!!Gophers!!

[blueriver]

As already mentioned ... gopher getter aka gopher plow. We use one all the time. Its like a one row planter... fill the hopper with gopher poison hook up to the 3 point hitch it has a shaft similar to a subsoiler with a torpedo tube as you lower it in the ground it goes in about 6-10 inches .. the tube creates a tunnel and bait is dropped every couple inches ... the gophers takes the path of least resistance and just run along the man made tunnel eating themselves to death ... with the coulter you barely see where you have been.

I don't concern myself with the old mounds ... once the new ones no longer come ... the old just kinda disappear as it rains.

BTW ... on a bad field that has yet to be done I run up and down the field about every 15' .... on fields that are done each year about 3 runs around the outside.

A five gallon bucket of treated bait runs in my area $107

 

[Leonard]

All the replies are great. I will try the boxblade first. It may not knock the mounds all the way down but will be alot better than now. Sorry can't do pictures. Don't know how. Maybe can get wife to do later. The mounds start out a small pile of fluffy dirt as if you took a full shovel of dirt and just carfully place it on the ground. About 4" - 6" tall and can get as big as 1ft around. They get bigger and taller as time goes because the little critters open and close the hole as needed for a/c. The fluffy stuff will flatten out when running over with tractor. Once they get wet, they shrink a little (Not much) and when that dries they get rock hard. I mean that water will run off the mounds before soaking in.

GWDixon, nice to hear from a local. I have five acres in the Tolenas area in Fairfield. It's kind of a country area in the middle of the city. Can't shoot the litter buggers in the field due to close neighbors and a nearby school. Although thats sounds like alot of fun. I will use the bait that I have and assume they die underground. I realize that this may be an ongoing fight and I'm ok with it. Just have to do somthing. Have flooded them out in our back yard but that doesn't kill them. The wife just relocates them down the road. I'm sure they make there way back. Never heard of the gogher getter. Sorry for the long post. Will stop now.

 

[SandburRanch]

We once had a calico cat that would thin the gopher population down to near zero. If one surfaced his chances of survival wasn't very good at all.

 

[Dr_Zinj]

Don't know about a whole field of the **** things; but when I was stationed at Travis AFB I had gopher problems with my lawn in base housing. Best solution I had was to have a shovel handy, and whenever I saw one pushing dirt up, I'd dig them out with the shovel, toss it in the air, and hit a line drive as it came down.

Run the rototiller over that area, throw some seed out and water it and problem solved until the next rodent invader.

 

[LFGENGLER]

I am no gopher-guru, but I trapped a lot of them on the family farm when I was young. I assume the gophers you are talking about are what we called pocket gophers. The critters have a pocket on each side of their head/cheeks which they use to transport food back to their dens and the little ones. My dad kept us at it till we eliminated all of them. They really could make a mess of dad's alfalfa field. The mounds of dirt would cause the sickle bar mower to plug up between the guards and stop the hay getting to the sickle and being cut. We had an incentive to go after them, the county had a bounty on them .25 to .50 cents a gopher. We clipped the front paws and kept them in the freezer till winter. We used small leg hold traps and a spade to find the tunnel and brain um when we caught them. I think the easiest way for you to get rid of them is with poison. Do a little digging at each of the new mounds find the tunnel toss in a little poison and cover the hole with a board and some dirt. Each morning take a look for any new mounds and repeat this process and you will be quickly out of the gopher killing business

 

[Leonard]

Thanks for all the responses. Man, I love this site. Speaking of shooting gophers, reminds me of when a groups of friends used to get together up north (Surprise Valley, CA). The city there used to sponser a squirrel shoot (They were really gophers). Local farmers would let us flatlanders hunt gophers on there land. They would set us up in a field depending on what type of gun was used. Some shot 30.06 or 308's so they had big fields to shoot long range. Most of us used .22's so smaller fields were used. There were so many gophers to shoot we would go through a couple thousand rounds each in a weekend. Snip the tails for a body count, then turn in the tails at a big dinner hall in town. No we didn't eat gopher, but the bbq was great. The winner would get a trophy which was two stuffed gophers in a glass box (Woo Hoo!!). We had so much fun. One farmer used to let us go up and shoot even after the squirrel shoot was done. Although there is alot of land up there, the 4,000-5,000 gophers killed didn't put a dent in the total population. But it was fun and the city made a little money (Entry fees $35). Apparently, there is a company that has a giant vacuum that sucks up gophers right out of the hole. They say that it's not unusual to get 15,000 gophers a day. That only puts a dent in it. The gopher holes get so big there that it breaks equipment (Axles ect.)
Oh, how I ramble. Anyway getting started with the poison today. Maybe try boxblade if time permits.

Len

 

[Damifino]

Might be on the pricey side, but oh man the hours of fun.

Gophers Pest Control | Moles Burrowing Rodents @ Rodenator

 

[beenthere]

Thanks for all the responses. Man, I love this site. Speaking of shooting gophers, reminds me of when a groups of friends used to get together up north (Surprise Valley, CA). The city there used to sponser a squirrel shoot (They were really gophers). ........Len

There are also ground squirrels that are skinnier and a bit more tail to them than the gophers. One is called the 13 stripe ground squirrel. Very similar digging and mounding patterns to the gopher.
I see the ground squirrels run and try to hide when I am mowing. I carry a 22 with shot shell cartridge that is pretty effective.
Also have the chipmunks, that are smaller than the ground squirrel.
Not to be confused with the grey squirrel or the fox squirrel.


Good luck with the poison diet.

 

[Trafficman]

Leonard,
Barncat :thumbsup: or Ruger 10-.22 or for the magnum effect .45-70. Knocks 'em out of the hole & fills it up at the same time. Kinda like using a howitzer to kill a mosquito but just the concussion will do the job. :laughing:
T-Man.

 

[fixit]

If you have a dairy farmer handy then a pint of alkaline pipeline cleaner and a pint of acid pipeline cleaner down the hole will gas them and you as well if you breath what comes off of it

This is used over this side of the pond on farms for moles and mice and rats if you can get them in a confined space

i used this method to sort out the rats that were under my shop floor only had to do it once and no more problem:thumbsup: