Get a dachshund.

I've had great success with live traps, baited with dried apricot. Place the trap near the hole (not over it) and cover all but the opening with straw, leaves, branches, etc. The scent of dried apricots seems to be irresistible, I generally catch them in a day or two.

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Traps are best. I bait mine with cabbage. Then you can shoot it or drown it. Nothing else will outsmart a woodchuck.

Traps work. In fact, you should NOT discourage them with smoke bombs because that will make them shy-er. What you should do is buy a havahart, bait it (melon rinds work for me), and place it near the hole. To make absolutely sure the critter goes in, I have fashioned a wooden box with plywood, which I place over the hole. The box has four sides, no bottom, and the only other open side goes into the trap. This will work with extra-shy critters. it is always one individual, so it is one and done (chipmunks are many, and voles are colonies).

If you, like me, prefer to release them, be aware that 5 miles is recommended, and if possible, a natural barrier like a freeway or river in between. 6 weeks ago I caught a juvenile, and since I was in a hurry I took it with me to my commuter parking lot, 1.5 miles from home, same side of freeway, and released it there. It was back two days later. It moved on immediately (I chased it angrily with a pitchfork when I saw it, and that may have been the last straw for him) before I could trap him again.

You should also make an effort to find the hole outside, and fill it. Burrows are re-used, and that is the chink in your armor. To fill it, break several empty wine bottles by hammering them inside a bag. Mix the broken glass with fill dirt, and fill. This works with gophers and chipmunks, I never tried it with woodchucks though.

Beware that relocating & releasing trapped wildlife is prohibited in some areas. Then again, euthanizing them can be too, so exercise caution in whatever method you employ.

The only thing that works for me is a dog. When our previous dog was aging and ill the woodchucks practically took over in spite of buried fencing. As soon as our young dog was big enough to take them on, the woodchucks disappeared. Several died, I think the rest re-located. It's funny because she (the dog) is a totally non-aggressive lab - except where woodchucks are concerned. I think she can read my mind and knows how I feel about them!
Elaina

"Traps are best. I bait mine with cabbage. Then you can shoot it or drown it. Nothing else will outsmart a woodchuck."

So far, I've had no luck with trapping them with a Havahart trap. Granted, when I see a hole my first reaction is to seal it - the idea of leaving for work with a known hole in my garden is really hard for me to do!

But even if I do catch one, what do I do? I live in a residential area so I can't discharge firearms, even though I have a .22 rifle that would be perfect for woodchucks (Massachusetts is very strict about guns - even a minor infraction means a jail sentence). Also drowning and car exhaust are illegal because they cause the woodchuck "distress". It's also illegal to transport them off your property. Surprisingly, the gopher bombs ARE legal and I've used them successfully to kill woodchucks when I can seal all the other entrances. But I don't know where those are this time!

If firearms are out of the question you still has the good old knife. These creatures will definitely make great composting material I think.

Agree that there are lots of ways to dispatch it. Joy of cooking has ground hog recipes, too, and just the skin and guts will fertilize several large tomato plants. You probably have a very large, mature, smart specimen. But it will still enter a havahart trap if there is daylight out of the hole only in that direction.

Also consider calling animal control and telling them you have caught a nuisance wild animal in a humane trap and see if they will help you. When I worked at a nursery and the great sprawl of nothern Virginia, the raccoons would keep getting in and terrifying the koi and ripping open the bags of blood and bone meal. We would trap them and animal control would come and rehome them.

Check the law on that, first. In many places, trapping furbearing wildlife w/o a license is against the law. You could get in trouble.

There's a difference between live trapping a nuisance creature and hold-trapping or kill trapping a fur-bearing creature (woodchucks aren't usually considered fur-bearing). But since it is a good idea to check, I was moved to see if I could find the law in Massachusetts. Here's a link. Still might be good to check for the actual dept. of natural resources (or Mass. equivalent) to be sure. Looks like relocation isn't an option, but getting help is.

Here is a link that might be useful: Massachussetts woodchuck trapping

I have a woodchuck in my yard that's really played havoc in my garden this year. From the link provided above, I see that in Massachusetts we can trap and drown woodchucks. That's what I'll be doing next year. A haveaheart trap plus a large tote filled with water will do the job. In the past I've lost bean seedlings, but this year it's fully grown bush beans, squash leaves and carrot shoots. That's a big part of my late summer/fall produce, so it's no mercy in the future.

I dump the trap and woodchuck into a garbage can full of water. Takes about one minute to drown. Then I put it into a trash bag and bring it to the dump with my other garbage.

I dump the trap and woodchuck into a garbage can full of water. Takes about one minute to drown. Then I put it into a trash bag and bring it to the dump with my other garbage.

A few years ago a woodchuck dug under my fence and decided to stay so it made itself at home within the fenced garden. It dug a burrow under my sweet potato vines for good coverage but I found it, it's now in a better place.

"Also consider calling animal control and telling them you have caught a nuisance wild animal in a humane trap and see if they will help you."

Tried that - they don't do that where I live.

BTW I've left most of my garden over to green manure for the fall but I had a few broccoli plants. Not anymore. See my timelapse YouTube video from today - the groundhog appears at 0:11 and 0:12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv4yfKG4k1I

Since most of my garden is now fallow I went looking for the hole but I couldn't find it. I'm danged if I can figure out how he got in. But if I catch him he'll be a six-feet-under-the-ground hog.

Here is a link that might be useful: Woodchuck at 0:11 and 0:12

The difficult part is catching them. Disposing them off is not a problem. If nothing else, just leave them in the cage until they die of hunger and thirst ....then make a burial service for them ...lol

Leaving any animal in a cage to die of hunger and thirst would be considered a crime in most places. Shooting one quickly or otherwise not prolonging its suffering is not. Wouldn't recommend the former for ethical reasons as well, but that may go without saying.

Too bad local animal control won't help, but that sort of service varies so much from county to county. I tried watching your video, but honestly I can't spot either the broccoli or the woodchuck. But is your fence made of chicken wire or something similar? (Not sure what a steel fence is) Woodchucks can climb mesh wire fences, so you may be looking for a hole in vain. If that is the case, a couple of options spring to mind. First, if there is some way you can detach the top 12-18 inches of fence, animals like woodchuck and raccoon can be deterred because their weight while climbing will make the fence flop so they are suddenly upside down, and they don't care for that. Otherwise, a couple of strands of electric fence around the outside so that climbing can't be done without getting zapped first might do the trick. You might be running out of time to deal with this animal, fall is moving on quickly and it will be going to ground for the winter pretty soon. That would give you all winter to plan your strategy for next year, though. Good luck!

I am very tolerant of the wild life if they don't get on my tail. I have caught many rats by live trap and released them in some wooded area.
But if you cannot shoot them, you cannot take them somewhere release them, So what do you do ? open a motel for them and serve them three meals a day ?

They are butchering millions of chickens, lambs, cows .. everyday and here I am , have to worry about a woodchuck that is destroying my garden !!??!!
You know what is inhumane and unethical; People who hunt for sports.
DISCLAIMER:(!!!)
In the end of day, we are responsible for our own action.

"Woodchucks can climb mesh wire fences, so you may be looking for a hole in vain. "

It's not chicken wire, it's heavy, welded steel grid and the entire bottom on the fence (not just the posts) is anchored in concrete. It's a lot like the hav-a-hart cage someone posted a picture of but with 1" openings. And as I explained in the original post, running along the top about an inch above the wire fence is a 5000 volt deer fence wire. So anything that tries to climb over will get zapped. I check it with a tester all the time to make sure it's up to full voltage. I've accidentally touched the wire a couple of times and boy does that hurt! I used to be overrun with deer but it cured them.

This post was edited by plnelson on Sat, Sep 28, 13 at 12:24

Keep on mind that for an electric fence to work, you need both a hot wire and a ground. Typically the ground is supplied by the animal (or person) standing on the ground when they touch the hot wire. Plnelson has solved the ground issue by burying the bottom of the fence, though I didn't know that concrete was a good conductor.

I have 5 strands of wire at various heights and have not had a woodchuck (groundhog) intrusion this year. I watched one day as a groundhog enjoyed the clover outside of the garden. He kept moving closer and closer to the lettuce that was growing on the other side of the wires, but he stopped about 3 feet away. I'm thinking that he tested the fence another time and decided to leave my garden alone.

Now, rabbits on the other hand...@#!$%&!!!!

I too am at war with woodchucks, and they are winning. I tried burning them out and nearly burned down my shed. They destroyed my veggie garden, eating all plants to the quick. Their underground network is so great that sometimes walking thru my backyard I fall thru the ground. I have dumped dirt in holes, only to have it disappear. Any thoughts on filling holes with used cat litter (minus the turds)?