Gopher control--will this work?

[Folio]

We have 25 acres of dry land pasture being overrun with gophers--hundreds of mounds in every direction, which gives the dog (a poodle) no end of digging entertainment. And that's the problem: the deep holes she creates are becoming a hazard to both us and our seven livestock (llamas, sheep, horses). One of these days, one of us is going to sprain or break a body part tripping into one. We'd like to do something about it, but since this is a hobby farm and our living doesn't depend on it, we don't want to spend a lot of money.

Ingested poisons are out of the question for a variety of reasons, and the apparent number of critters makes trapping rather impractical, seems to me. Research says sonic/electronic solutions are ineffective. The propane explosive method works, but is cost prohibitive. So here's my idea:

1. Identify areas of current gopher activity per established standard operating procedures.

2. Dig out active mounds, find the tunnel openings, and set off a smoke bomb in each to reveal the extent of the tunneling.

2. Flood the tunnel with carbon dioxide from my tractor's (diesel) exhaust using either a commercial or handmade connection.

3. Say a few reverent, polite words for the gopher.

Seems simple, straightforward, and inexpensive. Would probably take several seasons to see concrete results, no? So what am I missing? Appreciate any and all feedback.

 

[rambler]

'Here' pocket gopher tails are worth a buck a pice in efforts to keep them under control. High school kids and retired guys like to trap over a property if you let them. Not really that hard to trap them, just gotta learn the trick to probe out the hole, leave it open with a trap in it. About an hour before dusk you should have a critter, move on to the next set of mounds.

Otherwise, they make special little gopher bait applicators, place the bits of bait a few inches below the ground surface. Kinda look like a one row 3pt planter. Often can find one to rent from dairy supply or Extension places, other farm & dairy supply stores.

You are esentually poisoning them with your idea, it can work but it takes a pretty long dose of exhaust, might need to turn up your gasoline (more effective than diesel) engine to a heavier fuel mix.

--->Paul

 

[Creamer]

Quick answer - NO! If you have ever spent time around gophers you will understand that they have a litter about every three weeks and can have 7-8 per litter, i.e multiply quicker than rabbits.

Poison is a realistic option or you can get a predator. Those are about the only two effective options. Trapping will help control them but will take a long time.

When I was young in South Dakota we had serious gopher problems for many years. The source of the problem was high fur prices which significantly reduced the predator population. The solution came from above when we got 7 inches of rain in four hours one day.

 

[Folio]

Creamer--I'm North Dakota bred and born and am used to the 13-striped ground squirrel you might be referring to. Shot more than I can count when they popped out of their holes. Here in Oregon, I've learned gophers are very different from the midwest. You never see them. Litter size might be the same though. Anyway, WHY wouldn't my solution work? What kind of predator are you talking about? A Jack Russel terrier? Pet coyote? An owl? (I have a Great Horned Owl spending nights in my barn. Fat good he's doing me!) A friendly python?

Not trying to be facetious, just trying to understand. Thanks much for responding.

 

[zzvyb6]

The smoke bombs don't work because the gophers backfill the gassed sections and easily survive. Same with flushing with CO or CO2. Leg traps are not a consideration because of the othe animals around. I've heard of people dumping a trough of water down the holes in an effort to drown them, but they get away, too, unless you are there with a shovel. A neighbor has a German shepherd that can catch one at a time if they get it on a run to another den. But, your dog may need some costly repair if its a house dog used to playing with stuffed animals.

What worked for me was a Remington solution: bolt action, heavy barrel, bipod, patience and .223. They are overgrown rats. Once 'disabled', I park them on a 24" square platform 14' off the ground and let the redtailed hawks and golden eagles feast on them. Another cute trick is to let a can of starting fluid loose into the hole. Same some for a trail running out about a yard from the entrance hole. Light a match to the trail and wait for the noise. You don't get to see if they got affected, but at least you don't have the guilt of using guns against mother nature. To me, my Remington is just like another wrench in the toolbox. A time for all of them. If I run out of patience, I can drill them out with my Barrett M99.

You know what they say about horses? "No hoof, no horse". If you can't stomach shooting the gophers, stick to raising apple trees or rasberries and save your animals some grief.

 

[rambler]

Creamer--I'm North Dakota bred and born and am used to the 13-striped ground squirrel you might be referring to. Shot more than I can count when they popped out of their holes. Here in Oregon, I've learned gophers are very different from the midwest. You never see them. Litter size might be the same though. Anyway, WHY wouldn't my solution work? What kind of predator are you talking about? A Jack Russel terrier? Pet coyote? An owl? (I have a Great Horned Owl spending nights in my barn. Fat good he's doing me!)

Not trying to be facetious, just trying to understand. Thanks much for responding.

Here in Minnesota, we have both - the 13 striped ground squirrel actually loves to use the abandoned burrows the pocket gophers make. The ground squirrel has open, very small holes they just barely fit into. They make no mess or fuss, _unless_ you grow corn, those buggers can dig up an acre of corn after you plant it along a grassy area and leave you with a weed patch, no corn.... But they don't bother a grassy area at all. Yea, these guys reproduce fast! I had a tom cat (disappeared last year, he was late middle aged, nice guy!) that walked my pasture fence every day in summer, he loved the taste of striped gopher. For the 8 years he was around, I grew wonderful corn along my pasture - that cat probably saved me $4000 of corn in his life. I remember dad always had trouble with missing corn there from these striped squirrels. I sure hope one of the tomcat's kids takes over his route!

The pocket gophers, which I think you are having troubles with, create dirt mounds not quite as bad but along the lines of a prairie dog village. Terrible for trying to make hay on, or walk through. These true gophers _hate_ sunlight and always cover their holes with a big pile of dirt, and you _Never_ see them walking on the ground in daylight. They make more holes/ mounds than there are gophers, so you do have a chance against them.

Their homes are deeper down than their tunnels, and since hot gas rises, you really would have to work a long time with the exhaust. And diesel engine isn't so good, despite the black smoke, diesel is too efficient - a poorly tuned gas engine will do it, but it won't be cheap or fast - you'll be idling there a long long time to try to get gas into all the deeper areas of their homes.

The poison, done right, is also placed deeper in the ground, not exposed to most things - I assume you are worried about the dog digging it up?

Trapping is the best, the traps are placed down in the ground into an open hole about 6 inches in, and a proper gopher trap is a one-way thing, not a leg trap, so a critter like your dog coming in from the top would set it off without being on the 'business end' of the trap.

You can try the exhaust gas, but think you will end up turning to something else.

--->Paul

 

[Creamer]

Folio - we had a few of the little 13 stripe ground squirrels like you mentioned but we had a similar but larger solid colored tan version that was the problem. Never had to deal with pocket gophers but have always heard that poison was the only way because you do not see them. They still come out sometimes though and a good hunting cat is a great predator and if you can get a few they will work as a team. I remember one summer my sister and I counted 36 cats around our place and we never fed them. A weasel is a great predator as well as they go right down the holes. Badgers eat a lot more but they also make a huge mess of the pasture as they literally outdig a gopher to catch them so that is trading one problem for another. Weasels also like chickens if you have those around it is hard to keep them out.

 

[SandburRanch]

The only sure fire methods of limited control is a good cat and a good trap. I've used the .22 but I don't have the patients to wait like a cat does and my hearing is a million miles from that of the cat that can hear them under ground.

And some cats will quickly learn to run your trap line for you. Teaching them to re-set the trap is more difficult

 

[Egon]

I assume you are talking about Pocket Gophers rather than Ground Squirrels.

Removing the food source, ie cultivation, will quickly remove them but that may not be viable for your situation.

The other methods mentioned all work but required considerable sustained application.

Another suggestion may be going over the area with a plug aerator that makes holes about six inches or more deep?? Don't know if they go that deep??

 

[Folio]

Yup, we're talking pocket gophers and I'm ruling out poisons because of the dog. Appreciate everyone's feedback. Thanks much. I'm new at this farm business so I'm happy to be in the company of you veterans. I'm thinking I'm going to have to resign myself to a long battle and start with traps and work from there.

 

[Depmandog]

These guys have the right idea.

http://www.rodenator.com/

They use a propane mix - flood the hole with gas and ignite. Looks like you could clear some acreage pretty fast.

They have numerous YouTube vids - fun to watch.

I think it would be pretty easy to make a rig that would do the same thing.

 

[Egon]

You could also spend a day in the field with a vacuum truck!:thumbsup:

 

[Ken]

I use rail road or high way flares and use post hole digger to make deep hole light the flare and put tin over hole. cover with dirt to seal off the burning flare. As the smoke spreads cover each hole where smoke escapes. The burning sulfer and lack of oxygen seem to get rid of the gophers.

20 years ago a man asked how to get rid of gophers in his yard and was told to pour gas into hole and cover. He did and had lunch and when leaving to return to work removed cover and tossed a match into hole. Blew the car port off house and broke up concrete pad .
Returned to work angreer than a goosed hornet.
No one told him to toss the match.
ken

 

[Treesanddust]

We've been battling the little devils for years now.
Poison is the best way to remove the most the fastest. However it is not an option for us due to dogs that may get ahold of a gopher that's been poisoned.
What we've found that works the best are the Victor Gopher traps.
We've got a couple of five gallon buckets filled with these traps, small garden shovels, tent stakes and survey flags.
You dig up a fresh mound to find the run or runs and place the traps in the run(s) and go about your business. Check on them every few hours. Sometimes the gopher will push the trap or bury it without getting caught.
If you use these traps be sure to tie a string on it then to a stake, we use the plastic tent stakes. We also use surveying flags pushed in right behind the traps to help keep them from being pushed out of the tunnel and so we can find the traps out in the field.

 

[Egon]

Them traps catch dogs and small kids also!

 

[Folio]

Egon--yeah, was wondering about the dog getting her snout caught in one of those. Would have to monitor her and the traps pretty close. Will just have to experiment on a small scale, I suppose, and work out solutions as I go. This morning I discovered several mounds INSIDE my machine shed (graveled floor). Gotta do something soon...

 

[flusher]

We have 25 acres of dry land pasture being overrun with gophers--hundreds of mounds in every direction, which gives the dog (a poodle) no end of digging entertainment. And that's the problem: the deep holes she creates are becoming a hazard to both us and our seven livestock (llamas, sheep, horses). One of these days, one of us is going to sprain or break a body part tripping into one. We'd like to do something about it, but since this is a hobby farm and our living doesn't depend on it, we don't want to spend a lot of money.

Ingested poisons are out of the question for a variety of reasons, and the apparent number of critters makes trapping rather impractical, seems to me. Research says sonic/electronic solutions are ineffective. The propane explosive method works, but is cost prohibitive. So here's my idea:

1. Identify areas of current gopher activity per established standard operating procedures.

2. Dig out active mounds, find the tunnel openings, and set off a smoke bomb in each to reveal the extent of the tunneling.

2. Flood the tunnel with carbon dioxide from my tractor's (diesel) exhaust using either a commercial or handmade connection.

3. Say a few reverent, polite words for the gopher.

Seems simple, straightforward, and inexpensive. Would probably take several seasons to see concrete results, no? So what am I missing? Appreciate any and all feedback.

Get yourself 3 or 4 Jack Russell terriers and let them do the hard work. You just follow along with your FEL and fill in the holes they make while doing their thing. They'll work for food:thumbsup:.

 

[Egon]

Importing Badgers would also work well but there would be holes!

 

[charlz]

Gas bombs don't work that I can tell, never had any luck with them. Water does not work either, I have tried garden hoses, 1.5" hoses and we even flood irrigate here and inches of standing water on the field doesn't kill them.

Here part of our property taxes pay for animal control and they will come out and put poison in the tunnels using a tool similar to this:

Gopher Mole Bait Applicator | Yard Butler Store

can also be purchased at local farm supply places. This keeps the poison below ground and away from other animals but if a poisoned gopher comes up to the surface and dies....

There is also a 3pt model that creates new gopher runs and puts poison in them. When the gophers intersect these tunnels they explore them and find the poison. You local farmers co-op, county extension office etc might have one of these available. I also see them for sale on Craigslist occasionally.

I have had the best luck with propane blasting and also using this trap:

The box traps do not work very well in my experience.



25 acres is a big area, whatever your chosen tool is I would start by knocking all the existing mounds down with a drag harrow. This will help fill in some holes but also show you where new activity is. The next morning there will be new mounds and target those with whatever you choose. Flatten those mounds and so on.

 

[charlz]

There is also a guy I see on occasion selling 2-stroke leaf blowers retrofitted so the exhaust goes into the blower intake. The blower end has a 2" or so piece of metal tubing on it which you place into the hole and let it run for a while. Not sure of the effectiveness. Running the pre-mix on the thick side probably helps.