Groundhog Control

You might see the burrow before you see the groundhog (woodchuck).

You might see the burrow before you see the groundhog (woodchuck).

Are groundhogs (woodchucks) tearing up your garden and burrowing under the shed? We at ALL OUT Wildlife Control can stop their damage and prevent future burrowing with a five-year warranty on our burrow-proofing.
ALL OUT Wildlife Control has dedicated, professional-grade groundhog traps, baits, and trapping methods that are designed to catch ONLY your problem groundhog. It’s important that trapping on the ground be target-specific, as you don’t want to catch all the animals in the neighborhood, and neither do we.

Entry prevention (burrow-proofing) keeping animals from digging under this deck.

Geographic Range

Groundhogs are found from Alaska and Canada and throughout the eastern United States, but rarely in the Deep South. We have them here in Eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois.

Description

The groundhog is a large member of the rodent family. Its name is due to its squat appearance, waddling gait, and underground burrows. It is a medium-sized rotund animal with short legs, a bushy flattened tail, a broad head with short ears, four large toes with claws in front and five large clawed toes in back. Color is generally grayish-brown with a yellow to reddish tint. Weight ranges from 4-14 lbs. Lifespan in the wild averages 5-6 years.

Food Preferences

Vegetarian. Grasses, plants, herbs, leaves, flowers, apples, paw paws, garden vegetables.

Habits and Behaviors

Groundhogs seem to prefer to make their own homes by burrowing a tunnel 10-45 feet long that ends in a larger nest chamber. In suburban settings, they will often dig under porch slabs, decks and sheds. If chased by a predator, they may enter the tunnel and wall up the entrance with dirt. Tunnel openings are usually well camouflaged with vegetation, and many side entrances may be dug into the nest site. They eat constantly during the summer and early fall to store up a reserve of body fat for winter hibernation. Favorite summer activities include eating, digging, and sunning.

Enemies

Humans, automobiles, dogs, foxes, coyotes, ticks, fleas, roundworms, flies and their larvae, tularemia.

Good Points

Aeration and mixing of the soil and, upon abandonment of a tunnel and nest, habitat for other animals.