A couple of years ago I raised three peacocks from chicks, inside a large cage. A skunk dug a hole under the wall to get to the bird's feed. One night it climbed up on the roost and pulled down the young female and ate part of it. That bird was worth at least $100.
I disposed of that skunk just like I do all them - I take them for a diving lesson in the pond. I approach the trap from the front and drape a small tarp or cloth over the trap. If they can't see you they don't spray. I slide the entire trap up on a plywood sled then drag the sled to the pond. I've dragged traps over 1/4 mile with this method.
Note that you do have to move slowly and not surprise a skunk, especially a young skunk. They will sometimes spray when startled even if they don't have a target. I had one spray when I walked too close to a trap I thought was empty!
An exterminator told me how he handles skunks - puts a cloth over the trap then picks it up and submerges it in a 55-gal drum full of water. A friend called me in a panic just a couple of weeks ago with a skunk in his raccoon trap. He used the 55-gal drum method without incident.
I don't like killing any animal, but will when I have to. Best to keep them away or relocate if possible. My guineas have finally learned to roost high in a tree. The peacock cage now has concrete at the bottom of the walls. I built the new peacock house with a concrete floor. I bought incubators and now hatch eggs in back of the shop!
BTW, relocating a wild animal is illegal in TN and not as simple as it might sound. A friend took a killer raccoon over 5 miles away and it came back twice in the next two days. She knew it was the same one since she sprayed some red paint on it's forehead the second time she caught it!
Actually, I usually lay them out at the far end of a big field to feed the turkey vultures. I once put 6 possums there over 7 days. Possums can carry a disease that affects horses: https://equusmagazine.com/diseases/challenge-of-epm
Wife got bit by one in a Have-a-Heart trap and endured rabies shots for a month. Now days a .22 bullet to the head- done. Yes, they will bite through a trap mesh.
I hate them. They have destroyed countless corn and fruit- a whole peach tree in two nights. 5 of them wound up enhancing soil fertility in the garden.
Now my problem is, of all things, fox squirrels! They are destroying the corn crop and the electric coon and possum fence is not dissuading them. A load of #6's did the trick on one of the marauders.
It is frowned apron to relocate them and make them someone else's problem.
I grew up on a farm and they were truly a pest. Four of them would consume as much pasture as a cow. Their burrows could injure cows and horses to the point we would have to "put down" the valuable animals. The holes could also damage equipment.
The county offered a bounty on them. Never met a farmer that was not happy to let you hunt or trap them responsibly.
The ones I have caught died of lead poisoning. Sadly, as a kid, I learned to execute them well enough that they die instantly. After dark, I take the trap into the back yard and shoot them in the base of the brain with a .22 short. It makes so little noise the neighbors either have not complained or perhaps haven't even noticed.
Unlike others here that have posted about the damage raccoons and possums do so some reason I don't bear as much animosity toward them as they do. About 20 years ago I built a huge aviary for my son and he raised wild ducks. The raccoons would come and open the duck food drum and eat all they could. They are clever and could undo almost anything I tried to lock the drum. I got the Have a heart traps and caught the neighbor's cat. Turned him loose and he went home at the speed they reserve for getting out of the way of a truck on the Interstate. Any faster and his legs would have flown off. Next I caught a big raccoon. Took him about five miles away and turned him loose. Not sure, but he may have beaten me home. The second time I caught him I put some red paint on him. Took him about ten miles away and across the river. Never saw him again, but I did catch the rest of his family. Mama and two teens. I took them to the same place and turned them loose. After that I got tired of investing the time and gas and the rest of the catch went away in the trash.
On the farm, my Grandfather would plant garden corn in the middle of the field corn we grew for silage. He had learned the raccoons would not find it there and neither would the neighbors and other pests. He would take the corn to town and sell it. Sometimes he would wake me up early on a Saturday and tell me, "Go get me a hundred dozen ears of corn." It would almost exactly fill up the 8' bed on a pickup.
I'm betting the skunks and possums you guys are catching think spending a night in a nice safe trap is a small price to pay f9or a delicious meal.
>>>It is frowned apron to relocate them and make them someone else's problem.
More than frowned upon. In TN there are only two things you can legally do with a raccoon or other non-game wild animal caught - either release it where you caught it or kill it. No relocation allowed. One reason is moving an animal carrying rabies can spread the rabies. For example, in TN there is no known raccoon rabies west of a certain line. If you capture a raccoon in the east and take it west you might cause a serious problem.
I have trouble from time to time with the raccoons raiding the bird feeder at night. I solve the problem easily , I take a plastic container and place a couple of slices of bread in there and soak it in Glycol based anti freeze cover the container so no pets will get it, but as was said the Coons are pretty good at opening containers. Magically the varmints disappear never to return until a new batch move into the area, Then it's rinse and repeat! Hence NO bodies to dispose of.
I assume you mean ethylene glycol, not propylene glycol. You might want to stock up. I read that there is still a push to take the more toxic ethylene glycol off the market.
Also, cats and dogs like the taste. I wonder if there would be legal trouble if they get into some used as bait. I'm not a lawyer or an officer so I don't know the extent of the risk. The makers are apparently adding bitterants to antifreeze in many states but there are still reports of 10s of thousands of animals poisoned, many of them pets.
Pets would have to bring a ladder, I put the treat on the deck that is close to ten feet off the ground with no steps. I am aware that pets could get poisoned, and I am careful to prevent it.
