The Woodchuck

There have been woodchucks living under my shed for quite some time.  I never did much about it, thinking that any problems would be minimal or unnoticed.

It seems that they have been gnawing away at some of my shed. At first, I thought that the wood was just rotting away.  This may be true, but the damage seems to be in the vicinity of the active borrow entrances rather than throughout the entire area causing me to blame the woodchucks.

I don't want to harm the woodchucks but simply want them to go away.  A friend was kind enough to give me four bags of gravel.  I used it to fill the holes knowing that they can dig through it, but hoping that constantly refilling the hole will aggravate them enough to look for a new home away from me that will require less work on their part to maintain.  Been doing this for a while now, and it's down to just a single active tunnel.

Getting home today, I was surprised to see a visitor near my door:



I'm not sure if street noises were frightening it but it stayed backed into a corner.  Two and a half hours passed and it still remained.  I saw a fly whizzing around it and landing from time to time and then the thought occurred that the woodchuck could be a danger to any people that might stop by to visit.

How to get it to leave without hurting it?  I threw some water at it.  It ran and took cover under my car.  I noisily approached the car, and to my surprise  it stayed under there.  I hit the horn with still no result.  I started and moved the car to finally see him run for cover into some of the back yard brush.

I felt a bit of compassion for the critter, not knowing what it was feeling.  It may have an additionally trying time as before I saw him near my door, I had just refilled the tunnel entrance.