The Departure of Woody Woodchuck

The trap was placed right beside the burrow

After Woody moved in last month (read the story here), I decided to leave him be for a while since he didn’t seem to be doing any noticeable damage. But all that changed when he started climbing the fence around the vegetable garden to munch on zucchini leaves, beans, and corn.  Then he started on the Echinacea and Rudbeckia in the garden. That was the final straw – Woody had to go.

Since I couldn’t bring myself to use a ‘permanent solution’, we decided to trap and relocate him. Note that you should check your local state regulations before doing this – some states prohibit relocation of all trapped animals, while others disallow relocation of rabies-prone animals, such as skunk, fox, and raccoon.

Woody poses for his portrait

We borrowed a large Havahart trap, baited it with fresh lettuce and corn (from the vegetable garden), covered it with garbage bags (to make it look more like a tunnel than a trap), and carefully placed it at the entrance to the burrow. We weren’t sure whether or not it would work – we’d read that trapping groundhogs during the summer, when food is plenty, could be difficult. But this morning when I went out for my daily stroll around the garden, I heard an angry banging sound coming from behind the shed and I knew that Woody was now our “guest”. He’d eaten all our ‘offerings’ and was trying to pry open the trap door (which, thankfully, held fast).

Woody is now somewhere else – I’m not sure where and I don’t want to know.  John drove off with him this morning and came back with an empty trap. I hope Woody’s found a good home and will continue his leisurely clover-chomping, sun bathing, and waddling around – as long as it’s not in my garden!

Here are some of the resources we used:

Woodchuck Control from MassWildlife

Trapping a Woodchuck

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