Groundhogs and gophers are both burrowing rodents that tear up yards, but they’re not closely related and differ significantly in size, behavior, and the type of damage they cause. Groundhogs (also called woodchucks or whistlepigs) can weigh up to 14 pounds and spend much of their time above ground. Pocket gophers rarely weigh more than half a pound and live almost entirely underground. Knowing which one you’re dealing with changes how you identify the problem and what you can do about it.
Different Animals, Different Families
The confusion between these two animals is understandable. Both are rodents, both dig, and in some regions people use “gopher” loosely to refer to any burrowing mammal. But groundhogs and pocket gophers belong to entirely separate biological families.
Groundhogs are large ground squirrels in the family Sciuridae, the same family that includes tree squirrels and chipmunks. Pocket gophers belong to the family Geomyidae and are not squirrels at all. They’re more closely related to kangaroo rats than to groundhogs. The two animals occupy different ecological roles and, in many parts of the country, different habitats entirely.
Size and Appearance
The size difference alone is the easiest way to tell them apart. Groundhogs are stout, cat-sized rodents. Adults typically weigh 5 to 14 pounds and measure about 16 to 27 inches long including the tail. They have broad, flat heads, small rounded ears, and a bushy tail. Their fur is usually grizzled brown or gray.
Pocket gophers are dramatically smaller. Most weigh around half a pound and measure just 6 to 8 inches in body length, with a short tail of 1 to 2 inches. Males can be nearly double the weight of females, but even the largest species barely reach 2.2 pounds. Their fur is brown and often matches the color of the local soil. They have small eyes, large front claws built for digging, and their most distinctive feature: fur-lined cheek pouches on the outside of their mouths, extending from the face back toward the shoulders. These pouches are used for carrying food and nesting materials back through their tunnels.
Where and How They Live
Groundhogs are diurnal, most active around dawn and dusk. You’ll often see them sitting upright near their burrow entrances, grazing in open fields, or sunning themselves on warm days. They’re territorial and will defend their burrows, using short, sharp whistles to warn nearby groundhogs of danger (which is where the name “whistlepig” comes from). A single groundhog commonly maintains more than one summer burrow with multiple entrances, placing summer burrows near grassy or agricultural fields and winter burrows in wooded areas.
Groundhogs are true hibernators. They enter their burrows in October or November and don’t emerge until mid to late February, spending roughly four months in deep torpor underground.
Pocket gophers, by contrast, are almost never seen above ground. They spend their lives in extensive tunnel systems, pushing soil to the surface as they dig. They don’t hibernate and remain active year-round. Because they live underground, they rely on their short, hairy tails to feel around tunnels when walking backwards. If you have gophers on your property, you’ll likely never see the animal itself, only the evidence of its digging.
What They Eat
Both animals are herbivores, but they feed in different ways. Groundhogs forage above ground, eating grasses, clover, dandelions, and garden vegetables. They’re grazers that venture out from their burrows during the day to feed, then retreat underground to rest.
Pocket gophers feed primarily from below. Roots, tubers, and the occasional aboveground plant make up their diet. Their ever-growing incisors compensate for the constant wear of chewing through gritty soil and hard root material, and their flattened molars are shaped for grinding vegetation. Gophers can chew root systems faster than many plants can regrow them, which makes them particularly destructive to gardens and ornamental plantings.
Identifying Yard Damage
The signs each animal leaves behind are quite different. Groundhog burrow entrances are large, averaging about 8 inches wide. You’ll often see a mound of excavated dirt near the opening, and it’s common to notice flies around an active entrance. Because groundhogs are active during the day, you can sometimes watch them coming and going, which makes identification straightforward.
Gopher damage looks different. Pocket gophers push soil to the surface as they tunnel, creating fan-shaped or crescent-shaped mounds of loose dirt. The tunnel entrance is usually plugged with soil, so you won’t see an open hole. The mounds appear in irregular patterns across a lawn or garden, sometimes a new one every day. Underground, gophers damage flexible sprinkler lines, utility cables, and root systems. Above ground, you might notice plants wilting or disappearing as their roots are eaten from below.
If you’re seeing large open holes near a field or barn, you’re probably dealing with a groundhog. If you’re finding plugged mounds of fresh dirt scattered across your yard with no visible animal, that’s a gopher.
Protecting Your Property From Gophers
Because gophers work underground and are active all year, they tend to cause more sustained damage to gardens and landscaping than groundhogs do. Several approaches can help, but it’s worth knowing what doesn’t work: no repellents currently sold have been shown to protect plants. Gopher purge, castor bean, and garlic plantings don’t repel them. Vibrating stakes, ultrasonic devices, and wind-powered pinwheels have all failed in research trials.
Physical barriers are the most reliable prevention. To protect existing plantings, bury hardware cloth or wire mesh (half-inch to three-quarter-inch openings) at least 2 feet deep, with an additional 6 inches bent outward at the bottom at a 90-degree angle. Extend the fencing at least 1 foot above ground to stop gophers from moving overland. For raised beds, lay hardware cloth or three-quarter-inch poultry wire underneath before planting. To protect young trees and shrubs, use light-gauge, non-galvanized steel wire around the root zone. It will rust away after several years, so it won’t strangle the roots as they grow.
For underground utility lines and sprinkler pipes, surrounding them with 6 to 8 inches of coarse gravel (pieces 1 inch or larger) deters gophers from chewing through. Trapping remains the most effective direct control method, with two-pronged pincer traps and choker-style box traps being the most commonly used options.
Protecting Your Property From Groundhogs
Groundhog damage is different in character. They eat garden crops from above ground, and their large burrows can undermine foundations, sheds, and retaining walls. Because groundhogs are bigger and stronger than gophers, fencing needs to be sturdier. A fence at least 3 to 4 feet tall made of heavy-gauge wire mesh, buried at least a foot underground with an outward-facing L-shaped footer, will deter most groundhogs. Some people also add an outward-angled extension at the top, since groundhogs are capable climbers.
Because groundhogs hibernate for months, the damage window is seasonal, roughly March through October. If a groundhog has established a burrow near a structure, the tunneling itself can be the bigger concern. Live trapping and relocation (where legal) or exclusion fencing around vulnerable structures are the most common approaches.
Geographic Range
Groundhogs are found primarily in the eastern United States and across much of Canada, favoring the edges of forests, fields, and suburban areas. Pocket gophers are far more widespread across the western and central United States, with various species adapted to different soil types and elevations. In parts of the Midwest, the ranges overlap, which is one reason the names sometimes get mixed up. If you live on the East Coast and something is digging up your yard, it’s almost certainly not a gopher. If you’re in the western half of the country and finding plugged dirt mounds, a pocket gopher is the most likely culprit.