It depends on how smart they are. Kill the smart ones if possible. I've had them wreak total havoc on Roma crop one year. I had to resort to the bucket of death to dumb down the population. Once they learn how to get your stuff, that's all they want to do. I have a stray cat living in my garden this year and chipmunks are hiding. Works for me.
They cannot navigate a horizontal plane of 1 1/2" from below. My inner compound fence is 2x4 rails with hardware cloth. They can scale the cloth to get in, but they can't get out.
There was an older one, gray-ish and about 10 lbs. He was the one that got a few tomatoes. I caught him in the act, and he shagged. When I saw a second (younger ~5lb) then I saw a breeding pair.
I took out the young one the next day with a .22 from about 30ft. Same evening I got a shot at the older one but it took off, wounded or not I don't know - fast little fuckers
Haven't seen it since, but I have seen one more young one about a week ago, and the lower leaves on the mulberry tree right next to the garden were stripped up to about woodchuck high. The garden itself was untouched.
I also found a few of their transient dens. I plugged up the holes with a "just big enough" rock. the next morning all but one were in tact, the other one had been dug out, probably from the inside. I piled several small boulders and some loose gravel over the newly open hole and it has been untouched since. I think they are bound to move on.
