If your fence has no possible gaps he can get through I think your garden stands a chance of surviving. If the groundhog gets one taste of your garden, he will be very persistent in finding ways to get more. Check your fence at places like corners, splices and the gate to be sure there are no compromises whatsoever. I embedded a row of bricks beneath my gate to prevent them from digging under it.

Jim

I have had one craw over a 4' cyclone fence. If he wants in, he will get in.
p.s. country fried groundhog is great,

John

Here is a link that might be useful: Johns Journal

I've got a gardening buddy that's had all sorts of grief about a ground hog that is as persistent as you can imagine. She's lost most of her crops to it so far. I feel bad for her since she's worked really hard to fence the area. So I concur that once tasted, you're toast.

Myself I've got them in the front yard, and have seen their mounds in the back, but just a bit ago I saw a mound at the edge of my garden area. I've got landscape fabric and 3 inches of gravel below my raised beds, but I'm not sure that would stop a persistent one.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure

Sound like Ground Chuck time, have a big parry and invite your neighbors over and eat high on the hog!

They can climb. I once shot one off the top of an 8' post, which... was holding up part of my 5' garden fence.

But Jim's right. If he doesn't know what's inside that barrier, he might not try to scale the fence. Personally, I'd be trapping him/her. Whatever stays over winter will reproduce next spring!

George

thanks all!

I had thought about "Oscar" (husband named him or her) having babies next spring & the headache of trapping in that scenario.

We picked up a trap yesterday & I'll probably trap the critter out. We don't have a firearm & I'm not crazy about beating the little bugger to death (childhood trapline kinda soured me to killing things with fur, though I do enjoy meat--mebbe not groundhog though)---relocating may not be a great option, but it's likely what we're looking at.

I figured the fence was a good deterrent, if not absolutely bulletproof. We enjoy watching the bunnies nibble clover all around the perimeter ;-)

You can always hire a nuisance wildlife removal company (not sure what they call themselves!)

Electric Fence! Spent the past two years trapping and relocating, can become a full time job. While a little expensive initially, I didn't have to share my garden with any critters this year.

Hey all,

Please do not relocate animals. Just because they're out of your sight and you didn't kill them, doesn't mean you did a good thing. Letting them loose in rural areas just makes them someone else's problem. How would you like it if us from rural areas started dumping our pests in your urban areas?

Bill in Rural WI

That's a good point, Bill--and the last place I would dump a groundhog is on or near land that somebody's farming, or has livestock nearby. (I used to own horses, and hate groundhog burrows). Or near somebody else's garden, for that matter.

We have a lot of industrial land around here, with a lot of unused (not farmed or built on) acreage--as long as you have permission, you can dump em. My guess is, we're probably feeding the coyotes that live in the area we're thinking about using. And, it may not be that humane to relocate--they don't always survive very well.

After this particular critter, we may have some luck simply filling in the burrows--the house next door is unoccupied, and the old burrows in their backyard keep attracting groundhogs looking for territories.