If you're not opposed to killing it you can have someone shoot it.

You could try a product called Ropel that tastes bad to them. It only works if you also plant some fruit or veg nearby that they are allowed to eat. You could also live-trap it with special traps and broccoli for bait, but you would need a plan for what you are going to do with it once it's in the trap.

They are horrible creatures.

We had some take up residence at the back of our property when we first moved here (and started a garden). We also have a dog, and the woodchuck wasn't deterred at all.

We live-trapped one with apple and peanut butter, but were not able to get a 2nd one ever after that.

We don't have a gun, and don't know how that would go over with the neighbors, but I would have gladly shot the woodchuck if I had one and any sense of aim.

We finally got rid of him/her by making their life he!!. Dh crammed their burrow entrances with boulders, cinder blocks. They would just burrow around them, actually moved the blocks. Dh threw all kind of offensibles into their hole--hot peppers, the cat litter box contents, our dog waste, etc. (and some human urine). I think some motor oil went into the burrow as well--they don't like getting their fur dirty. Dh was like Bill Murray in Caddyshack. The woodchuck(s) were so busy digging stuff out of their burrow, re-digging entrance holes, that after a couple months they finally realized their location was not a nice habitat and moved on. Bloodmeal is another ingredient they find offensive if you have some.

Kind of the high-maintenance route, more time-consuming than a gun, but it worked and has kept our property woodchuck-free for 3 years now, knock on wood.

This is one lucky woodchuck!.I can't put oil in the hole as its a Damariscotta river bank.I worry about contamination.I have never shot a gun and I know my aim would be off for sure.Ropel might work?catching would freak me out as I'm frightened of mice,snakes and frogs.However I do love gardening and am trying to be brave.Regards Josie_2

Josie the local human society in Edgecomb has have a heart traps that they will let anyone in the area borrow. They are traps that will not harm the animal. After he is caught you just pick the trap up by the handle and drive way away from your house out in the woods someplace far off and let him go. that would be the easiest for you.

Yes I do not want to kill him,Iwill ask a nephew before I get the trap if would he take him to some lovely pastures.I want to set this up before I try to capture him.Would he like peanut butter or what do you think I could entice him with?.

I really have no idea what they like to eat. Not sure about peanut butter. I'm thinking fruit like cut up apples?

Broccoli.

And not frozen broccoli. We tried that with no success. When thawed in the trap it quickly becomes an unappetizing mush. Fresh broccoli is the most recommended woodchuck/groundhog bait. But woodchucks eat a wide variety of things, as was evidenced by the devastation a family of them did in our garden. We caught one with a slice of watermelon in our HavaHart trap.

There are two schools of thought about "having a heart" and hauling the animal some distance away and releasing it. If you do that you are, in effect, dumping your problem on somebody else. Even if you re-locate the woodchuck to a farmer's field, it can dig deep holes and cause serious problems for the farmer. In some states it is against the law to dump an animal on somebody else.

Of course, live traps are a good idea. If you trap a neighbor's cat or dog you want to have the option of releasing it unharmed.

MM

Hello MaineMan,So I have decided to wait till spring to relocate our wee fellow.I felt very guilty as he probably has his little den all set up for his winter hibernation.I will use fresh broccli.Our family(not me) owns over 250 acres of wild land with ponds,deer,moose and beaver,and I'm sure some woodchucks.I think he would be happy there as no person would find his presence unwelcome.Regards and many thanks.Josie_2

It's not just the damage they can cause when you dump them on somebody else's property. When you relocate them, they still have a low chance of survival because they are being dropped in other woodchuck's or wild animal's territory and have trouble reclaiming their ground. So relocating can be as cruel (some say more cruel) than just shooting them.

I don't put much thought into it, though, when they're ruining my garden. Their population has exploded nearly everywhere in Maine due to lack of natural predators (coyotes, anyone?)

Hi veilchen,I can see me letting the little fellow stay and forgetting my dream of plate size dahlias.I am too soft hearted.My new window screens are ripped to pieces with the dog going crazy every time he sees him out.I am now on the hunt for some of that contact paper you stick on your windows to frost the scene at Cains eye level.Regards Josie _2

You've been warned--one woodchuck begets another woodchuck, begets a slew of babies, and on and on, and it won't just be your dahlias they eat.

It's not quite possible to garden with a resident family of woodchucks.

Josie, maybe you can have someone trap it and then take it away for a quick merciful death in an area where it is legal to fire a gun? Is there someone you can trust not to torture it? I am with you, I want a peaceful yard but not to have to hurt things to get it. P.S. there is a neighbor cat who was coming on our porch to peek in the window which drives my cat crazy. One time she jumped down, bumped her face and broke a tooth! I took a piece of cardboard exactly the width of the window and stapled fabric to it to pretty it up a bit, then fit it in to block off the bottom part of the window where the neighbor kitty was looking in.

Hello Dollmaker,that's a great idea for the windows I will do that for sure.I'm sorry to hear about your Kitty's tooth.The shooting thing I'm not to sure about that.I will mull that over till spring.I wonder if the game warden could think of something else?Regards Josie_2

"Relocating" is tantamount to a death sentance. Shoot it, or trap it and then shoot it.

Not what you want to hear, but it will work.

("your" woodchuck has already made plenty of babies to keep you thoroughly aggravated for the coming season... )

"Dh was like Bill Murray in Caddyshack."

My father went through something like that. He tried concrete, 1/4 sticks, everything you can think of. He finally resorted to a 22 and got the little bugger after shooting only 1 hole in his sprinkler system.