Hi fellow Orange County resident! I 'm in New Windsor.
Those rural areas around Middletown were heavily developed in the 80's & 90's so there must be a lot of G-hogs around :) I was looking at new homes in Middletown and surrounding towns in the mid-90's but settled for an older '70's built house in New Windsor because of the back yard seclusion and small quiet street.
Now the entire wooded area on top of the small hill behind my house has been leveled and in its place are 2 new houses with nicely trimmed lawns. Once they did that (2-3yrs ago) most of the the g-hogs that lived there migrated to my backyard and took residence on the slope and bottom of the hill where you can see a dozen burrow entrances most of them by a tree trunk. If you look hard enough you 'll find 15 or 16 holes along a 32-33yd stretch. So their presence on my property grew in the last few years where before that I 'd average 5-6 per year, now I 'm shooting close to 20 in one season. After several years of shooting them and close to 50 g-hogs later, I have finally been able to reduce their #'s dramatically, especially this year. I have taken 16 of them because I started shooting at the young ones for the 1st time where in the past I would let them go.
So you definitely have a lot more to take care of and unless you are vigilant and check your windows often, they will keep coming and causing damage to your flowers and garden and will start digging holes closer and closer to your house when their #'s get out of control.
Next time you drive down the street getting ready to pull into your driveway on a Sat. or Sun. afternoon, try looking at your lawn and as far back of the house as you can. You will catch one running back to its hole. Most people are focused to driving and getting to their driveway so you never see them. When I pull up, my eyes are all over my property looking to spot one because by the time I 'm parked in the driveway it's too late. They 've already run back to the trees or the holes under my shed. Pay particular attention to where they go when they retire or run away. That way you get an idea where their burrow is if you don't already, and next time you will know which direction they will be coming from and be ready for them. Looking forward to more pics! :-)
