Groundhog Day might be long over, but some folks may be forgiven for thinking otherwise.

Patty Gibbons, a Butler County Penn State Master Gardener, said she has seen more groundhogs, along with other rodents, this year than usual.

“I have noticed personally that there seem to be,” Gibbons said.

The most commonly reported rodent is the groundhog, she said. Other commonly bothersome rodents are rabbits, squirrels, moles and voles.

Luke Fritz, executive director of the Butler County Farm Service Agency, said he has not heard any complaints regarding more groundhogs than usual, however, he said that there always are a large number of them.

“There’s just a lot of them,” Fritz said.

He said the population of groundhogs usually increases in June and July because that is when the young ones are mature enough to leave their parents’ dens.

“Then they spread out and find their own burrow,” Fritz said.

While the little creatures may seem cute, they actually are very harmful to crops and home gardens.

Gibbons said that groundhogs are vegetarians who will go after almost any type of plant, including grass, green beans, tomatoes and certain types of flowers.

“They’re not very discriminating,” Gibbons said.

Fritz said groundhogs also can harm crops such as corn and soybeans.

He said there are no products on the market that are really effective at weeding out groundhogs. However, he has a different solution.

“Probably hunting,” Fritz said.

Other than hunting, Gibbons said that building a fence can be effective as long as the fence is built properly.

Because rodents, particularly groundhogs, like to dig and climb, she said a garden fence should be sunk at least 12 inches into the ground and the top of the fence should lean outward. It would not hurt to electrify the fence, she said.

Regis Senko, information education supervisor for the Northwest Region of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, said building a barrier is the best option for keeping rodents away.

“The best thing you can do ... is fence,” Senko said.

Although setting a trap to catch rodents might seem like a good idea, Senko said that it is illegal to trap rodents who could potentially be rabid, which include groundhogs, skunks and raccoons, and then move them to another location.

“You don’t want to potentially move problems from one place to the other,” Senko said.

If a gardener traps such a rodent, they have to kill the rodent on site. If someone lives in an area where shooting a gun is not advised or does not want to kill an animal, Senko said it is best just to build a fence.

Gibbons said that although there are products marketed as rodent preventors, no one is unanimous as to what works the best. She said she has heard that fox urine is effective in warding off rodents, but she said there are opinions to the contrary.

“You ask 30 different people, you’ll get 30 different opinions on what works,” Gibbons said.

Randy Smith of Smith Farms in Washington Township said that groundhogs are by far the worst rodents that he encounters on the farm.

Due to dry weather, the farm’s soybeans are not growing particularly well, giving groundhogs more time to eat them.

“They’re eating more and more of it,” Smith said.

When it comes to getting rid of groundhogs, Smith says he usually shoots them or finds someone else to shoot them.

If he finds himself in an area with a lot of houses, Smith tries to chase them away from his crops. He also has used small smokebomb-type devices, which are sold in stores and dropped into groundhog burrows to get them to leave. However, he said they do not always work.

“Sometimes, it doesn’t seem to be really effective,” Smith said. “Hunting is the best way.”