I’m a big softie and very casual gardener. I think groundhogs are adorable and would gladly sacrifice my wormy tomatoes if they were interested. We used to have them everywhere around here and even had a family of three who liked to sunbathe on our deck. With the influx of foxes and coyotes in our area, though, groundhogs are a thing of the past in our neighborhood. :-S
Yes. We had one living under our deck when we lived in Illinois. They may seem cute but they are nasty. We called a critter company and they trapped it and relocated it. I would recommend doing that.
@lje62, yes, I"m in New Jersey. Monmouth County.
Thanks for all the ideas. Shotguns are out, though. It’s illegal to discharge a firearm in the township (plus I wouldn’t have the stomach for it).
Invite them over for a few beers. Once they’re drunk, drive them over to the nearest bar or campus frat party/eating club. 
You can buy special smoke bombs to evict them as well. One benefit is that you’ll see all the exits when you put them in the hole. But then again, you may not be able to do this is it’s right under your deck or foundation. You don’t want to burn your house down to get rid of groundhogs. Too caddyshack!
We are calling a company who claims they will trap and remove them.
I am reviving this thread because I am in the tug of war with my resident groundhog who lives under my 16x26 deck . Deck is 2 feet above ground with a wooden mesh on the sides. The groundhog originally made 3 exits - east and south by digging under the mesh and north by breaking older mesh, This Saturday I finally decided to evict him.
I closed the south hole with a pale full of bricks, put a big stone into the south hole and covered it with dirt and prepared another stone near the east entrance that I slightly blocked with a couple of branches. I wanted to make sure that the animal is not inside before I close the last entrance.
So I waited 24 hours and the branches were still there. I assumed that my groundhog is on important business trip and blocked the last entrance with the stone and covered it with dirt. That was Sunday.
Today in the middle of the day I noticed my groundhog in the middle of the backyard. When he saw me he ran to the east entrance, saw that it was closed and then ran to the south entrance. Frustrated he then ran away.
When I got out around 6pm I bumped into my groundhog who was trying to reopen the east entrance. The animal run away. What is interesting that all exits were made in the corners so that they have a wall on one side. Two holes were next to the steps and one against the house wall. So at the east entrance he was trying to make a new hole between the wooden side of the steps and the stone but it will not work because the stone is big and there is not enough space. However he can easily dig a new hole on the other side of the stone.
I also ordered the gizmo mentioned in the beginning of this thread to scare him away but it will not arrive until the next Tuesday. I am waiting to see what will happen next.
@CCDD14, Good Luck with the eviction. I’ve blocked two holes along my deck, but there are two others I need to take care of. I bought Moletox’s Mole and Gopher Killer last month and might drop some inside each hole.
A neighbor fired his shotgun three times at a woodchuck this week while he was building his shed. Another neighbor tried to run over one with his golf cart but missed it. He waited until it was centered in the middle of his big yard, but the woodchuck outran his cart.
Update,
When I got out this morning the animal was sitting in the middle of the deck. When he saw me he ran under the deck. He already broke a piece of the older wooden mesh on the south side. Two ripe tomatoes that I planned to consume today disappeared from the plant near the deck. He did not take the green tomatoes so he probably has a color vision or goes by the smell.
So now I am looking at replacing all wooden mesh on the south side with a plastic mesh that I will try to put deep into the ground. This area is covered with some sort of ivy that I will have to cut off leaving this side bare. I hope groundhogs will not like that - they prefer private entrances. The battle continues.
FYI, a groundhog chewed through the plastic lattice (is that what you mean by mesh?) under our deck.
Thank you. Now looking at this:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-4-ft-x-50-ft-14-Gauge-Green-PVC-Coated-Welded-Wire-308352EB/204331902
“The general purpose fence is ideal for property delineation or the temporary confinement of non-aggressive animals.”
I need a permanent confinement and not sure if mine is not aggressive.
We are having a wild animal bonanza in our neighborhood this summer. It must have something to do with the weird winter weather. We have an abundance of baby animals ranging from deer to ground hogs, raccoons and everything in between.
Some of them concern me when they come into our fenced in living space.
We open our back door and let our two corgis have free run of the back yard , but we have had both baby raccoons and ground hogs get into the dog yard. I had to chase out two baby raccoons last week and take my dogs back in after they chased a grown ground hog up a small tree !
I am really worried about their safety because they will, without any doubt tangle with any animal that gets into their territory !