Preferred agricultural crops include beans, peas, carrot tops, grains and apples. On occasion insects may be consumed along with the bark of hickories and maples. The early morning and evening hours are preferred for feeding as woodchucks depend on dew for much of their water intake. During the warmest hours of the day, they may be found basking in the sun in the vicinity of their burrow entrance. Woodchucks have also been observed dozing on fence posts, stone walls, large rocks and fallen logs, all of which are usually close to a burrow entrance.
Woodchucks are one of the few mammals that enter into true hibernation.
This state of torpor starts in late fall, usually near the end of October or early November, and continues into late February and March at which time these animals begin to emerge from their dens. Usually males come out of hibernation before females and sub-adults, at which time they may travel long distances, occasionally at night, in search of a mate. Woodchucks breed in March and April and have a gestation of about 32 days. The young are weaned by late June or early July, and soon thereafter strike out on their own. They frequently occupy abandoned dens.