I live on a major raccoon highway, a series of irrigation-water fed ponds, then a cat tail swamp, then another pond, swamp, all the way down the valley. They will take all the fruit off a single tree in one night. They destroyed the top half of one of my cherry trees breaking the branches, ate all the blue damson plums, finished off the Almata apples, probably 3 bushels worth, not to mention the peaches. I mean, the fruit that the birds haven't pecked away a chunk. I now pick fruit not when its ripe, but when I see the birds are working on it, a sure sign that the raccoons will soon follow.

Then the ground squirrels. They eat my tomatoes. They also managed to burrow under the concrete foundation of the house, under the concrete slab, and popped up under the bathroom fixtures in the south bathroom, building a nest in with the drainage pipes, apparently the builders left a gap in the slab for the drain pipe under the bathtub, so I can hear them rustling around in there. The entry hole was a good 15 feet down the side of the foundation. And there's another burrow under the north side of the house, but not as deep.

If you look at my orchard, everything is pruned off from below at 5' high from the deer. One large doe has figured out how to shake the trees to get the apples to fall.

Bears are around. We see those in October, but I've yet to have any problems in my fenced in yard. And who can forget prairie dogs, gophers, and voles, which put me out of the grape growing business?

All that said, we still get plenty to eat from the garden.

No plums left. With high winds and raccoons. Usually have 3 to 4 boxes and dry a lot. It hasn't even frosted yet and they are all gone.

grrrrr!

Torment 'em, Margaret.

I've successfully gotten rid of ground squirrels, marmots, gophers and voles -- using nothing lethal, not even traps. I've shot marmots and squirrels but it's been a bother. Tried to trap gophers and voles with poor results.

It's a bother pestering them too but it's worked. Driving large rocks in squirrel holes is a bit of effort, especially going that extra yard down. I'm not sure how to get that marmot out from under your shed. Don't try sending the neighbor's dachshund in after it. I know from personal experience that it will mean a trip to the animal hospital. Maybe the olde rototiller exhaust after the skunk trick.

I may have either raccoons or skunks in the sweet corn every year. I'm not where the coons just come up the river bank anymore but who knows! I would like to try a gardener suggestion and tune a radio to one of those blow-hards but I don't have electricity. Most of those guys would make me lose my appetite pretty dang quick.

Steve

If Montana is as hard up for natural food as Colorado this year, well, maybe we ought to consider ourselves as "conservationist" gardeners this year? We had scrub and stellars jays at the bird feeder this year, never in my 26 years living in South Suburban Denver have I ever seen either of those species this low, a testament to how bad the forage is in the mountains and foothills.

We did get a nice crop of chokecherries at the house this year, the raccoons devoured them in short order. However, the creek that runs behind the house which is usually lousy with wild apples and plums is completely bare of either.

I loathe squirrels. That is all.

Mac apples are usually picked end of Sept here. They are almost gone now which is why bears are showing up so early. Not so good berry crop that was almost a month early. Saw a dead raccoon on road 2 days ago. Hope that was one that had been visiting me.

Chatting with a neighbor this morning, 4 houses up the road there's a mountain lion occasionally living under the back porch. They've talked to DOW, but they haven't caught it yet, it seems the animal moves around. But its killed their pets.

I have a friend across the valley with a sheep ranch. She has had 3 killed by mountain lions in the past 2 years. Llamas don't stop them. Fish & Wildlife has not done anything except keep records on kills.