Gopher War

[Poohbear]

When my Wife bought her Moms land ( was grandparents ) her Mom had not lived there in 11or 12 years. Mowed ever now & then. It had turned into a gopher sanctuary . I declared war.
I tried a bunch of different traps, gas bombs, etc. I even made a flexible exhaust pipe for my lawn mower and would put in run & let run till out of fuel. Gopher population just kept on growing.
Last spring I found out about a trap called " the gopher hawk " & got one. After a short learning curve on where to place , I started " nailin em " . I trapped over 40 since last May. There will a period of new mounds then a lull of a few weeks .
or so. Works on moles also but I found I needed a board with a hole to support it as mole tunnels are so shallow.
I have NO relation what so ever to this trap other than one happy customer. I will say if I had a big hay meadow would probably resort to poisoning but only have about 3 of our 5 1/2 AC clear.

 

[skeets]

Have you tried the propane in the tunnels and then igniting it,,, BOOM no more gophers ,works on ground hogs too

https://youtu.be/7zPnTtF0Wk8

 

[Poohbear]

Have you tried the propane in the tunnels and then igniting it,,, BOOM no more gophers ,works on ground hogs too

https://youtu.be/7zPnTtF0Wk8

In our sandy soil causes a lot of up top damage. Thankfully no ground hogs or badgers in our area.
Lots of wild hog hunters down here use Tannerite with a corn bait. Get a bunch feeding then shoot the tannerite. Boom & hogs go flying. There were several Utube shows.

 

[bucktail]

I used to use a trap called the death clutch on pocket gophers. The township would give me a dollar for each set of feet.

 

[Tughill Tom]

When my Wife bought her Moms land ( was grandparents ) her Mom had not lived there in 11or 12 years. Mowed ever now & then. It had turned into a gopher sanctuary . I declared war.
I tried a bunch of different traps, gas bombs, etc. I even made a flexible exhaust pipe for my lawn mower and would put in run & let run till out of fuel. Gopher population just kept on growing.
Last spring I found out about a trap called " the gopher hawk " & got one. After a short learning curve on where to place , I started " nailin em " . I trapped over 40 since last May. There will a period of new mounds then a lull of a few weeks .
or so. Works on moles also but I found I needed a board with a hole to support it as mole tunnels are so shallow.
I have NO relation what so ever to this trap other than one happy customer. I will say if I had a big hay meadow would probably resort to poisoning but only have about 3 of our 5 1/2 AC clear.

I thought you all just shot those little buggers down there, kinda like we do with woodchucks..... Evil hole diggers.

 

[RCW]

I thought you all just shot those little buggers down there, kinda like we do with woodchucks..... Evil hole diggers.

In my younger days, I got about 100 woodchucks a year.

Right now is prime time in NY, I got 11 one night in early-April.

Longest shot about 575 yards, shortest about 2 feet....

 

[Tughill Tom]

In my younger days, I got about 100 woodchucks a year.

Right now is prime time in NY, I got 11 one night in early-April.

Longest shot about 575 yards, shortest about 2 feet....

I may go up to upper 40Ac, tomorrow to scout out Turkeys and carry my 10-22. Good out 75 yards to pop one.

 

[dsims]

We use a type of snap trap at work to get the pocket gophers. You locate their tunnel using a probe, then dig a small hole just big enough for the trap. They don't like the light in the tunnel and try to fix the hole...right into the trap. We have 1100 acres, and one of my employees has all but eradicated the gopher population.

I'm not sure of the brand name of the trap, but they were hard to find. The story we got from an area trapper is the guy with the patent died, so no one makes them anymore.

 

[Poohbear]

I thought you all just shot those little buggers down there, kinda like we do with woodchucks..... Evil hole diggers.

I don't have enough land. Too many neighbors now to shoot where our place is. I don't carry any of my rifles out there BUT I have one of my 9mm's close for bigger varmits. We had one of those 8 Liner gambling joints where our road met the hiway and we started seeing a lot of unfamiliar slow traffic plus our Sheriff busted a big meth dealer about 2 miles the other way. I 'll actually take the gophers over the druggies .

 

[Poohbear]

We use a type of snap trap at work to get the pocket gophers. You locate their tunnel using a probe, then dig a small hole just big enough for the trap. They don't like the light in the tunnel and try to fix the hole...right into the trap. We have 1100 acres, and one of my employees has all but eradicated the gopher population.

I'm not sure of the brand name of the trap, but they were hard to find. The story we got from an area trapper is the guy with the patent died, so no one makes them anymore.

That's same method with the GH. The probe & case are 2 tools , probe , then use case to make the hole for the trap

 

[Tughill Tom]

I don't have enough land. Too many neighbors now to shoot where our place is. I don't carry any of my rifles out there BUT I have one of my 9mm's close for bigger varmits. We had one of those 8 Liner gambling joints where our road met the hiway and we started seeing a lot of unfamiliar slow traffic plus our Sheriff busted a big meth dealer about 2 miles the other way. I 'll actually take the gophers over the druggies .[/QUOT

So have you tried Dry Ice? Find the hole fill with CO2 pellets, block off the other holes and let sublimation take over. No poison or traps to check.

 

[BigG]

My dad bought a little maybe a quart jar of stuff from Landmark and you would pour it into the ground hog hole' Just a spoon full. The vapor it gave off was heavier then air so it went into the tunnel. Wait a few minutes and then using a 10 foot pole with a burning rag ignite the hole. It was unbelievable how large the explosion was out of just a spoonful of liquid.

Does any one know of such a liquid? I need to find it again.

 

[bearbait]

I picked up a Gamo air rifle a few years back that shoots at 1350fps, one shoot to the head and raccoons are done not to mention the tree rats.

 

[skeets]

Sounds like he was using carbide, when wet it make Acetylene gas like the old miners used to light their way under ground

 

[Poohbear]

I picked up a Gamo air rifle a few years back that shoots at 1350fps, one shoot to the head and raccoons are done not to mention the tree rats.

Those coons are quite tasty barbecued , I've heard

 

[skeets]

I don't about coon but real young ground hogs are!

 

[bearbait]

Those coons are quite tasty barbecued , I've heard

Funny you mentioned that, I was talking to a friend of mine a while back and I told him I had another one coming round and we joked about throwing it in the freezer for tougher times but now I don't feel like laughing so much. Hey, everything taste good with the right spices right? Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

 

[bearbait]

I don't about coon but real young ground hogs are!

Lol, I'll bring the beer and big bottle of Irish Whiskey.

 

[dlsmith]

I picked up a Gamo air rifle a few years back that shoots at 1350fps, one shoot to the head and raccoons are done not to mention the tree rats.

I bought one a few years ago too. Sucker sounds like a .22LP when it fires. It gave a 'coon lead poisoning just after I got it, and has worked well on gophers too.

 

[skeets]

https://youtu.be/vEEhEdI0220