Woe Be The Wily Woodchuck!

Woe Be the Wily Woodchuck!


Thoreau was angry, very angry,  at woodchucks on his land. One ate 1/4 an acre of his bean crop.


"As I came home through the woods with my string of fish, trailing my pole, it being now quite dark, I caught a glimpse of a woodchuck stealing across my path, and felt a strange thrill of savage delight, and was strongly tempted to seize and devour him raw; not that I was hungry then, except for that wildness which he represented." ---Henry David Thoreau, Walden.


The woodchuck is just as much of a target in the 21st century as in the 19th, the wrath of current  gardeners comes across  Master Gardeners Helplines in  Bergen Agricultural Extension office..

This posting is a quick review of the methods most often used to curb the woodchuck’s enthusiasm for garden areas.The easiest of course, is if there are some plants that would be a natural chuckicide. There are essays on this venue to woodchuck control, none seem definitive or easy, including this one on the use of epsom salts. 

Herbs or other plants with noxious odors? My theory here is if the woodchuck got so far as to get into my garden with Rosemary, Santolina, Thyme, Wormwood, etc. in it, it would not deter it unless it was interplanted with the vegetables. Another anecdote way is that growing many marigolds will stop woodchucks. There is very limited evidence on the effectiveness, and the woodchuck can dig under them. I will go back to my aromatic herbs and line them with marigolds, which by sheer luck and superstition, has repelled woodchucks. Squirrels and rabbits, however, act as If I wrote a sign: "I have built it, you can come."


Shooting? 'There is a $99 fine for shooting the woodchuck out of season---but there is very little time that is out of season! And not in town, anyway. The woodchuck hunting season is  in the latest NJ Small Game Hunting regulations from the NJ Fish and Wildlife site. Permitted hunting by a licensed hunter with bow and arrow is from March 2 to Sept. 30, 2015, with no limit. Using a shotgun, the season is: 

Sept. 27–Dec. 6; Dec. 15, 16, 18–31, 2014; Jan. 1–Feb. 16, 2015 (It's not much different in 2016.)

Live Traps? Advice from many sources includes the observation that live-trapping chucks and letting them go causes their premature death. Their habits are inflicted on new people. It’s also illegal to release a wild animal in NJ.Look at the latest relocation regs in NJ (Fish and Wildlife)

Woodchucks do not appear to be scared by motion devices, nor much by a scarecrow. Sprays and hot sauces appear to affect them little---and the home gardener much. The amount of time for reapplication and concern about the chemicals on produce were key considerations here. 

Finally, the use of an electrified fence was seen as effective---as is a fence dug very deep under the ground. The fence needs to be bent outwards-and hung in a wobbly way so the critter cannot parade on top of the fence in front of you,taunting you with your own vegetables.

If the effort becomes too much, The New York Times featured a Thoreaurean way of dealing with the woodchuck: a recipe for Woodchuck au Vin , as well as a recipe for Peppery Woodchuck in Wine and Olives (June 05, 2008. ) It should be taken into consideration :

If that is not appealing, Food Republic offers Braised Groundhog .Or you can look at a Berkshire farmer's borrowed poetry ( Apologies to  Lewis Carrol:)

The time has come

The gardener said

To speak of unpleasant things

Of does and bucks 

And slugs and flies

And ravenous woodchucks.

Andrea Chesman then provides her recipe for Woodchuck Stew.

The gardener who created this dish notes that the herbs and vegetables in this recipe are available fresh from the garden because they have not been eaten by the dish’s main ingredient." NYT, June 2008

Take your pick-be a vegetarian by removing what the animal would eat, or try a fancy stew. If you have fencing solutions, write me---I will put them in Urban Herban.