A Woodchuck's Tale

V

vicvanb

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I grew up around woodchucks and really like them. They are cool animals and really smart. In my old age I wish I could live like they do--crawl into bed in October and sleep until it warms up in March.

When Punxsutawney Phil looks for his shadow tomorrow I hope he doesn't notice the tornadoes we just had in January, or the lingering damage from Superstorm Sandy, or the choking smog in Salt Lake City, or the record low water levels in the Mississippi. If he does, he might decide that the environment is so degraded that he should just stay underground year-round.

Happy Woodchuck Day!
 
Woodchuck Condo

We have a veritable woodchuck condo up here on "Marmot Mountain". Fortunately, the footings of "Marmot Manor" are anchored to the ledge that goes all the way to China, so they can't undermine it. The septic system, I'm not so sure about. We leave them alone. They're kind of fun to watch, but you don't see them much after their mating forays are done. Once they put on some weight, they eat a little in the morning and evening, and otherwise stay in. We had a big rock out back of our last house, and the young ones would come out and play on it in the sun. I am not expecting to see any chucks tomorrow, but we'll keep an eye out. This fall, we thought we had a black one, but it turned out to be a small porcupine on the lawn, eating grass, no less!
 
Where I grew up in the 1950s woodchucks were everywhere and there were no coyotes. In the 1970s coyotes moved in and today woodchucks are scarce and mostly confined to living under barns and close to houses. The difference is really striking.
 
Chucks scarce

Yeah, same for me. We shot the heck out of 'em when I was a kid. Now it seems like a treat just to see one. I'd trade all the coyotes and moose for a few more chucks and deer. Coyotes keep me awake and moose get in my way.
 
I miss the wood chucks too

Wood chucks are what got me into shooting in the first place. I had a savage 99 in 300 savage in high school that I started reloading for. I figured out with 110gr hornadys it turned into a pretty decent chuck rifle. Eventualy I got my hands on a ruger m77 varmint in 220 swift and I was hooked. We would hunt the huge fields around coventry and orleans. We used to get 10-15 a week end. Now you would be lucky to see that many in a summer. The last one I got was 3 years ago when he scared the hell out of my wife in the garden. Ive made the switch to hunting coyote now for my long range hunting, but even they are getting hard to find out in the open durring day light hours. Im still getting them back in the brush with an E caller and a 16" AR but thats not nearly as fun as a bait pile 300-500 yards away with a good varmint rifle.
 
Miss the Open Fields Too

Yeah, Vermont used to have lots of open land. I went away for 21 years in the late seventies and when I came back, I couldn't believe how it had grown up. I know there are still some really big fields and farms up your way, but a lot of the places I used to hunt chucks are mature forest now. I shot a chuck behind my future in-laws house in Irasburg just before I got married in 1973. I think that was the last one I ever shot. Another thing that hasn't helped is the switch from grass to corn for cattle feed. It has also caused a lot of silt to flow into the streams, which has killed the hatches and the trout fishing.
 
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