I live on a farm in VA and have finally had to give in and allow someone to come shoot these guys. I quite love them, and have huge respect for the grand daddy, who has lived at this farm longer than I have, surviving total bulldozing of the old garden, complete rebuilding of the old farm house (under which he also used to live) and my 2 Border Collies. Besides, they remind me of my beloved Lhasa Apso who has passed away. HOWEVER, I've been living here for 10 years and starting 2 years ago, the GH (who has since created quite an impressive giant condo complex under a pile of old wood from the old razed barn) finally started annihilating my garden. Despite what some people here have posted I can tell you, they are quite smart & have a keen sense of hearing. GHs live in burrows underground (like a cave). It always has more than one entrance/exit. They generally come out early in the morning and at sunset. I have an entire wire cattle fence, along with electric hot wire all along the entire bottom perimeter of my fence to keep my dogs in (who like to constantly dig under and run away whenever they hear thunder, gun shots or just feel like it!). This hot wire is set for the highest level of shock, and will keep a horse or bull away! This is only 1 foot away from the GH woodpile den. My garden is inside this fence and then inside yet another fence, which is also hot wired at the ground level. Yet, the GHs know full well how to go around the fence, burrow under the fence, whatever. All I know is they have started again eating every tomato I have that starts to ripen and will absolutely take every melon we are growing. And they could care less about my Border Collies who know the word "Ground Hog" and will dive and dig at the hole if you say that to them. The GH just goes somewhere in his condo complex and doesn't give a hoot. I should say though that my 2 dogs are 2 goofy lovebugs and routinely take their balls & toys to the cows and any other critter in hopes they will play, and would never hurt any little critter intentionally (unlike most farm dogs.) If they did encounter the GH, they'd probably offer him a tomato. After years of only seeing the old grand daddy GH, last week I saw him showing the ropes to a little one. Last night my farm tenant came over with a high powered rifle and shot the old guy, but also said he saw another giant one (probably the mom) and a smaller one. There is likely a huge family under there. It made me feel guilty and wistfully sad, but at the end of the day, not only would I be fighting a losing battle of the garden, wild animals carry disease, fleas, ticks with Lyme, if cornered they have huge claws & fangs, and the holes they dig can cause someone (or my dogs or cows) to break their leg. If you are going to try a humane trap (which I did), they are extremely smart and you will have a long wait and will have to create the trap to mimic a hollow den or they are not dumb enough to go into a metal contraption - LOL! I agree with the hunters posting above that if you are going to shoot at it, get someone who knows what they are doing and will kill the animal humanely and put him out cleanly. Shooting at him with a BB gun is cruel, as it will not kill him, just cause wounds, suffering and illness. Hope this helps! Now I'm also on the case of the bunnies, voles and whatever is now eating all my blackberries! ARGH! LOL!!!!

thanks to everyone for sharing your comments! Jane- Mainly the border that you see has ornamental grasses in the back along with a few flowering shrubs for privacy and perennials in the front. I am actually thinking of making this more of a mixed shrub border because the perennials try to stretch back toward the sun and flop over a lot. I have rubeckia, echinacia, blue mist shrub, joe pye weed, day lillies, geranium nuimbus, bulbs, helen von stein lambs ear as a front border, salvia, pholx, and who knows what else. prairie moon- the area above is actually my family room addition. I have kind of a weird shaped house. Flora, I was suprised you commented on the camera, I have the worst time getting my colors to show up, I thought, but thank you for the compliment! The camera is a finepix fugi. I wish you could all come and have a drink on the patio, I have no garden friends in the area. :) thanks again. Jody

Thanks for the ideas on the gazebo,I think I will try some of the Iris's there and what ever else I can find,the woodsy look is because I live in the woods and love it no neighbors,just me my hubby and the critters.Don't get me wrong I love people,but some folks just thrive on drama,and that I can live without,know what I mean? The rose is a Rosa hybrid,but it is very fragrant like a rose is suppose to be,Mike my son bought it for me. I love the color of the Iris's,my husband says they are coffee color,lol.I also have some big purple ones but they haven't started blooming yet,it takes longer for the sun to get back here in the woods. Bonnie

It has been so nice not to have to water every week, I've only used my soaker hose a few times this year and have hand watered the rest. We've had some nice rain the past few days and my plants were needing the rain. I've lost some plants from to much rain earlier in the summer and some have suffered from lack of sunshine not blooming or not growing at all.