So last night the much better half came running into the house screaming about big animals in her garden. So I went out there to see she’s got Gophers in her garden. 
So my question is does anyone know how to get rid of them, when I was growing up on the farmin western Minnesota, I would just shoot them with a .22. 
But in the town of Farmington, I”m pretty sure I can’t do that. So any help would be great. Thanks
Pellet gun.
And I usually leave the dead one lay around for a few days. The others get the message!
pocket gophers or stripped?
Here is an old trick for stripped gophers……..trust me, it works!
As we all know, if you run a garden hose down a gopher hole, they pop out, and as a kid in the country, it was target practice with the .22!
But, in your predictament, it doesn’t sit well with the police, burning off 10 .22 rounds at a running gopher in town.
SO:
Take a 1 gallon plastic milk-jug.
Fill it with water.
Dump the jug over the gopher hole, pouring the water into the hole.
Make sure the jug stays over the hole.
The gopher will bail out of the hole and run straight up into the milk jug. The milk jug gives the appearance of a gray sky.
Make sense? The jug has to sit over the hole as it is dumping water into it. Don’t hold it there, back away, sit back and watch the show.
It if funny as all get out, they come flying up the hole and right into the jug. Sometimes, you got the chase the jug around the yard a bit, as the gopher is going nuts in there. Just hold the jug up-right and the gopher cannot escape.
Then, dispose of the gopher in the jug as you see fit.
By the way, I’m only drinking coffee this morning!
Trust me this works and it can be a little comical!
This is fun too…
Tie a “hangman’s noose” on the end of your line, and position the loop around the hole. Then back off 100 feet and wait for the little bugger to stick his head up. Remeber to keep your rod tip pointed at the hole and keep it low for a good “hook set”. When he pops his head up, lassoo him and the fight is on. They run around pretty good.
Rootski
Rootski, do you load up the rod prior to the set? 
Now that has gotta be fun!!!
Now I am wishing I had some stripers around !!!
big g 
Carl Spackler tried the water down the hole thing but then had to use plastic explosives shaped like squirls. Oh ya it didn’t work in the end, the gopher coughed up a little smoke and started dancing.
Quote:
Rootski, do you load up the rod prior to the set?
No, but you do need to keep the slack out of the line. A 7 foot rod works better than a shorter rod because you can hold more line above the tomato plants and beans.
Quote:
pocket gophers or stripped.
Stripped, I’ll try it. But do you cut the top of the milk jug to make the opening bigger or do they fit without cutting it.
no-no……
do not open the top any bigger. The existing hole fits perfect.
Quote:
Carl Spackler tried the water down the hole thing but then had to use plastic explosives shaped like squirls. Oh ya it didn’t work in the end, the gopher coughed up a little smoke and started dancing.
“It’s in the hole”
Gary’s method does work! I did used to cut the top off though…
Thats what I was thinking call Carl Spackler 
If they are anything like the Gophers at the U of M, don’t worry. They will either become academically ineligble or they’ll turn pro and leave town either way. 
Quote:
Thats what I was thinking call Carl Spackler
“HELLO GOPHER, JUST YOUR FRIEND THE SQUIRREL, NOT A PLASTIC EXPLOSIVE OR ANYTHING ” PRICELESS
CANNONBALL, COMING BACK AT YA 
BUY THE WAY THE SLIP KNOT IDEA IS FUN, NO BETTER WAY TO SPEND A AFTERNOON IN A CAMPGROUND, BUT THEY CAN GET A LITTLE MEAN WHEN YOU TRY TO LET THEM LOOSE. 
With that grassy area across the road, your solution will likely only last a little while, then the next invasion will begin.
They likely live under your yard shed. Unless you have a cement base, they will continue to live there – that was the problem I had before the new garage was built. Once the cement was in place – no more gophers.
Have the girls stand over the holes with those golf clubs – if the get one, then give em $5. At least they will be busy for a while.
I have been invaded with moles, any solutions???
Gundy
Quote:
I have been invaded with moles, any solutions???
Gundy
12 ga.
lawn chair
favorite beverage
At my old place, my neighbor (retired) loved to hunt these things. He would actually come over to my yard with a 12ga. He would step down on the tunnel, making it flat and watch it like a lab pointing to a rooster! 
Once the ground started to move (which could be an hour!) BAM! He has a lot more patience than me. But we never did get rid of them comletely. They sure wreck a yard!
Moles are nasty little buggers. Some people refer to pocket gophers as moles probably because they leave “mole hills”. I used to trap pocket gophers when I was a kid and sell the front paws for a bounty at the county courthouse. I also mowed a cemetary next door to the house I grew up in and there were always ground squirrels (streaked gophers) to contend with. My grandfather taught me the thing with the fishing pole which was easy in the cemetary. We’d take a washer and tie it to the end of the line and loop the line through it around the hole. When the little bugger popped up I’d give the line a yank and the battle was on. I had an old steel baitcasting rod with braided line on it that I used specifically for ground squirrels.
Eyehunter
When I was young, we chased and caught striped gophers. Used the same principal as Gary’s method, but we would chase the bugger down the hole, set a conibear trap, (carefully, I might add!), upside down over the hole, and then flood the hole with water. Probably not as much enjoyment watching the show, as in the other methods, but the result was the same!
I do use the 12 ga. on the pockets though! After mowing the yard, their tunnels must get disturbed, (like I get after I sit down after mowing the yard, and start seeing the ground getting tossed up at dusk.) Neighbors must have thought I was nuts the first couple times they seen me sneak up in stocking feet, to about 30 yards, and wait for the rascals to come up and dump their load. Need to time this just right, cause they are only out for a split second, and then BLAM!
After writing this, it would seem to me that some sort of shooting sticks would work good. The gun does get heavy holding it at that mound, waiting. And of course, once you bring the gun down to rest your arms, he will no doubt pop his head out. I got a couple in the yard right now, Need to go make some shootin’ sticks!!!
Here is a new twist on all of this. I managed to get a chipmunk in my basement last week. Scared the hell out of me when it ran over a couch and into my shop. I sat there with my Dad’s old BB gun and waited. I managed to hit it and it flew backwards into the sump pump well. When I looked into the pit to finish it off it ran into the drain tile and I haven’t seen it since. Where did it go?? I have had a live trap in the basement for a week and have caught nothing.
O.K. Gary I tried your trick last night, putthe milk jug over the second hole started the hose on the first. 
Out came the Gopher but it didn’t go into the milk jug it knocked it over, & started running around the yard. Then my Favorite Choc. Lab got a smell of it & started chasing it around the yard, with all 3 daughters chasing the dog. The gopher got away the girls & princess didn’t. I’ll wait till get home to see if it goes back try it it again. This was so much easier on the farm with my ruger 10/22. 
Look at it this way Hookem, You can’t go to the movies and get that much entertainment. I know of a few guys who would pay to see that. A few adult beverages, a garden hose, and a dog. That right there is just good quality fun 
Get a FERRET 
I had the same issue after a pocket gopher took out my watermelon patch a couple weeks ago (really didn’t matter the hail last week would have finished it off). I tried the garden hose trick a couple of times to no avail until one day a found a fresh hole. Greesy, grimy gopher guts, I got the hose and down the hole it went…5 seconds later he jumps out of the hole into the cucumber patch where he promptly was met by my garden hoe. Well the hoe won…end of story. I felt that I redeemed Carl Spackler for all his days chasing gophers around Bushwood. Now where is Lacey, I think I deserve a reward. Noonan would know all about this….
Take care!
Quote:
Get a FERRET
I didn’t get a ferret, but my wife told the neighbor about the gopher problem and he said he’d take care of it. He brought out his cat & put it in the garden & two hours later there was a dead gopher & a cat at his sliding glass door. So the wife gave him some peppers & tomato’s & life is back to normal in the hookem household. Thanks guy’s for your input.
Garden hose and baseball bats works wonders on the guys. A little gas down the hole and a match would work I would imagine, works on ground hornets or bees whatever they are, it worked!
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
