We have seen one woodchuck in our back yard, but Mendel enjoyed a romp with him, and I doubt he will be back this year.
We successfully got one mother rabbit to move her nest to the yard behind us. We see the 5 youngsters visiting daily, and so far Mendel has not got them. They stay way in the back, and there is plenty of greenery for them to hide in at this time of year. [In the winter, the rabbits were unable to run away or hide.]
We thought we were successful with the second mother, who wanted her nest in my lily patch, which is fenced specifically to keep out rabbits. We saw yesterday, though, that her babies are just a few feet away from the lily patch, not far from our house. As they begin to venture out, we don't think there is much hope for them. They are at the very young, innocent and extra-cute stage.
This is the first year we have not lost any lilies, annuals, clematis or beans to rabbits [so far]. So we do have Mendel to thank, but we hate to find carcasses. We are rather torn about this hunting job/game he seems to enjoy so much. We don't know whether to yell at him or encourage him. But it has been a month since he caught anything. In the winter, he caught a rabbit every week.
