Garden Thief

Woodchucks did a number on the garden earlier this spring. I thought it was just one very large one eating out there, but then we began to see smaller ones moving around in the dense crop of coneflowers and cup plants just starting to grow. The wildflower garden is meant to survive on its own, without help from me (except for getting rid of noxious weeds), so I let the woodchucks alone. Within a week, however, the Golden Alexander (first blooming spring flower in the garden) was chewed down to its roots, Cup Plant was similarly mowed down, and the Spiderwort was on the verge of disappearing altogether. OK, enough of that. I decided I had to trap and remove the pests, especially "big mama".

After setting the largest live trap we had up in the middle of the garden and baited with what we thought were woodchuck delights (cabbage, carrots, apple and oatmeal), we caught a racoon instead of a woodchuck. Setting the trap in what we thought was their runway into the garden didn't help either. Then I noticed that the runway actually extended right to the edge of the yard, and there was a clear path down the hill into the neighbor's yard, leading right up to a big dirt mound with a large hole in one side of it. Aha -- this must be the nest.

What a surprise when I went to set up the trap right at the burrow and found 5 baby woodchucks sunning on top of the dirt mound. So, if I was going to protect the wildflower garden, I would have to remove 6 woodchucks, and so far I hadn't been able to trap even one.



Here are 4 of the 5 babies basking on top of their burrow. I had to peer through the leaves to photograph them because they were rather shy. Finally, after many attempts I managed to catch the mom and then 4 of her 5 babies. The last one was very savvy and eluded me for almost two weeks, but I finally got him. I drove them about 5 miles away to a big county park and let them go there. Maybe they managed to find each other. Good riddance.





Did you know that woodchucks (aka groundhogs) are actually the largest member of the squirrel family in the upper midwest? The MN DNR website recommends spraying a solution of 2/3 water to 1/3 ammonia solution on plants you care about in your garden. If it tastes bad enough, woodchucks will leave it alone. I'll try that next year.

Woodchucks are among the largest hibernators (contrary to popular belief, bears do not hibernate), with adults spending probably only 5-6 months above ground in MN feeding, raising babies, and fattening up for the next long "sleep" cycle. Hibernation isn't really sleep, in the same sense that we sleep. It's more of a deep coma, with markedly reduced breathing, heart rate, and absence of reflexes. Puxatawny Phil might emerge in February to check out the remaning length of winter, but I bet MN woodchucks stay put until the ground thaws in April. .