Groundhog

Description:

Groundhogs are well adapted for digging, with short but powerful limbs and curved, thick claws. Unlike other sciurids, the groundhog's spine is curved, more like that of a mole, and the tail is comparably shorter as well—only about one-fourth of body length. Suited to their temperate habitat, groundhogs are covered with two coats of fur: a dense grey undercoat and a longer coat of banded guard hairs that gives the groundhog its distinctive "frosted" appearance.

Habitat:

Woodchucks prefer open areas such as fields, clearings, open forests and rocky slopes. However, they seem to gravitate toward areas that are more brushy or weedy in nature or areas that have received disturbance at some point and are now "grown up." Areas such as fencerows, embankments, retaining walls, dams or kudzu patches make for excellent woodchuck living.

Notes:

I spotted this youngster very close to the road and on bank in a kudzu patch in an uncultivated area next to old ral road piers in Emerson, GA