If you've got pocket gophers....

[charlz]

A certain problem here (orchard) is coming into focus.

Whenever a tree dies and I backhoe out the stump, I always find beneath it a 'gopher palace' - a cubic foot or more cavity, probably a birthing nest, filled with soft straw and with deep gopher tunnels radiating out in multiple directions. I assume they survive there because discing can't disturb a nest beneath a tree. They also may have killed the tree by continually eating its fine roots.

At any rate - it occurred to me that with these cavities, using the propane explosion method might cause blowing my orchard trees clear out of the ground.

Well if you decide to try it... just make sure the video camera is running

 

[charlz]

I think the rodenator looks like a lot of fun, but I doubt it's really effective in eliminating mass infestations. Aside from collateral damage to irrigation and wiring, there is usually only about 1 gopher per tunnel, not counting nests. They can swim through unpacked dirt and collapsing a tunnel is of no real value in preventing new tenants.

There is definitely a technique to it to improve your kill ratio. Going out early in the year and first thing in the morning when they are making long runs. Looking for the freshest hole and blasting back towards the established tunnels. If is a really fresh mound or they are actively working (no plug in the mound) I get about a 90% kill ratio. I have killed about 10 gophers this year but only used traps. Infestation is the only time I think it is worth dragging out the blaster.

Trapping is my third and least effective method, but still does the job around the house. The Victor Black Box traps work very well.

I have had the best luck with the cinch trap. The pincher and trigger extend down the tunnel so it gets them before they get to the opening you dug in their tunnels.

 

[California]

Well if you decide to try it [propane explosions under orchard trees]... just make sure the video camera is running

That would be a sight to see! When the big apple trees reach maximum age (50~100 years) they die gradually, going hollow inside while primary roots turn punky. It wouldn't take much to lift one and and toss it a few yards.

best is a weasel (see avatar). In about 3 months that guy massacred the gopher population down in the pasture, but sadly moved on, when the buffet thinned out. That was last year and I still have hardly any gophers down there to shoot. Once weasels run out of food they just migrate to the next infestation. I wish I knew how to attract them and they are utterly cool to watch. I do have some gopher snakes, but they didn't do a fraction of what that weasel accomplished one spring.

Hey send that little guy up here! My weasel is always out there working but he's not making much headway knocking down the overall gopher population. Here's a post with photo showing the time he fell down inside a barn wall and couldn't get out until I tossed down a rope for him to climb. Coyotes hunt gophers too. (photo) I still have gophers.

This little guy popped up repeatedly right at our feet to join the conversation while a friend and I were talking. They think they own the place.

Ever hear of Luther Burbank, a 19th century plant geneticist? He gave up on his experimental farm out here and re-started in Santa Rosa after he was overwhelmed by gophers. He gifted that first farm to ... the town cemetery.

 

[daveshoot]

Those pics make my blood boil and my trigger finger all twitchy. Funny, some of them seem to be attracted to vibration, and tractors. I have them surface now and then while working in the yard with the Kubota, not 6 feet away. Others are spooked at the mere sight of me standing, from 15 yards,

I have lots of gopher pics, mostly in the expired state. That is a really nice one. I keep a running iPhone log of all the kills unless the dog gets them first; but if they're live, I am maneuvering into shooting position. An active gopher is too good an opportunity to waste.

I believe Luther Burbank grafted a mole onto a rat to make gophers.

MY weasel was singularly adept. I watched him through the scope pull a goph out of a hole by the neck and wish I had that on video. It was out every morning and had gotten used to me. It would hunt and frolic (for a while there were two), go down one hole and come up another 50 feet away. I don't know if he gives lessons but I will take yours any day. I miss the little guy.

 

[thistlemagnate]

A bunch of weasels would be great, though as you note you have the problem of keeping them around when the gophers thin out for a while. And you're right, vehicle exhaust and such are not very effective. Traps and target shooting would be a full time hobby once you have an established population, and use of poisons elsewhere are a good part of why we grow our own food. In my experience blowing runs with propane+oxygen clears a field pretty thoroughly, and it remains clear for a season or so till new critters create fresh burrows in from the periphery. I've had surprisingly little "collateral damage", considerably less than had I just let the gophers do their thing. Mostly a few half chewed onions falling back to earth.
One more tip: I kneel on a burlap sack while digging about for a tunnel, then put the sack over the hole + propane injector pipe with a pile of dirt over the burlap to seal it before attempting a blow. If the igniter fails or I need a redo for some other reason, I can just pick up the burlap with all the dirt leaving a clean hole to work with.
Amazing how long lived this thread is, and how quickly it revived after lying dormant for a couple years. And how engaged our gardening friends become whenever the conversation turns to gophers.

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I think the rodenator looks like a lot of fun, but I doubt it's really effective in eliminating mass infestations. Aside from collateral damage to irrigation and wiring, there is usually only about 1 gopher per tunnel, not counting nests. They can swim through unpacked dirt and collapsing a tunnel is of no real value in preventing new tenants.

Sorry but if anyone thinks flares, exhaust, or gas is effective, watch how quickly a pocket gopher can backfill the tunnel at the first hint of trouble.

The absolute hands-down best is a weasel (see avatar).

 

[ultrarunner]

My best gopher getter was my Siberian Husky...

He would wait as long as it took to make the catch.

After a while... we would team up.

I'd run the garden hose down the hole and he would listen and then make the kill.

 

[Midniteoyl]

Ya.. my Husky mix was the best.. 30 days after he showed up here all the gophers were gone, and most of the ground hogs...

 

[California]

best is a weasel (see avatar). In about 3 months that guy massacred the gopher population down in the pasture, but sadly moved on, when the buffet thinned out. ... they are utterly cool to watch.

Here's my little guy on duty.


Then departing, fast.

 

[daveshoot]

Hey, that's him! Glad to see someone else has one. I got a bunch of pics that prove I'm no wildlife photographer, but I had plenty of opportunities. Aren't they cool?

How long has it been hanging around?

 

[Midniteoyl]

Wonder how to keep one around like a cat.. ?