Andrea Doughtie, Rural Painter

This summer has been defined by the presence of an infuriating little rodent–our resident woodchuck.  He ate my delphiniums, my phlox, the green beans and even the Jerusalem artichokes.  He dug out a huge den under our porch and every time we’d fill it up with stones and dirt he’d open it up again.  We soaked tennis balls in ammonia and threw those in the den but he was undeterred.  More plants disappeared.   Ed was muttering about acquiring a rifle.  Then we finally broke down and bought a Havahart trap, a device for trapping an animal without harming it.  We baited it nicely with apples and sure enough, within a short time we caught our woodchuck.  Ed loaded him into the car and returned a short time later.  He’d taken him about 2 miles away and I had an uneasy feeling he might find his way home.  For two days my plants flourished.  Then we were coming home one afternoon and there on the driveway, running home right before our eyes was–guess who!?  We continued to bait the trap and even went online to purchase commercial woodchuck bait.  We bought the best broccoli, supposedly the woodchuck’s favorite, but to no avail.  He had learned his lesson well.  He continued to dig out his den and feast upon what was left of the garden.  Then several weeks later, with only some dried-up bait left in the trap, he once again fell for the trick.   Ed ran into the house shouting gleefully that we had us a woodchuck.  So–we loaded him up and drove on the Interstate for many miles before liberating him into a nice wooded area.  At this point, two weeks later he hasn’t returned and the plants are sending out new shoots.  We even  have a few green beans.