If you have a place to re-locate them without being a nuisance I've had good luck with an extra large hav-a-heart trap. Place a small sliver of freshly sliced sweet potato at the trap entrance, put a larger piece in the back of the trap.

Exclusion (fencing) is the only thing that has worked for me, and even that has been spotty, as the darn thing figured out how to climb the welded-wire fence, even negotiating the wobbly to part. Problem was when it fell from the wobbly part, it fell into, not out of the garden ... dug seven holes trying to get out. Nothing gone or damaged though; I think it was too frantic about being trapped to think about food! Gotta laugh sometimes.

Be careful with relocating, it is restricted of prohibited in some places, like in my home state of NJ, where it carries a $1,000 fine. So check first.

And boy can they dig, eh? But then the chipmunks not only can climb but they also tunnel under any fence.

Just today I made the second skunk of the year a problem for someone else lol.

Just kidding... took the little guy down by the lake. He'll be happier there. Or at least I'll be happier with him there!

IMO, skunks will not do nearly as much damage to a garden as a woodchuck. But,

Some years back I was trying to trap a family of 4 coons who had taken the liberty of climbing up on my deck and looking into the sliding glass door.

In the process I caught 16 skunks, yes 16. I relocated each one down to the river ~ 2mi away. Skunks are really quite docile, I always talked to them to let them know I was coming so as to not startle them.

That is a lot of gas and time but on the last trip since it was after midnight as most trips were so I didn't leave them in the trap all nite long - the cops came just as I was about to leave - some do-gooder with a cell phone said I was suspicious.

I think anyone out after midnight is suspicious and told the cop that. Then another cop showed up to say the report said I was throwing a body into the river. I showed them the trap and the direction the critters went off to.

That pretty much ended my relocation practice.

The next year my neighbor who cut down every tree and fenced in his property asked me to trap a skunk as his dogs repeatedly could not resist the temptation to go after these critters. I refused cuz that meant I would have to do something with them but offered to loan him the trap - he refused.

Now I have a couple Arlo wirless cameras and watch the activities as they increase after the sun goes down. I can't believe the number of cats - not feral but no collars, field mice even with all the cats, coons, skunks, deer, and a possum who has this incredible waddle so she must have a litter in her pouch.

Oh and the occasional chipmunk or woodchuck I never knew about. I would have never believed that woodchucks go out at nite until I saw it on my cam.

Good Luck whatever you decide to do with yours. Just keep in mind they do breed.

OH, so the message here is - IF you are going to trap be sure to close it at nite.

In a perfect snow-white world the best thing to do would be relocating to a better place where the groundhog can go on living its merry life and you stop having your vegetable garden destroyed - but It's not always feasible to find a spot where they wont just become another persons problem, and I would also argue that it is not always the most humane - those critters are being introduced into another environment, which likely already has other competition and predators that it does not know about.

If you can get down with the idea of co-habiting with the groundhog, you'll need a proper fence (and likely part of it being dug into the ground, with the pointy ends facing out so if they try to dig they get discouraged by the sharp metal).

Hopefully you don't have a shed or out building on your property that they like to dig out around the foundations.

My opinion - get rid of the varmints as quickly, humane, and legal as possible.

The problem with woodchucks/groundhogs is they do not live in the woods, meaning a completely wooded area. But live on the perimeter with houses and rely mostly of the garden plants we grow. Yea, they do eat some clover, etc but a garden or farm is a buffet to them.

So when you relocate them, in order to survive they will seek out another garden somewhere.

I like to look to natural enemies first and iirc a fox is a predator for the GH. You can try fox urine that never worked for me but what did work was a dead fox in the middle of the road - I used loppers to remove the tail and a foot then placed one where he was feeding and the other near the hole.I never saw him again the rest of the year.

Next year is another story cuz each spring the babies are out looking for a home and an old home makes a perfect nest for so many other critters from skunks, fox, field mice, coons, and on.

I can't stress enuff you must know where the hole is even if you want to trap or do anything else.

Once you find the hole you can tell if it is active by covering it with something to see if it gets moved. But then you have to sort out if that something was coming out or trying to get in.

I recently had that experience and it looked as tho something was trying to dig its way in. So I set up an Arlo wireless cam and sure enuff it was some coons trying to get at the field mice using the hole. If it wasn't for the cam I would never have figured out the field mice. I see one mouse and only at nite tho and haven't had much luck even with a snap trap cuz the coons come first. They take the bait but the trap is in a jar with a 1" hole (tripped) so that stays behind luckily. I would hate for anything to get that trap caught on one limb and run away.

I could never get a GH to go into a trap - eat right next to it but it was as if he was in one before and was not going back. So keep that in mind - if you trap him today the next guy may not be able to.

The smoke bombs are painless - it puts the critter to sleep in his home and there is no body to dispose of. You just have to determine if/when the hole is being used again, cuz more than likely it will. I have also seen two holes within 4 ft of each other. So do look for another escape route - these guys are pretty smart.

Legality of relocating depends on municipality. I live in nj and in my town it is legal to relocate within township boundaries.

I use an electric fence and I also trap. The longer there around the sooner they will figure out how to get around the fence. I place traps next to their hole. I find that they will not go out of their way to enter the trap. I also find that the "best groundhog bait" are also favorites of squirrels, chipmunks, it rabbits. Chipmunks leave nothing behind for the groundhog and seem to raid the cage more frequently than rabbits. Green beans seem to work well for me.

I trap with conibear traps. I started using them in 2015 and so far caught 20 of them. 9 so far this year. They work GREAT!

Yea that's the same with most critters - when you have one you have a family. I love it when people say I caught the woodchuck (or mouse) or whatever., you have a family - they ALL do reproduce some very quickly. Mice I think it's something like 21 days for gestation and can mate when 5 - 8 weeks old. So mice do multiply quickly.

For the Groundhog

Gestation Period and Nesting

A
typical groundhog female will have a gestation period of 30 to 33 days
following successful mating. During this time, the female groundhog will
establish a nest of plant fibers inside an underground burrow or den,
where she will give birth and nurse her young. These dens are usually
established in well-drained soil along hedgerows, in pastures or along
woodland edges, and may include multiple exits and entries.

Birth and Litter Size Groundhogs
give birth in their dens to between one and nine infants, with four or
five being the most common litter size. Younger females tend to give
birth to smaller litters of pups.

The young groundhogs will stay with their mothers until they are
completely weaned -- approximately 44 days after they're born. Once the
groundhog pups have become fully weaned, the mother will begin to show
aggression toward her young, prompting them to disperse from the den and
become independent at approximately 2 months of age. Both male and
female groundhogs reach sexual maturity between the ages of 1 year and 2
years.

From
http://animals.mom.me/long-groundhog-pregnant-1918.html

"So when you relocate them, in order to survive they will seek out another garden somewhere."

Unlikely. In order to satiate themselves, they'd love to find another garden, but they hardly need to do so to survive. Groundhogs live in locations that are long ways away from any gardens, and they survive just fine on wild grasses and insects

True, that if there is another garden nearby, they'll seek it out. If you're going to relocate it, best to do it far away from any human population, at least a few miles away.

"So when you relocate them, in order to survive they will seek out another garden somewhere."

>Unlikely. In order to satiate themselves, they'd love to find another
garden, but they hardly need to do so to survive. Groundhogs live in
locations that are long ways away from any gardens, and they survive
just fine on wild grasses and insects<

If that is not an assumption then please share your source as I have done below.

One would think that a wild animal would live in the woods and survive on vegetation found in the wild right? Maybe you can share what you would bait a trap with to catch said wild groundhog. Some weeds or grasses? Good luck with that.

Not sure why you didn't quote the rest which was <The problem with woodchucks/groundhogs is they do not live in the
woods, meaning a completely wooded area. But live on the perimeter with
houses and rely mostly of the garden plants we grow. Yea, they do eat
some clover, etc but a garden or farm is a buffet to them.

So when you relocate them, in order to survive they will seek out another garden somewhere.> Or a farm as indicated below.

Range

Woodchucks occur throughout eastern and central Alaska, British
Columbia, and most of southern Canada. Their range in the United States
extends throughout the East, northern Idaho, northeastern North Dakota,
southeastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, and northeastern Oklahoma, as
well as south to Virginia and northern Alabama (Fig. 2).

Habitat
In general, woodchucks prefer open farmland and the surrounding
wooded or brushy areas adjacent to open land. Burrows commonly are
located in fields and pastures, along fence rows, stone walls,
roadsides, and near building foundations or the bases of trees. Burrows
are almost always found in or near open, grassy meadows or fields.

Damage

On occasion, the woodchuck’s feeding and burrowing habits conflict
with human interests. Damage often occurs on farms, in home gardens,
orchards, nurseries, around buildings, and sometimes around dikes.
Damage to crops such as alfalfa, soybeans, beans, squash, and peas can
be costly and extensive. Fruit trees and ornamental shrubs are damaged
by woodchucks as they gnaw or claw woody vegetation. Gnawing on
underground power cables has caused electrical outages. Damage to rubber
hoses in vehicles, such as those used for vacuum and fuel lines, has
also been documented. Mounds of earth from the excavated burrow systems
and holes formed at burrow entrances present a hazard to farm equipment,
horses, and riders. On occasion, burrowing can weaken dikes and
foundations. Legal Status In most states, woodchucks are considered game
animals. There is usually no bag limit or closed season. In damage
situations, woodchucks are usually not protected. The status may vary
from state to state, depending on the control technique to be employed.
Consult with your state wildlife department, USDA-APHIS-Wildlife
Services representative, or extension agent before shooting and/or
trapping problem individuals.

WOODCHUCKS and THEIR CONTROL

We put up a 6 foot chain link fence around the vegetable garden. For the flower garden, I plant mostly things they don't like - lupines, snapdragons, balloon flowers, poppies, ageratum, dianthus, begonias, digitalis, larkspur, nicotiana. I spray the other plants that they do like with a good woodchuck repellent, like Woodchuck Stop (I think that is the name, it comes in a red bottle) I've tried fox urine, it didn't do a thing. Woodchucks can decimate a garden in a very short time. If you have a dog, that will sometimes deter them. When our dog was alive we never had a problem with them, since she's been gone its a yearly battle.