About Woodchucks

• Family: Related to squirrels.

• Diet: Vegetables (lettuce, spinach, green beans, peas, squash, zucchini, cucumbers) and berries.

• Activity: Diurnal (active during daylight, especially morning and evening).

• Habitat: Burrows underground, often beneath homes, sheds, or in meadows, hedgerows, and hay fields.

Signs of Woodchuck Presence

• Mounds of earth with multiple holes (entrances to burrows).

• Damage to gardens: rapid consumption of vegetables and flowers.

• Structural damage: burrows can destabilize sheds, pools, and other outbuildings.

Damage

• A single woodchuck can devastate a garden in a few days.

• Burrowing can compromise structures and landscaping.

Removal and Prevention

• Urban/suburban den sites: barns, porches, sheds, decks.

• Prevention is challenging because woodchucks like garden vegetation.

• Most effective method: trapping and relocation, using techniques developed by experts like Jim Dreisacker.