Sorry guys back East. It wasn't coyotes that decimated the woodchucks. It was me. I am ashamed of myself but in my defense I was young and bloodthirsty back then and the woodchucks were plentiful. I started at 11 with Dad's Winchester model 67, moved to a 22 magnum at 13 and a 6mm Remington at 18.
The toll I took on the Eastern woodchuck population was devastating.
Because nature abhors a vacuum, since 1981 when I moved out west, woodchucks from all the surrounding Eastern states have been moving in to my old stomping grounds. So great was the vacuum that to this day, woodchucks as far away as Virginia are making the trek to Northern New York to fill the vacancies. There is no telling how long it will take to replenish the empty woodchuck holes left in the wake of my carnage.
But seriously, when I was a kid growing up in Northern New York we had lots of coyotes and lots of woodchucks. Today that area is seeing far less chucks but I'm sure it has more to do with loss of habitat and changes in farming practices. Many farms have either grown up to brush or have been subdivided for urban development. The ground that is still farmed is farmed far more intensely and with more chemicals than when I was a kid. None of these things work in favor of woodchuck populations.
