Around here we call this guy a groundhog, but in most circles they are known as a woodchuck. Either way, I don't cotton to liking them very much.
They dig holes all over the place; one resides under our deck with an escape hole somewhere under there. They come out at dusk to eat their greens. I usually see one right outside the kitchen window. I tap on the window and whoooom! off he goes under the deck.This guy lives under a small pile of lumber behind our shed and off to the left of where I feed the cats. He has three escape holes. I guess he's not taking any chances. This is the only day that I saw him do this. He was about 10-12 feet away from me while I was feeding the cats. I "talked" to him (I am assuming it's a him ~ could be a her) and he never moved.
Since that day I have gone around the other side of the shed to burn some trash; he must have been sunbathing because as soon as he saw me, he took off like a bat out of hell whistling all the way. A very shrill whistle. I almost jumped out of my skin. Have you ever heard a groundhog whistle?
I think there may be more than one under that woodpile because this one is quite small yet. Their population around here just keeps growing. We've been "putting up" with them since moving here in '86. You can't get rid of them because more will just take their place. At least they don't eat the cat's food like the skunks have been doing during the night.
Speaking of skunks...we used to have a little one visit us almost every night during the summer. I remember one time I went out to feed the cats (way before we had the current crop). I kept the food in the shed back then. I went in to get some, turned around and was ready to walk out when the little skunk appeared right outside the door in my path. Yikes! My husband wasn't home and I had visions of spending the night in the shed. I started talking to him and telling him to go back to his momma. Eventually he left so I must have gotten through to him. He knew I was no threat to him because I was the one in the corner, not him.
10 comments:
I'm first again. He looks harmless, is he except for the burrowing?
All we have are squirels and rabbits, besides cats. Adi likes to chase the squirels.
At our other place we had possums that would pull the shingles off and get into the attic. I got to be pretty good at trapping them and hauling them away.
Maybe you could trap them and haul them away?
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They are soooooo cute, too bad they are destuctive. I had a prarie dog and they he was a good pet. Very loving and affectionate. His name was P.D.(For prarie dog). Tell me that name wasn't original. LOL
Haven't seen any of those around here. We have squirels and oppossums and armadillos.
You're right! Elliott does look like he's thinking, "DJ... what are you doing to me, man?"
JIM: Harmless? HAH! They eat anything green and that includes any kind of flowers or veggies we plant. Stopped doing that a long time ago. They dig holes all over the place. Blocking the holes just causes them to dig elsewhere. They are a major pain in the hiney!
TIREDAWG: They may be cute, but when cornered they will lunge at you and try to bite and they have some choppers. Yes, very destructive. So we just try to live alongside them, don't bother them and they don't bother us. We could trap them and haul them away but like I said, more would just show up.
BABS: The more I think about it, the better off Elliott is without him. Doesn't this make Elliott 'top dawg' now?
Awwwwwwwwwww!
Antonette, I don't think you'd be saying that if they were on your property. I let them be, but I don't like it one bit. They are cute when they're small, but nasty critters when they grow up.
My inlaws have them all over the place. My father in law actually can hand feed them.
Wow, hand feed them? I guess like any animal they can be tamed to a certain extent. They have some choppers though. I saw one of the babies today. They sure are cute when they're small.
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