I thought deer were my biggest garden problem. I was wrong. 

During the later part of May the weather finally started to warm and cooperate, so we managed to get our raised vegetable beds near the house planted with some of our favorites: cukes, some Big Boy or Better Boy tomatoes including a bunch of Romas for homemade salsa, some carrots and bush beans, Brussels sprouts and Swiss chard.

A few days later we managed to get several rows of Kennebec and Red Pontiac potatoes in, along with a dozen or so hills of buttercup and acorn squash in the large gardens below the house.

In recent years we’ve cut way back on the size, amount and variety of vegetables in our gardens, sowing just enough to eat through the season or give away to family and friends and, when needed, enough to can or freeze, especially green beans and squash.

Once planted, all we have to do is wait for the growing season to do its thing and pray.

Pray because we live surrounded by woods, and those woods are home to a number of critters that love to munch on what we plant.

I remember one year soon after we moved in our green beans were ready to pick, but we got busy doing something the day we planned to harvest so we put it off until the next day. Big mistake.

When we went down to pick, four rows of bush beans had been munched down to a nubbin. It looked like someone had gone through them with a lawn trimmer.

There were deer tracks everywhere, so we knew the culprits, which is why we built several raised beds and planted beans and other vegetables deer like as much as we do closer to the house.

But that didn’t completely solve the critter problem.

We’ve learned to handle the deer-munching problem in the large gardens below the house, and they don’t come near the raised beds by the house. But every so often we have a problem with woodchucks.

That’s the case this year.

I first saw the bugger a few weeks ago when the weather turned warm. As I usually do, I walked out onto the front porch with my morning cup of coffee and there it was, resting comfortably on a rock in the morning sun like it owned the place.

My sudden appearance caught the bugger off guard and it made a mad dash to a hole in the stone wall that I later found hidden under a rhododendron.

I remember reading something years ago about a woodchuck’s incredibly good eyesight, how it can detect movement a couple hundred yards away. I understand a woodchuck’s hearing and sense of smell are just as keen and, along with its sharp eyesight, are what keep it alive.

I never knew that as a kid, which is why I could rarely sneak up on them with my old .22-caliber Remington Nylon 66.

Many years later, when I started hunting area farm fields before the grass got high or after a haying, sneaking within rifle range was still a challenge. It still is today when I get a chance to get out for a morning hunt.

Part of the problem is I’m more of an ambusher and an up-close-and-personal hunter. Stalking, sneaking and shooting long range have never been my forte as a hunter, talents I’ve learned are needed to get a bead on woodchucks.

Which puts me at a major disadvantage on several levels, primarily because our new resident woodchuck lives less than 20 yards from my front porch.

We own the woodlands around the house and have no neighbors to worry about, so I have no issue with shooting the bugger.

I’ve spotted it a couple of times, but my rifle was always somewhere else and most times it’s nothing more than a glimpse of brown fur disappearing into cover.

Those keen senses kick in quickly, and it cuts to the bone to realize you’re slower and can be outsmarted by a woodchuck.

Our gardens were just planted so we haven’t had an issue yet, but it’s early. Considering woodchucks can eat up to two pounds of succulent, leafy vegetation a day and love the leaves and pods of beans, the tops of carrots and leafy greens like Swiss chard — everything we planted — I don’t want a repeat of past events.

Which means I’ve got to figure out a way to get rid of the critter.

According to Maine hunting laws there is no closed season on woodchucks and no limit, so there are no legal concerns about putting a bullet in it.

So far, the problem is getting a chance and actually putting a bullet where it counts.

I might have to be a little stealthier during my morning front porch visits, but it’ll be tough carrying a rifle and getting a bead on something with a cup of coffee in your hand. At 5:30 or 6 in the morning a cup of coffee somehow seems more important.

I do know I don’t have the time or patience to sit around all day and wait for an appearance and shot opportunity.

Of course, there are other options than a bullet when a woodchuck lives relatively close.

A few years ago we tried one of those commercially available smoke bombs designed to be tossed down the burrow entrance. They give off a charge of noxious, suffocating smoke that fills the burrow.

It seemed to work and we had no problems that year. The ones we bought came in a package of four, and we have a couple left over, so we’ll see what happens.

There are other products available at local hardware and box stores: repellents in pellet, granular and liquid form designed to discourage woodchuck activity or encourage them to vacate the area because of their strong odor.

Some smell like garlic or rotten eggs, others like cat or predator urine, odors easily detected and supposed to persuade woodchucks to move elsewhere.

A friend of ours says blood meal sprinkled around the garden works well, and it’s a natural nitrogen fertilizer that’s good for the garden.

A neighbor down the road mentioned she sprinkled soiled kitty litter around a woodchuck burrow entrance and got rid of her problem a couple years ago. We don’t own a cat and I’m not about to go borrow some.

The growing season is young yet, and up to this point we just know we have an unwelcome guest, again.

We’ll continue to keep an eye open for any crop damage as the season progresses and decide on the best option then or before it gets out of hand.

But I’m from the old school. Nothing beats a bullet. I’ll just have to be careful not to spill my coffee.