(What Ever Happened to) Wildlife...

 

We've had our challenges with wildlife.  There is a fence around our backyard to keep "larger" wildlife (deer and bear) out.  When the fence that was there when we moved in had issues, we had it replaced (https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2025/10/do-fence-me-in.html).  Smaller critters (chipmunks and some squirrels) get in, but they aren't really destructive.  And then there are lots of birds, which I enjoy watching.  (My husband has seen a hummingbird this year, but I haven't which bums me out.)

But even with this new fence we've had some challenges:  https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2025/11/calling-carl-spackler.html.  But with the long winter, perhaps we'd gotten complacent.

 As the weather has FINALLY gotten warmer (as I write this it's suddenly in the 90s when we'd had the heat on over the weekend), this guy came back.  (Last time I called him/her Sly and I'm going to resume that an ASSume that it's the same groundhog.  Ever space that Sly could find, Sly would dig under.  I'd move rocks and make it difficult to get in.  Sly would move onto a new space.  I'd see Sly in the yard and run out and Sly would flee; heading towards the detached garage.

The final straw was when we saw dig marks/holes under our deck.  We chased Sly again. I put out bricks to try and deter Sly (again) and we called the pest control company.  They were going to come and set out traps on Monday.

On Friday and Saturday, I saw Sly, just sitting outside the garage.  Occasionally Sly would duck into the garage.  (The portion with the gap where wildlife can go is an "addition" to the garage.  It's really not very nice and I actually don't mind Sly going there.  If Sly was hanging in there, Sly would be easy to catch, right?

But I never saw Sly on Sunday or Monday...Had I finally managed to scare Sly away?

The pest control guy came late this afternoon.  We told him our story.  We opened the sliding door on the garage addition.  No Sly.  No sign of Sly living/nesting there.  BUT, there had been a piece of wood propped up on the wall, with a (broken?) weed whacker and (broken?) snow thrower leaning on it.  All were on the ground.  Had Sly gotten clocked?  And if so, where did Sly go?  Was Sly injured?  

I didn't (don't) want Sly hurt or killed.  I just want Sly to be relocated somewhere else.

The pest control guy set three traps.  One by the garage,

one by one of the fence "entranceway" that Sly had dug

and one by the "hole" under the deck. 

What would happen?

I woke up before the sun came up this morning, so I couldn't see anything, but after 30 minutes on the rowing machine, I went into the kitchen and I could tell that something was in the trap by the deck.  Elated, I told my husband.  We went outside and saw:

 

Bandit (named by hubby) has been trapped and we think Bandit had been living under the deck?  (Although hubby very clearly saw Sly come out from under the deck before all this.)  The other two traps (not in the backyard) have not been disturbed.

So Bandit will be taken away and released and we will wait to see if Sly shows again.  Every day is costing me money, so...Where is Sly?

And let me finish with this...who is this?

  And where did he go?  He showed up on the deck on Saturday.  I thought he might be dead because he didn't move.  But then (without me seeing) he did change position slightly, so clearly he is (was?) alive.  He was gone by Sunday morning and has not been seen since.  Do I have a zoo under my deck?  Do I really want to know? 

Wildlife!

Update:  Bandit has left the building.  (Or in this case our backyard).  New trap will be set later this afternoon.  Let's see what happens.