Groundhogs predict spring, annoy farmers, taste like squirrel

Groundhogs garner plenty of publicity as furry predictors of spring. But farmers say they're nothing but pests, and conservation officials see them as tasty game.

It's a far cry from the celebratory mood surrounding Pennsylvania's Punxsutawney Phil, the most noted of the nation's groundhogs.

Today is Groundhog Day, a holiday based on German folklore that if the animal -- originally a hedgehog -- sees its shadow, then there will be six more weeks of winter.

Scientists dismiss such talk. "There is absolutely zero meteorological support for Groundhog Day," said Dr. Ernest Kern, a geosciences professor at Southeast Missouri State University. "It is just a matter of luck if it happens to be cloudy or sunny that day."

A Penn State University researcher believes groundhogs pop out of their holes to start winter courtships as prelude to March mating.

Kern said such a theory makes sense. "It's kind of like college kids on a Friday night," he said.

Groundhogs do more than look at their shadows. They can tear up gardens and fields.

Weighing up to 10 pounds, the adult groundhog is far larger than its cousin, the squirrel. It eats a wide variety of grasses and broad-leafed weeds. But Bob Pierce, a University of Missouri Extension assistant professor of fisheries and wildlife, said groundhogs are particularly fond of clover, alfalfa, peas and beans.

Groundhogs consume between a pound and a pound and a half of food a day, he said.

'Can wipe out an acre'

Pierce doesn't view groundhogs as pests because their burrows, which are often abandoned in warmer weather, provide escape and protection for other wildlife such as foxes and raccoons.

But Roger Eakins, a livestock specialist with the University of Missouri Extension office in Jackson, said the animals are a nuisance for farmers.

"They can wipe out an acre of young beans," said Eakins, who farms near Jackson. "They are a pest."

Eakins said farmers used to pay 25 cents to 50 cents to youngsters to kill groundhogs.

"They are cagey down in their hole," he said. "You've got to sneak up on them."

Eakins said a groundhog dug a hole in his barn last summer. "I filled it up every morning for a couple of weeks, and he would dig it back out," said Eakins. Finally, the groundhog relocated away from the barn.

A.J. Hendershott, a Conservation Department official with the agency's regional office in Cape Girardeau, said groundhogs or woodchucks don't make good pets.

"They are not exceptionally warm and fuzzy creatures," he said.

They aren't particularly active either. "They may sleep anywhere from 75 to 80 percent of the day and night," Hendershott said.

There are various methods of groundhog control including fencing, fumigation and trapping.

It's legal to shoot them too. "People who like to eat squirrel would like to eat groundhog because the flavor is identical," said Hendershott, who has killed a few. "A lot of people don't realize they are a tasty animal."

mbliss@semissourian.com

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