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What's the best way to evict a groundhog?

gln1955

gln1955

Supporting Member
Aug 25, 2014
12,887
61,929
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Ohio, USA
#1
I discovered a groundhog (a.k.a., woodchuck) living under the gravel floor of my barn. The bugger is borrowed in under a pile of firewood and from the pile of thrown out dirt, seems to have built a spacious home down there. I don't want to kill it, but I need it gone. I've read about live traps, but in Ohio you can't move and release them without the landowner's permission (who wants a groundhog moving onto their property?). I've trapped raccoons and opossums and relocated them to corn fields before, but that is totally legal. There are also lots of recommendations for various things to dump in the hole or spread around the entrance to persuade them to relocate (things like cat urine or cayenne).

Any of you have some first-hand experience and can tell me what really works and won't cost me much?
 
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#3
gln1955 said:
I discovered a groundhog (a.k.a., woodchuck) living under the gravel floor of my barn. The bugger is borrowed in under a pile of firewood and from the pile of thrown out dirt, seems to have built a spacious home down there. I don't want to kill it, but I need it gone. I've read about live traps, but in Ohio you can't move and release them without the landowner's permission (who wants a groundhog moving onto their property?). I've trapped raccoons and opossums and relocated them to corn fields before, but that is totally legal. There are also lots of recommendations for various things to dump in the hole or spread around the entrance to persuade them to relocate (things like cat urine or cayenne).

Any of you have some first-hand experience and can tell me what really works and won't cost me much?
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Find a pest control firm to take care of the problem.
 
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#4
-Asdfgh- said:
My first thought was: how did you initially get it to pay rent that presumably it has stopped paying, hence the desire to evict it?
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I think the squirrels, which are permanent residents, did a sub-let without my knowledge. This has happened before with a raccoon and a skunk. They just stayed a season and moved on and didn't cause any problems. This current remodeling is over the line, so it has to go.
 
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#7
gln1955 said:
I discovered a groundhog (a.k.a., woodchuck) living under the gravel floor of my barn. The bugger is borrowed in under a pile of firewood and from the pile of thrown out dirt, seems to have built a spacious home down there. I don't want to kill it, but I need it gone. I've read about live traps, but in Ohio you can't move and release them without the landowner's permission (who wants a groundhog moving onto their property?). I've trapped raccoons and opossums and relocated them to corn fields before, but that is totally legal. There are also lots of recommendations for various things to dump in the hole or spread around the entrance to persuade them to relocate (things like cat urine or cayenne).

Any of you have some first-hand experience and can tell me what really works and won't cost me much?
Click to expand...
My brother claims that he's successfully trapped them using bait/vegetables, but if you can't legally re-locate it, what to do with it? I do consider them a nuisance and dispatch them w/prejudice IAW MO State Law:

Groundhog: Hunting

mdc.mo.gov mdc.mo.gov

Best solution for me. Got 2 in 2 days last week (1 w/22lr, 1 w/410).
 
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#9
gln1955 said:
I think the squirrels, which are permanent residents, did a sub-let without my knowledge. This has happened before with a raccoon and a skunk. They just stayed a season and moved on and didn't cause any problems. This current remodeling is over the line, so it has to go.
Click to expand...
With that amount of wildlife you should include an animal hotel in your remodeling plans :). I just have a mouse and a hedgehog in terms of mammals. Six nests of birds, though. The magpies bring one of the dogs gifts, which is cute.
 
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#12
-Asdfgh- said:
With that amount of wildlife you should include an animal hotel in your remodeling plans :). I just have a mouse and a hedgehog in terms of mammals. Six nests of birds, though. The magpies bring one of the dogs gifts, which is cute.
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In addition to the aforementioned animals, we have had mice, voles, moles, gophers, opossums, tons of rabbits, deer fairly frequently and coyotes on a few occasions. We're in a semi-rural area but not in the middle of nowhere. I've reforested a large part of our five acres so there's good habitat for lots of critters.
 
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#13
buldog5151bass said:
We had one a few years ago under our house. I trapped it (fresh corn makes a fine bait), and released it in the woods in a public preserve.

I would call the local police or game warden and ask where it COULD be released.
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Ohio considers groundhogs a nuisance species. We can euthanize them by whatever humane means we choose, but they can't be released on public land either. A clandestine release is of course possible, but I'd rather just persuade the fellow to leave my barn and go to the neighbors of his own accord.
 
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#14
Put up this sign on your property.
1753055603087.png
 
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#18
Not a short term solution, but in my case getting some Westies (West Highland White Terriers) helped to solve my groundhog in the barn problem. It is also illegal to release groundhogs on someone else's property without permission here in NJ. I actually don't know the legality of relocating them to public land, but that is what I would do. I was told that it was legal as long as it was within the same County, but never got uber-confirmation of that.

I would get about 5 or so groundhogs per year living in my barn. I set Hav-A-Heart live traps using leafy greens stuck to the tripping mechanism with peanut butter. It would usually take 3-5 days. I would set the trap and bait without it being able to be tripped for the first day or so, and watch to see if the bait was taken. If it was, I would then set the trap to trip.

My biggest fear was to inadvertently trap a skunk. As I understand it, skunks are unlikely to spray in the trap because they won't be able to lift their hind legs enough, and when releasing them, they just want to flee. I trapped many, squirrels, opossum, rabbits, as well as groundhogs, but, fortunately, never a skunk, or a raccoon, which can be rather vicious.

I did learn, however, that the roaming range of a groundhog can be as much as five miles as the crow flies. I trapped one with very distinctive markings, and released it at a public park about three miles away. About three days later, the same guy was back in my barn!

I never had success dissuading groundhogs with direct sprays with the hose.
 
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