Nope, not what you think!

I have an infestation of woodchucks under my porch. For the Aussies, these are Marmots, large rodents very common to the eastern part of the US. They are quite large at maturity. There are at least three, well, WERE at least three.

So I began the evening to remove the problem. The animals had chewed the wood face off my front steps to gain access to the area under the porch. They were also devouring my flower gardens. That's a no-no on both accounts.

So it's varmint control time.

This was a weird "hunt" shoot, what ever you want to call it.

Below are two hand raised 4 week old chicks.

I am mom to them. Don't they look innocent? If you sit on the ground they will take to perching on your shoulder. They roam my front and side yard as they are not yet big enough to join the grown birds.

So here I am all serious about removing these adolescent aged rats and have set up a sniper position behind one of my stone walls. I nail one of the chucks about 15 minutes after taking my position. I then go move it away from the step as a decoy and return to my position. Soon I can hear my chicks coming along. Guess what they decide to do?

Since I am sitting on the ground they fly up on my shoulder and start squabbling with each other. It is pointless to try and make them go away. Well they finally settle and then my second target comes up. The birds are right above my stock so they have a premium view. It is a bit of a wait to get a good clear shot of the pesky varmint. Then it is time. I fired away and was quite surprised that the shot did not cause the birds to bail out. Nope, the little rascalls stayed where they were.

New hunting partners????

Photos fixed - NitroX