We've pretty much got the prairie dogs under control here in WV, so the 'splode factor is mainly appreciated for safety. Of course no one here will let you hunt groundhogs, or anything else much, on private land, so to get any shooting of that sort, I have to drive to PA, where the public land is managed for small game at least as much as deer and turkeys. Up there, they plant crops and mow the fields every so often. The general result is pretty much like old farmland, slowly going back to the wild, which makes for great hunting.
