Then came the raccoons. I went down one morning and one of my big Charleston Gray watermelons was open at one end and all but cleaned out. It had to be a coon, biting the end open and then reaching in with his paw.

That night, shotgun in hand, I hid in the corn and waited. Nothing showed up. At midnight, I gave up.

The next morning, another melon was ruined. They must be coming in during the early morning, I thought, so the next day I was down at the patch before 5 a.m. I saw nothing but another ruined watermelon.

Now this was getting personal. You can beat me and kick me and call me all manner of names, but leave my watermelons alone! This carnage had to stop.

And it did. I finally nailed two coons and so far no others have been back. But I am ready if another invades my patch.

The deer haven’t bothered my garden—yet. One year, they were so bad I had to get a kill permit, which I hate to do. That was also a dry summer and they were chewing on my tomatoes, tossing some around like baseballs.

Animals are more attracted to gardens in really dry summers, first because tomatoes and melons contain liquid and, second, because melons are sweeter during droughts due to a higher sugar content.

I am winning the battle so far, but I know that when the cantaloupes get ripe the foxes and coyotes will likely be there, as will the crows. As I said, in dry years animals are more destructive.