Many of us know that groundhogs are diurnal, daytime feeders, usually out foraging in the cool of the morning and late evening just before dark. I have often mentioned that if traps are set early or late in the day just before woodchucks emerge, they can be often be taken quickly, sometimes in just a few minutes. Of course during cool weather stretches woodchucks can be out at any time of the day, but never at night.
When trapping groundhogs, to prevent catching unwanted non-targetted animals, you may simply cover the traps at night. The reverse is true when trapping nocturnal animals like skunks. Traps can be covered during the daylight hours to prevent woodchucks from entering.
In hot summer weather groundhogs are often out twice a day, meaning there are two chances to catch them. If a double door trap with nose cone has captured an animal in the morning after the trap has been set and not checked until the following day, you can lose the opportunity to catch more woodchucks in the evening because the trap is full. By removing animals quickly and resetting you will have yet another opportunity to catch a second woodchuck at the same location in the same day.
With a mini infestation at a recent location I did just that, set 11 Comstock Live Cage Traps and checked them twice in one day and again the following morning, leaving traps open for catching during each of the 3 prime catch periods. The first check in the afternoon netted 5 groundhogs, while the second check just after dark produced 3 more. Traps were left open and working during each of catch period. With a late morning check the following day there were 2 more groundhogs, meaning in just over 24 hours 3 catch periods had been utilized to take 10 woodchucks.
