It's not uncommon for a rural neighbor to be sitting somewhere near their garden or field of sweet corn with a .22 rifle.

It's not much cause for alarm in these parts, though it might cause quite a stir in a suburban or urban neighborhood. It's just some old timer waiting for the critter that mowed down his bean patch or chewed up a row or two of his sweet corn.

I'm not commending or condemning the decision to resort to using firearms to ward off the critters, it's just the way it goes in the country.

Some of you may recall that my wife and I jointly chose to create a preserve area for wildlife using the format of the National Wildlife Federation. We were so successful in our plan that we became Certified Habitat No. 65693 and all we had to do was let the wildlife discover us.

The bird life has been exceptional and has brought great satisfaction to us and Zanella's Milling in West Sunbury, the source of the food we provide our guests.

Yet they say that all good things must come to an end, and we have learned to be a bit more careful of what we wish for in our wildlife habitat.

The troubles began with deer eating our shrubs and tulips and moved on to squirrels and chipmunks chewing up everything in sight.

Then came the skunks digging up the yard and flower beds, while the raccoons blasted the bird feeders and recyclable cans.

Finally, a groundhog family moved in and decided to dig a den under our front steps and Renee's prized flowers. That big old woodchuck made up his mind that he wanted to live next to our foundation and would dig in earnest while we would leave for work.

At first we tried to dissuade him by filling in the hole, but that only seemed to make him more determined to have that den.

In most cases, wildlife is easily spooked by the appearance of a human. In our case, they were so used to the good treatment that they would continue to munch our plantings.

My first instinct was to grab the box trap or .22 rifle and deal with the critters. But who wants a groundhog bumped off on their property?

Instead, I got serious about getting the critters into the woods and out of the front yard. I left a nice patch of white clover growing in the side yard and started to bring in all feeders each evening. That seemed to keep the rabbits and the raccoons in check.

The groundhog den was filled in and the stack of flat rocks so far has discouraged the start of a new one.

My father-in-law was quite skeptical of all the trouble we were going through to keep a balance between nature and man. He offered to sit on the porch and wait for the groundhog that was chewing up his daughter's flower beds.

So far we haven't had to resort to the farmer's solution for a garden pest. During all of this experience, it has been a learning curve for us and it gives us a unique perspective.

Humans can't replace the wild places with backyard habitats. Wildlife needs wild places to go about their daily existence with all the benefits and inherent dangers.

When man tries to manage the critters, we usually end up with problems on our hands. I've learned from and will not repeat past mistakes. I still enjoy the antics of the wildlife neighbors, but I don't interfere.

Jay E. Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.