Something had been eating my sunflowers at about one foot off the ground. They stood as a row of bare stalks, reminiscent of a few years ago when my cosmos had suffered a similar fate. Then, as now, it appeared to be the work of a woodchuck, munching happily along. At that time we bought a Have-a-Heart trap but succeeded in only catching a skunk. The neighbor’s dog caught and dispatched the woodchuck before he was trapped.
Yesterday when driving into the driveway I spotted a fat brown animal waddling quickly away into the raspberry patch. It took me a few minutes to realize that it wasn’t a fat squirrel but a woodchuck. Out came the Have-a-Heart trap, this time baited with broccoli which You Tube assured us was a go-to food for woodchucks. After all, I couldn’t bait the trap with sunflowers.
This afternoon, in the scorching heat, my husband found the fat, happy woodchuck lying contentedly on his back in the trap, the broccoli eaten. To release him near the house was to guarantee his return. Instead my husband decided to take him across the river, hoping he wouldn’t swim back, and release him in the meadow there. In the above picture the brown fat blob is the woodchuck running at record speed away from the Have-a-Heart trap.
The only question remaining is “do woodchucks swim?”
Saved By Words 
I much prefer sunflower seeds to broccoli but it’s a good thing the woodchuck does not discriminate. Happy to hear he will get a new home across the river. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I just learned that they can swim. Egads!
LikeLike
Uh-oh! Maybe you’ll have to plant sunflowers on the other side of the river so he’ll leave yours alone! 😉
LikeLike
A friend from the other side of the river called yesterday to say a woodchuck had just appeared in her yard.
LikeLike
Are they still your friend? 😁
LikeLike
LOL
LikeLiked by 1 person
At least it is a different question to ponder other than how much wood could he chuck. (I hope the answer to the swimming question is “no”.)
Around here, woodchucks are known as groundhogs (or “water bags” to my dad). I know you are interested in regional words!
LikeLike
I am. At church yesterday someone asked me about the difference and since I had already read your comment I knew they were the same.
LikeLike
he looked quite content!
LikeLike
At that size, he would sink!
LikeLike
I sure hope so.
LikeLike
I decided to look up the answer to your question. Woodchucks do have the ability to swim. Who would have known?
LikeLike
Egads! Thanks Pete. I will be on the lookout for a very wet woodchuck.
LikeLike
We don’t have such exotic wildlife in Yorkshire. From your post, that’s probably a good thing.
LikeLike
Exotic? But you have badgers, don’t you? I think they are pretty exotic.
LikeLike
It’s annoying that it ate your sunflowers. But I have to say it does look cute! 🙂
We don’t have those in England, and I suspect Ollie would chase it off if we did.
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLike
Yes. Dogs really can overcome them. Sadly the neighbor moved and the only dogs left are smaller than woodchucks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
He looks so cuddly though I suspect he is not! Fingers crossed he finds a broccoli field across the river and is never tempted to return!
LikeLike
Broccoli Fields Forever–the woodchuck’s dream.
LikeLike
Ha, great story Elizabeth! I don’t know if wood chucks swim, but they’re supposedly known for chucking wood, lol!
LikeLike
Good one!
LikeLike
This is a lovely post, Elizabeth. I am glad you were able to catch the woodchuck without hurting him. A cute picture.
LikeLike
On to the next one, I am afraid!
LikeLike
I didn’t know what a woodchuck was, I had to look it up! We don’t have them here in Australia.
But our large Brush tail possums eat the fruit from our fruit trees & veggies from the veggie patch! So we have built cages over the veggie patch & our miniature fruit bushes!
Jennifer
LikeLike
Sounds like they are as obnoxious as woodchucks. I had to look them up too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
They can be but we live side by side harmoniously, as long as the fruit & veggies are covered 😉
LikeLike
The woodchuck burrows and comes up in the fenced and covered patches.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh that’s difficult, rabbits do that here. We put wire mesh down under the veggie patches & have raised garden beds to grow the veggies in with a mesh fence around the patch. Hubby also put mesh on the top, as our huge variety of birds love eating our strawberries, nectarines, tomatoes, blueberries. 😉
They can’t get through 😀
LikeLike
My husband has our blueberries in a gigantic netting and wooden construction. Takes up half the backyard, but his crop tripled after he built it around the 18 bushes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow, 18 blueberry bushes, thats amazing! 😀 Do you make jam, pies or are they for selling at a farmers market Elizabeth?
We have one blueberry bush.
LikeLike
We eat them. We give them to friends at church. Then Charlie freezes the rest and has them all year with his oatmeal and pancakes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yours are much cuter, though no less hungry.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We have 5 date palms out the front & they get absolutely loaded with fruit, the brushtails love it, we don’t eat this variety of date so they’re welcome to them 😀
The Flying foxes love them too, so often we hear major spats!
LikeLike
I am glad they have something to eat since they are so very cute. If my granddaughter saw the picture she would maintain she wanted one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Unfortunately they can’t be tamed. They can be very protective of their young & territory. But they sleep during the day & only come out at night. They’re quite shy too.
LikeLike
I’m pretty sure I recall someone in my family getting rid of a woodchuck some 20 years ago – caught gorging in their vegetable garden – in a less kind way than you and your husband. It wasn’t me. That’s all I’m going to say.
LikeLike
Friends suggested a shotgun, but my grandkids loved all animals.
LikeLike
I am so glad you let him go 🙂
LikeLike