Gotcha!
One recent evening the woodchuck that has been trying to destroy the foundation beneath our front porch grazed among the varied vegetation that comprises our so-called lawn, then stood on its haunches and surveyed the above-ground part of its estate.
I can’t prove it, but I’m pretty sure it was taunting me.
So I set a trap, baiting it with apple slices, and swore that if I ever caught the beast, I would send it into that other tunnel - the long one at the end of which, according to some who have survived a near-death experience, a bright light glows.
I would have been on firm legal ground to do so. Michigan law gives property owners the right to terminate, with extreme prejudice, “coyotes, raccoons, skunks and woodchucks “ ... when they are doing or about to do damage on private property.’
Well, we got home from a high-school graduation party Saturday night and there it was (top photo) looking contrite and calmly awaiting its fate.
And do you know what ...? It looked so helpless - so totally at my mercy - that I kept my .22 rifle in its case. I loaded the lucky critter, cage and all, into the trunk of our car and took it for a ride, then released it into a wooded area far from the nearest house.
(Bottom photo: My neighbor, a brother woodchuck warrior, photographed this fat fellow consorting with a concrete gargoyle on his deck a couple of years ago.)
