(quoted from post at 20:39:14 07/28/12) I think the dry weather really makes the forage scarce. Every year for later season and extended season growing, I'll keep some vegetable plants potted, move with the sun, etc., woodchuck population is up here, lack of a dog, have to put poultry netting around the plants, to keep em off this year.
So far, 3 fumed out in their hole, gasoline and a metal lid, holes backfilled, amount of gas used will go away, now have a few stragglers coming in from around, had a rest and sight one one, but had switched from short to long .22 in sidearm was high 2x, he was on a white piece of old plywood, next time.
When its lush and green they can run around in abundance and never really bother too much, this year has been unreal though, they even mined some gravel from the porch foundation, left piles and rock to pick up. Garden being fenced, they can't get in, so nothing to worry about there, while attempting to grow corn this year, they were eating all the supple radish color weed stem, we can eat it, the deer love it, but they also nailed the corn, chuck's actually weed between the corn, never bothered it when I watched em.
So now, I narrowed it down to an adult one that likes the potted vegetables, caught red handed, but elusive to shoot, saw him, he moved, then the darned thing just ducked in the edge, rustlin in the weeds, placed some lead in that direction to no avail, and again shortly after,plants had been attacked, even after loud noise, the chicken wire did the job though, funny, 'chucks seem to differ in what they like to eat, had a friendly one under the porch, never any trouble, territorial, kept others out,(no abundance of them like what had moved in nearby recently) was some skirmishes under the porch, he ended up missing a finger and is how I could ID him for 8 years, he liked a certain bread, no other 'chuck I left it out for would eat it.
Younger ones are still foraging in the lawn, but this larger adult is clearly the culprit.
The one below, was such a character, he would stand at the front door like that, you could set your watch by him. He would roam the nearby field, other dens, brought the wife and kid up once, they did not like me or anything I left for them, so was me and this guy on saturday afternoons, on the front step. We had a tussle when he tried to take a broom under the porch. When I first spotted him, he was a juvenile, I chased him a away from the porch and met him eye to eye in the tree, where at the base my best dog was just buried, was his spot there, cold winter months the sun would warm him and the pine tree with branches to the ground would shelter him, I swear some of that great ole dog jumped into this chuck, a real character just like the dog was, never seen anything like it before or since, and like I mentioned, no other ones would come around plants were not nipped off.
For now its back to war with them, "Woody" as we called him, though the enemy and or food competitor by species sure was a charmer, I'd never have a photo like this if he wasn't
Note: missing a finger on the left side, he would fight others under the porch, what a racket, figured thats where he lost it.
<img src=http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j185/BillyNY/New2023small.jpg>
