The "For A Moment I Thought He Was Smarter Than Me!" Story

Sighting Donny John for the first time.

It was an ordinary day.  Wishing Donnie John the best as I opened the spring end of the trap and he quickly exited into the woods.  I'm sure most of you know by now what my story is about today.  Yep, we had a catastrophe in the Woods' household the past few days which didn't look as if it was going to end anytime soon.  A few days ago my wife noticed that an entire length of her sweet potato vine had only the stem remaining.  All the leaves were gone.  Now this wasn't just a few leaves, but about five feet of vine.  We suspected a groundhog immediately.  

He loves pink petunias!

A day later a large portion of a petunia plant was missing its flowers as well as the leaves.  Finally we saw him.  Not real large, but he would get larger in the next day or so since he loved Carol's flowers and vines.  We dug out the trap that we had used to catch a few stray cats and baited it with lettuce leaves.  Wasn't long before he arrived again, smelled the lettuce and walked into the trap.  Didn't work!  Some how I didn't set the trap properly and he cleaned us out of half a head of romaine lettuce.  Tried again and an hour later he returned and somehow triggered the trap, but was too quick to get caught in it.  Then he decided to have some more of the Carol's petunia plantings.  Caught it on my camera, but couldn't catch him.  To avoid more losses I placed chicken wire around many of Carol's plants and sat the plants I could lift onto a table.  

The trap that he had control over more than me.

The next morning we found the groundhog, whom we had given the name of Donny John, had somehow lifted the chicken wire I had stapled to the deck and stripped another section of sweet potato vine.  So, I called my son and asked if we could borrow his trap.  We had done this in the past since it only opens on one end instead of both ends as our trap.  Set the trap, loaded it with more lettuce and a few small tomatoes and waited.  

Finishing off another petunia.

Hour or so later we see Donny John at the top of the backyard steps helping himself to the sunflower seeds I had placed on the steps for the birds and squirrels.  Wasn't long before he had finished them and headed toward my son's trap.  Took one look at it and pulled himself into another pot and helped himself to another petunia.  

I know he saw me, but he's playing it cool!

Somehow he saw me with my camera and exited the planter.  When the aroma of the lettuce was more than he could stand, he wandered to the trap, ate a few "bait" pieces and entered the trap.  Reached out for a leaf and pulled it toward the opening to eat.  Then he must have seen the bright red color of the tomato and lost his sense of caution.  Headed for it and a second or two later the trapdoor closed and he was ours.  

I caught a photo of him the moment he knew he had been tricked.

Carol said, "I hope he didn't hurt himself!"  Compassion for Donny John was in her voice, but anger over the loss of her garden flowers was apparent in her eyes.  "Now what do we do with him?" she said.  "I'll put the cage in the car and take him to a new home in the country where he'll have plenty to eat.  He must have enjoyed his ride, since when I pulled to a halt, opened the car door and removed the blanket from the cage we had placed there to keep him calm during transport, he had finished the rest of the lettuce and tomatoes.  Opened the trap door, looked at me and smiled and took off for better eats.  Perhaps he will also find another friend that can help and entertain him.  Now to get back to the house and remove the chicken wire and return the cage.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Wishing him the best just before I opened the door at his new home.  Just hoping he doesn't find his way back again.