Another Varmint Down

In a previous post I mentioned that one of my jobs around the farm is de-predation. Last night I was picking corn from the market garden, some for our dinner and some for the CSA members. Walking back to the house I noticed a groundhog munching on some grass, just on the other side of one of our fences. I quickly hustled into the house and grabbed my .22 rifle. The dogs were out in the barnyard, separated from the groundhog by the field fence and obviously unaware of his presence. After telling the dogs to sit and stay, so as not to spook the groundhog, I started creeping over to see if he was still out. At first I didn't see him since he was on the other side of a burn pile and by the time I located him, he spotted me and made a quick retreat to the hedgerow. Determined not to give up, and knowing that groundhogs are curious and often come back out to see whats going on I setup at the fence line to wait. After ten minutes or so I was about to give up, when I realized he was sitting just at the edge of the hedgerow in some tall grass. I slowly took aim and squeezed the trigger. After walking up and around the fence line I found the groundhog dead having made it only half way back into his hole.

Early in the season we had a problem with a groundhog tunneling into our kitchen garden. I shot "at" one but did not recover the body. The tunneling into our garden stopped so I assumed I had gotten him but he had managed to get back to his burrow. This groundhog was shot in the same spot, but whether it is the same one or another that took over the empty burrow I have no way of knowing. What I do know for sure though is that he will not be digging holes in our garden or eating any of our vegetables.