I think you need to figure out what it is. You don't want to bury it alive or it's babies if there are any.

I'm pretty sure it's a woodchuck. The main entrance is in my side yard and from the descriptions on the web, the entrance I'm concerned about is a "back door".

I don't want to bury it alive--all I want is to encourage it to move its "back door".

Suggestions? Peg

Plant a shrub beside the hole.
Martha

I only do this for holes near the base of my deck foundation, since I think having and seeing animals in the yard is part of the garden fun!
Fill in the entrance to the hole with loose dirt (in case it is the only entrance) - the animal will dig it back out. Repeat a few times and the animal will get frustrated and dig another tunnel. However, you may not like where the new hole ends up!

You know what works for me and don't think I'm crazy but we also have loads of critters in our backyard and most I don't mind but we have a skunk living under the shed of my next door neighbour which is right next to my property line. So I pile dog poop around the perimeter of my property. It's in the woods so piles of dog poop aren't unsightly and they will dissolve into the ground with time but the dog poop seems to tell the critters that the dog lives here and you best not try to claim the dog's territory. We no longer have bunnies, coons or skunks (so far, knock on wood) and the only critters that still come are the squirrels but they are up in the trees so they are unconcerned by the poop. But maybe putting another animal's poop at the entrance of the hole might tell the animal not to use that exit any more and then you can close it off after a while. I also used this technique for mice that were living under my shed. The mice left but moles moved in instead and aren't bothered by the poop (go figure) lol! But the moles are cool...they eat grubs, slugs and other nasty ground dwelling bugs that most gardeners don't want around anyway and they aren't vegetation eaters, so double plus for me. Anyway, just a thought if you wanna take a "natural approach" to closing off your critter hole. Oh btw... we had groundhogs too (the babies were darling!) but we didn't want their burrow on our property and the dog poo worked there as well. You will know a groundhog hole as it has a musky odor and gnats will gravitate to the musk and fly around the hole at dawn and dusk.

Let us know how it all turns out.

Barb
southern Ontario, CANADA