Groundhogs can cause real problems for homeowners and gardeners. They eat a wide range of garden crops, dig burrow systems that undermine foundations and concrete, and carry a higher risk of rabies than almost any other rodent. That said, they also play a legitimate role in local ecosystems, so whether they’re “bad” depends on where they decide to set up camp and how close that is to something you care about.
Garden and Crop Damage
Groundhogs are enthusiastic vegetarians with broad taste. They especially favor beans, peas, carrot greens, alfalfa, clover, and grasses. They also eat cabbage, broccoli, tomatoes, and dandelions. The University of New Hampshire Extension puts it bluntly: there are few succulent plants they won’t eat. Interestingly, they don’t seem to prefer corn, but nearly everything else in a typical backyard garden is fair game.
Beyond vegetable gardens, groundhogs can damage fruit trees. They claw up the trunks of newly planted apple trees and sometimes kill them, partly by burrowing right at the base. Their tunnels near tree roots cause excessive aeration of root systems, which dries out and damages the roots from below while the clawing injures the trunk above. If you’ve recently planted young fruit trees, a resident groundhog is a serious threat.
Structural Damage From Burrows
This is where groundhogs cause the most expensive problems. A single groundhog burrow system can run 8 to 66 feet long and sit 2 to 6 feet underground, with multiple chambers and hidden exits. One study found that each burrow displaces an average of 540 to 720 pounds of earth. That soil came from somewhere under your property, and the void left behind sits underneath whatever structure is above it.
Groundhogs prefer to dig under structures that give them overhead protection from predators: decks, porches, sheds, patio slabs, concrete steps. This instinct for shelter is exactly why their burrows so often end up in the worst possible locations from a homeowner’s perspective. Concrete, pavers, footings, and foundation walls all need continuous contact with stable, compacted soil to stay in place. When that soil is removed by a burrowing animal, things shift.
On the surface, this looks like a patio slab that cracks or settles unevenly, a sidewalk section that sinks on one side, or concrete steps pulling away from the house. Foundation walls can develop new cracks, especially horizontal ones that signal changes in lateral soil pressure. Homes with shallow foundations or crawl spaces face higher risk because the tunnels don’t have to go as deep to reach structural footings. Groundhog tunnels also redirect water flow underground, channeling rain that should drain away from your foundation directly alongside or underneath it, which accelerates erosion and settling.
Rabies and Health Risks
Groundhogs carry rabies at rates that set them apart from other rodents. Among rodents and lagomorphs (the group that includes rabbits), groundhogs account for over 90% of rabies cases in the United States. Their rabies positivity rates are comparable to high-risk species like bats and raccoons, which is unusual for a rodent. Groundhog and beaver rabies cases together make up 97% of all positive cases in the rodent and lagomorph category.
The good news is that groundhog rabies cases have declined significantly since 1993, and the overall number of cases is small compared to raccoons, skunks, and bats. In Kentucky’s 2025 wildlife rabies testing, 13 groundhogs were submitted for testing and none came back positive. Still, the risk is real enough that you should never approach or handle a groundhog, particularly one that seems disoriented, aggressive, or unusually tame during daylight hours. Any groundhog bite warrants immediate medical attention.
Ecological Benefits
Groundhogs aren’t purely destructive. Their abandoned burrows become critical housing for a surprisingly long list of other wildlife. Cottontail rabbits, raccoons, foxes, river otters, chipmunks, and various small mammals, snakes, and birds all use old groundhog burrows for shelter and breeding. In areas without many natural rock crevices or hollow logs, these burrows can be the primary underground shelter available to smaller animals.
Groundhogs also sit in the middle of the food web as prey for coyotes, bobcats, eagles, hawks, owls, and weasels. Their digging loosens and mixes soil layers, which can improve drainage and soil quality in wild areas. The problem is that these ecological benefits mostly matter in meadows, fields, and forest edges. When a groundhog moves under your deck, the ecosystem argument becomes less persuasive.
Keeping Groundhogs Out
Exclusion fencing is the most reliable long-term prevention for gardens. An effective groundhog fence needs to be at least 24 to 30 inches above ground, made from sturdy wire mesh with openings no larger than 3/4 inch. The critical part is underground: dig a trench 12 to 18 inches deep along the fence line, then bend the bottom section of mesh outward away from the garden to form an L-shaped apron. This apron stops groundhogs from digging underneath, since they dig straight down at the fence line and hit wire. For persistent climbers, angling the top 6 to 12 inches of fencing outward makes it harder to scale.
For structures like decks and sheds, the same L-apron approach works along the perimeter. Hardware cloth attached to the bottom edge of a deck, buried with an outward bend, blocks new groundhogs from moving in after you’ve confirmed the space is empty.
Removal and Legal Considerations
If a groundhog is already established on your property, removal gets more complicated than most people expect. In many states, it is illegal to live-trap a groundhog and release it somewhere else. New York, for example, explicitly prohibits relocating any trapped wildlife off your property, even to parks or state land. The reasoning is practical: relocation can spread diseases like rabies, stress the animal, and simply move the problem to a neighbor’s yard.
Most states do allow homeowners to take action against groundhogs that are damaging property or causing a nuisance. “Take” in wildlife management language covers trapping, shooting, or other lethal removal. However, the specifics vary by state, and many jurisdictions require you to hire a licensed nuisance wildlife control operator for trapping and removal. Checking your state’s wildlife agency website before taking any action will tell you what’s legal where you live.