The Summer Solstice on Tuesday was the official start of summer and the longest day of the year. It also marked the start of true pollinator activity in our garden.

The butterflies and bees have been visiting the plantings of tomatoes and peppers, which gives us great delight as new fruits have started to emerge and grow in earnest. However, even with the progress we have to endure some setbacks as well with other wildlife invaders.

Putting up nesting boxes and feeders for birds has been a boon for the insect control issues as the birds visit the garden and pathways for insect meals. The slugs and caterpillars have really been stymied as the birds hop around the plants and dust themselves daily in the garden.

Putting up fencing has helped control wildlife pests like groundhogs, rabbits, deer and chipmunks. At least I thought that this would do the trick. Early in the morning we wandered into the garden gate only to be greeted by a cottontail that breached the enclosure and was frantic about being caught white pawed! After bouncing off the chicken wire several times, he was directed out the open gate and made his escape to the brush.

I then immediately ran into a chipmunk who was devouring the strawberry crop which had finally made a decent showing for us. Chipmunks are not usually a great concern, but they are really difficult to control mainly due to their size and their numbers. We found a hole and closed up the tunnel for the time being, but we would need to be on the watch.

I generally don’t become too radical and go on a pest elimination action. I believe that if they stay on the other side of my fences, that will be fine. I rechecked the wire fence perimeter and made what I considered positive improvements to the whole fence area that should be sufficient.

All things changed the next evening when we decided to check the watering needs of our celery and tomatoes…disaster! Sure enough, one of my nemeses had made a daring daylight raid on the garden and breached the fence by burrowing underneath the staked-down wire meshing. It was at least the size of a groundhog or adult rabbit by the obvious body sized excavation.

Four beautiful celery plants were growing in that section and the tops on all four plants were expertly clipped off!

Repairs to the fence were made and I decided to up the ante and be at the garden at dawn. I had brought my .22 rifle if the situation called for a dispatch. I was on the elevated deck of my father-in-law’s home and waited for any visitors. The only visitors were robins hopping around the rows, picking off insects and some American gold finches dusting in some mulch.

Whoever the culprit was decided to lay low on this day. We made some more enhancements such as watering flower pots that bring in our pollinators and rechecking all the fencing again.

One other choice I made was to set up my Have-a-heart box trap that will catch them alive if they enter the box. I usually use sunflower seed or shelled corn as my bait, but was also told by another gardener to use Dr. Pepper in a dish for finicky groundhogs…we will see. The good news is that all the crops are still in good shape and nothing is ruined beyond recovery so far.

I did pick up my 2022-23 hunting license and will be ready for the upcoming season. The applications for elk tags and doe tags will be starting in July and all hunters should be ready for the application processes.

This year I have agreed to take a first-time hunter out in deer season. He is interested in trying out hunting deer as he enjoys the venison we have shared with him. The catch is that he is a grown-up and will try the Adult Mentored Hunt, which means that I will need to provide one of my deer tags and we will be limited to one firearm for the both of us. He felt bad about using one of my licenses, but I reminded him that he usually benefitted from my prior harvests. Instead, this season he might be the one who is making the harvest.

I am going to try the bear hunt this fall as there does seem to be some bruins moving around in our areas and I will also put in for the annual elk-tag drawings for all three seasons. You can only pick one hunt, but you do get to choose which one you prefer.

Wish me luck as I go one-on-one with my garden raiders!

Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle