Pocket gopher solutions????

We’ll I’ve had it with these pesky vermin. I have had a bad pocket gopher problem for the past few years and any help would be greatly appreciated!! In the past they have chewed through my gas line 2 times and the gas company finally came out and sheathed my line after the second time. The Have chewed the roots off of and killed a few trees. They have about undermined my entire lawn and it is now rough and you regularly sink your heal into a soft spot in the lawn where they have tunneled. I’ve tried poison, smokers and traps with little succes. My traps are the type which when set they have two curved spikes that when sprung, clamp down on the gopher and more or less bear hug it to death. I’ve set them hair trigger style and ease them into the hole and leave the hole open per directions. They then cross over the trap to cover up the hole that lets light in. Well they either get through without springing it and bury the trap or sometimes it sprung and no gopher. Does anybody have anything or a certain trap or practice that would help me rid my yard of these gophers? I’m declaring war this year and hope to do some damage finally. Hope I described my trap type somewhat ok, I bought them at Fleet Farm. Thanks, Randy

What we do on the farm is get some flexible metal hose and start the truck and run the hose from the muffler to their hole. Let it run for sometime.

I will bring out my 223 and shoot them. really a good high powered pellet gun is fun way to do them in. Or just traps works also for me. I can try to get a picture of the traps I use but I am headed to work and wont be home to Sat. Morning if you want a photo PM me and I will send you one Sat. Good luck.

Be sure to dig all the way down the turn in the tunnel. That is their escape spot if they feel danger from up above. That is where you need to set the traps. Sometimes the big ones are hard to catch in those type of traps. Try putting a nice point on the curved tips that do the catching! Good Luck!

When you are talking tunnels and soft ground…….are you talking about pocket gophers or moles?

Pocket gophers generally leave a mound of dirt on top of the grass.

A mole digs the massive tunnels that you see like blood veins across the yard.

I thought I heard at one point that using a lot of lime on the grass would eventually get rid of moles, something about the grubs don’t like it and would move out and the moles would follow. My brother had a good pocket gopher problem when he lived in South Dakota. When I was out there, we’d just sit on his back deck with a 22mag and a 17hmr

I believe those style are called “Death Clutch” and my experience with these go way back when I was a kid.Anyway you need to open the tunnel under the mound then insert the trap so it totatly inserted into the opened tunnel.Stake it to the ground through the eyelet on the end of the trap.Then cover the opening with long grass and throw some dirt over it so no light shows through the hole. This should and will work.Good luck

When I was kid (many, many moons ago) I used to trap them and take their front paws to the county courthouse for a bounty. If I remember correctly I got $.25 for each pair I turned in. They are pretty easy to trap. Look for the freshest/newest dirt mounds. These are the most recent ones the gophers have dug up so they will more than likely be in the vicinity. Just dig down to the tunnel, set your trap and cover the mound back up. Gophers also eat tubors which are roots and such that grow underground so poison peanuts are supposed to work on them as peanuts are tubors. I’ve never used poison peanuts but I of people who have used them. Trapping them was too-much fun when I was a kid. It was something to do in the summer when I wasn’t fishing. If you have moles you can sometimes actually see them expanding their tunnels just under the sod. The best times to see them is early in the morning and in the evening. I remember watching my dad take a spade to put them out of their misery.

Eyehunter

I wonder the same as Gary, Pocket gophers or Moles?
Pocket gophers I can help you with. As a kid we would get 0.50 per gopher, we got pretty good at trapping them. I also remember bringing one in for show and tell in 3rd grade. Nothing better than a dead, rigermortis pocket gopher to intrigue a class!
PM me and I will give you the details as I remeber them.

One more thing Im pretty sure pocket gophers stay pretty much underground and rarely surface. Im not going to say they are nocturnal,but they just arent out roaming around above ground during daylight hours.

My father-in-law is an old Minnesotan that used to turn the legs in for bounty and he told me how to do it and I have successfully elimiated them everytime they have encroached on my lawn. He told me they smell good so clean the traps and use rubber gloves to install them. I always cover the trap with cardboard then some dirt over the edges to seal it good. I put a small hole in the cardboard with a screwdriver. I have had few instances where they bury the trap but many more with gophers in them. Not sure where you live but they can be shot too if you happen to catch them throwing dirt. Good luck.

Just for clarification. Mole tunnels are the one’s you can see pushed up on the ground. Pocket gophers tunnels are hidden underground with dirt piles for excavation. 13 Striped gound squirrel tunnels are underground with access holes but usually little to no excavation dirt. Those are the scary holes for dogs feet. Ground squirrels are the only one of the three that move around and feed above ground like a chipmunk. Many people call them gophers? Probably the same people that call toads, frogs.

We always just removed the pile of fresh dirt, find the hole with a stick, dig that up a little, dig a hole next to their hole, to set the trap in. Cover the whole set up with a piece of 1/2 plywood and cover with the dirt. They will come up to see what happened and 90% of the time, they get caught in the leg hold trap. We caught tons this way as kids. Good luck. I too cannot recall seeing one above ground…

big g

As a kid, I used to make my “Movie Money” turning in the legs. Covered the hole with cardboard and staked the trap down with swivel sticks granddad made for me. I should have patented them….they are called tip ups now.

F E R R E T

Sounds like we need to revisit the “Caddy Shack” movie!

Quote:

---

Sounds like we need to revisit the “Caddy Shack” movie!

---

maybe so, but PLEASE don’t use explosives for rodent infestations
they need to be saved for more dire situations
you know, like when the bite gets tough

Trapping isn’t near as fun as this method. Just don’t stand over the hole. You’ll feel your teeth rattle.

http://www.rodenator.com/products_access.htm

Yes, these are pocket gophers, I forgot to mention the numerous wheebarrow loads of dirt I’ve loaded up from cleaning up the mounds.

Thanks everybody for your input! I’m almost looking forward to erraticating these miny excavators with the great responses. If things go well maybe I’ll post a pic of the trophy pile. Thanks again, Randy