Gopher eradication

[monkeyswrench]

Anfo...

 

[Taboma]

Ive had two oldtimers tell me the exhaust deal works. I'm going to try in the spring.tbey .mentioned a sti my old tractor is better .

Well I got a big laugh regarding that method from a story published in the American Dairymen magazine. I'm no dairy man, but I do find articles describing various gopher eradication methods interesting. The last sentence cracked me up

" Exhaust gas (carbon monoxide) had been used for many years in the effort to kill gophers. Though it had some success, it had limitations in that it required digging out the burrow opening and inserting a hose with five or six pounds pressure of exhaust gas. It gave the gopher plenty of time to block the burrow.
Usually, only gophers of limited mental acuity were exterminated with exhaust gas. "

And there ya have it, if you want to get rid of the stupid gophers, use exhaust gas.

On a more serious note, if you google PERC machines ( Pressurized Exhaust Rodent Control) the key is the pressurization, not sure how much backpressure yer old tractor's going to appreciate.

 

[Flatsix66]

At first more pussy seems to be the answer, then it becomes more trouble than they are worth.

 

[73beast]

Try a golpher snake..
Viernum said that gopher snakes feed on small mammals, birds, bird eggs, lizards and of course gophers. They actively seek out prey and often follow small mammals down their runways or burrows.

 

[Rajobigguy]

I have had the best luck with these.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/AMDRO-Gasser-6-Count-Gopher-Killer/3651779

 

[Badchoices03]

Try a golpher snake..
Viernum said that gopher snakes feed on small mammals, birds, bird eggs, lizards and of course gophers. They actively seek out prey and often follow small mammals down their runways or burrows.

Funny story....one afternoon my across the street neighbor starts screaming (a dude by the way) that there's a snake in his yard....so I go over there and sure enough there was a rather large gopher snake, so I grab it and throw it in a bucket....about that time I was having a gopher problem in my backyard, so I got a great idea (or might have been the handful of beers I had been drinking) to release it down into one of the gopher holes in my backyard, the part I didn't think all the way through, I told my wife about the great solution to gopher problem I just unleashed....well it was months before my wife felt safe to step into the yard in the back knowing there might be a snake around....but I never did see another gopher or the snake for that matter....so problem solved???

 

[WYRD]

Don't be this guy

 

[poncho]

Went out and sat on the back porch one morning right at dawn with a cup of coffee and my trusty black lab beside me. She was a smaller lab and probably more timid than Bad Ass, gopher problem every fall, nothing but forest behind me.

Shop was separate and probably 20 feet between it and the house, had crushed stone around it.

Hear the telltale sound of something on the stone and halfway along the shop wall was a gopher headed towards the woods, she heard it at the same time and i yelled get that fucker, off that porch she went like a shot.

Pretty sure it was a gopher, may have been a mole but the next 20 seconds were a shit show, she got to it and clamped on and that thing let out the most primal scream you ever heard and attacked back like a demon animal.

My poor dog could not get rid of it fast enough, she let go and looked at me like you do it, poor thing wanted to please me but wanted nothing else to do with that animal.

I still laugh thinking about it.

 

[buck35]

Well I got a big laugh regarding that method from a story published in the American Dairymen magazine. I'm no dairy man, but I do find articles describing various gopher eradication methods interesting. The last sentence cracked me up

" Exhaust gas (carbon monoxide) had been used for many years in the effort to kill gophers. Though it had some success, it had limitations in that it required digging out the burrow opening and inserting a hose with five or six pounds pressure of exhaust gas. It gave the gopher plenty of time to block the burrow.
Usually, only gophers of limited mental acuity were exterminated with exhaust gas. "

And there ya have it, if you want to get rid of the stupid gophers, use exhaust gas.

On a more serious note, if you google PERC machines ( Pressurized Exhaust Rodent Control) the key is the pressurization, not sure how much backpressure yer old tractor's going to appreciate.

I guess we are all free to use our own method sir . I have 12 acres of land to fend off these creatures and surrounded by plenty more . To each his own I presume.

 

[Flying_Lavey]

Went out and sat on the back porch one morning right at dawn with a cup of coffee and my trusty black lab beside me. She was a smaller lab and probably more timid than Bad Ass, gopher problem every fall, nothing but forest behind me.

Shop was separate and probably 20 feet between it and the house, had crushed stone around it.

Hear the telltale sound of something on the stone and halfway along the shop wall was a gopher headed towards the woods, she heard it at the same time and i yelled get that fucker, off that porch she went like a shot.

Pretty sure it was a gopher but the next 20 seconds were a shit show, she got to it and clamped on and that thing let out the most primal scream you ever heard and attacked back like a demon animal.

My poor dog could not get rid of it fast enough, she let go and looked at me like you do it, poor thing wanted to please me but wanted nothing else to do with that animal.

I still laugh thinking about it.

Our old lab/show mix was one hell of a hunter. NOTHING lived in our backyard. Nothing lived that LOOKED at our backyard. Opossums would run across the top of the 7' block wall and she would scale it, yank the fucker off, and shake it by the neck until it snapped. There were dead animals all over the backyard all the time. She got her first gopher kill at my aunt and uncle's house in Arroyo Grande. She took out 2 in one day. She was a damn good dog1

 

[Taboma]

I guess we are all free to use our own method sir . I have 12 acres of land to fend off these creatures and surrounded by plenty more . To each his own I presume.

I've tried every method I can think of, and the ones any long beards have thought of and shared with me, and then some. I just thought the comment in the article was funny. If I recall you grow cherries ? I've noticed the almond growers seem to put out a lot of research info on gopher eradication.

 

[Gelcoater]

Our old lab/show mix was one hell of a hunter. NOTHING lived in our backyard. Nothing lived that LOOKED at our backyard. Opossums would run across the top of the 7' block wall and she would scale it, yank the fucker off, and shake it by the neck until it snapped. There were dead animals all over the backyard all the time. She got her first gopher kill at my aunt and uncle's house in Arroyo Grande. She took out 2 in one day. She was a damn good dog1

Got to love a dog like that
My mom has a little terrier mix, couldn’t weigh more than 18lbs.
She’s bagged a couple birds and several gophers. Along with the fun stuff like lizards and dragon flies.
She will lay in wait next to a mound over an hour just waiting, then BNAG! Another gopher.

 

[buck35]

Yes I do grow cherries, and use the pellets as well, but they are nasty to handle, or be close to in open air.

 

[Skulker]

I put out the solar Mole chasers, they make a little noise but seem to work. the funny part was about a week latter. My neighbor was bitching about his sudden mole invasion. While we were chatting across the fence he ask, what's that noise, STG. I got a good laugh out of that one, I hadn't even given it a second though until he said something, just move the little bastards to his yard

 

[Taboma]

Yes I do grow cherries, and use the pellets as well, but they are nasty to handle, or be close to in open air.

I might have accidently spilled a few of those pellets into a bowl where I found a nice mouse hotel. A couple of dead ones still had their heads lying in the bowl --- that shit worked quick
I use those in my lawn where I'm trying to avoid digging holes and doing more damage than the gophers. I was using the applicator, now I ream the hole out, stick a funnel down the hole and let er rip.
I've just been shy about using those around my "Organic" avocado trees, so I use traps there.

 

[Taboma]

I put out the solar Mole chasers, they make a little noise but seem to work. the funny part was about a week latter. My neighbor was bitching about his sudden mole invasion. While we were chatting across the fence he ask, what's that noise, STG. I got a good laugh out of that one, I hadn't even given it a second though until he said something, just move the little bastards to his yard

Years ago I tried those for gophers. Just to piss me off they dug mounds all the way around each one of them, they don't give a shit. I read this "Green" site for nice ways to get rid of your gophers --- I mean, when asking them to leave fails. One method was, playing the radio around their mounds --- REALLY ?? Any particular music ?? Maybe something with a bumpin bass

 

[Canuck 1]

17 hmr or strychnine, just make sure the horses are not in the same field...

 

[RandyH]

6.5 Creedmoor works too.

 

[RadHazard]

 

[RadHazard]

My kids have three bobcats living on their property. The cats have a steady diet of gophers.

 

[Taboma]

My kids have three bobcats living on their property. The cats have a steady diet of gophers.

Wish ours would eat the damned gophers, so far at least on the cams, the bunnies are getting the dinner invites. Which is conflicting for my wife, because she likes the bob kitties and likes the bunnies. Of course, then there's the coyote threesome, always somebody eating somebody around here. Yet, the gophers persist.

 

[blefever]

Gopher Hawk works great. The key is getting it in a clean tunnel a few inches from the opening. Cover the opening or leave it open, either way works. I like having the dead body to know I got something. With gas of whatever type you never know if you really got anything unless new holes stop popping up but it is a never ending fight. https://www.amazon.com/GopherHawk-T...1611634862&sprefix=gopher+hawk,aps,262&sr=8-6

 

[TITTIES AND BEER]

We got the fuckers this spring I’m going to drop the rippers on my tractor 6 “ and replant our front yard and have wifey follow with 12 ga

 

[Taboma]

View attachment 966592 Gopher Hawk works great. The key is getting it in a clean tunnel a few inches from the opening. Cover the opening or leave it open, either way works. I like having the dead body to know I got something. With gas of whatever type you never know if you really got anything unless new holes stop popping up but it is a never ending fight. https://www.amazon.com/GopherHawk-Trapping-Wedge-Probe-GH-SET/dp/B00KXE6RKK/ref=sr_1_6?crid=26EHYMO3OA77H&dchild=1&keywords=gopher+hawk+trap&qid=1611634862&sprefix=gopher+hawk,aps,262&sr=8-6

This might well be the ONLY gopher trapping / killing device I haven't tried. I'm a gopher killing living neighborhood legend with various trap types, I may have to give this a try, especially if it works in my lawn area without making large holes for more conventional traps.
What's really entertaining however are the Q & A's on Amazon. Some people should only live in apartments and stay inside.

I loved this one ---- " Can this company ensure that no animals were harmed in the design and testing of this product? "

 

[toyaddiction]

I ended up digging a 24 inch ditch the length of my property and and dropping in a thick plastic barrier. My neighbor doesn't give a damn about his yard and those little bastards would trash my grass. No gophers anymore. They only travel up to 16 inches below the surface so they can never get back in.

 

[Taboma]

I ended up digging a 24 inch ditch the length of my property and and dropping in a thick plastic barrier. My neighbor doesn't give a damn about his yard and those little bastards would trash my grass. No gophers anymore. They only travel up to 16 inches below the surface so they can never get back in.

Well except the ones who exit their holes on one side of the barrier, then scamper across and re-enter the ground on your side, during the cover of darkness ---- this maneuver requires less than 30 seconds at the rate they can dig --- unless of course, your side is a concrete or asphalt parking lot.

I've read a similar plan works for gardens, using various dimension hardware cloth --- but they suggest it be buried 2 feet and extend 2 feet above grade as well.

 

[J&k beer can]

When we had dogs would put there crap down the gopher holes..
They would disappear.. I guess they didn't like shitty area..

 

[Taboma]

When we had dogs would put there crap down the gopher holes..
They would disappear.. I guess they didn't like shitty area..

For this reason I stuff all the dead gophers in the tunnel, hoping the stench repels them, or at the very least, pisses them off.

 

[Canuck 1]

For this reason I stuff all the dead gophers in the tunnel, hoping the stench repels them, or at the very least, pisses them off.

They eat their dead

 

[DWC]

I have a few friends that have had gopher problems for years. They went and bought a couple of these and have been killing them left and right. Absolutely swear by them.

Amazon.com : GopherHawk Trapping Set, Includes Wedge and Probe Tool, 1 GH-SET : Garden & Outdoor

Amazon.com : GopherHawk Trapping Set, Includes Wedge and Probe Tool, 1 GH-SET : Garden & Outdoor

www.amazon.com

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Pretty sure that what golf courses use.

This might well be the ONLY gopher trapping / killing device I haven't tried. I'm a gopher killing living neighborhood legend with various trap types, I may have to give this a try, especially if it works in my lawn area without making large holes for more conventional traps.
What's really entertaining however are the Q & A's on Amazon. Some people should only live in apartments and stay inside.

I loved this one ---- " Can this company ensure that no animals were harmed in the design and testing of this product? "

Pretty sure this is the trap that Coyote Hills golf course uses. They had them all over. Seemed legit

 

[Taboma]

They eat their dead

There's five species of gophers in CA, 13 in the USA --- ours eat plants, WTF kinda gopher's you Canucks raisin up there ??

 

[Taboma]

Pretty sure that what golf courses use.

Pretty sure this is the trap that Coyote Hills golf course uses. They had them all over. Seemed legit

Makes sense in lawns, I'm going to get one or two, for that purpose. Otherwise I seem to do more damage than the gophers from digging up their tunnels. Plus, the lawn not having a DG hard layer and being more regularly watered, has soil more conducive to this type of trap.

 

[spectra3279]

I got a metal dryer hose. Slid it over the exhaust of my dodge diesel. Buried the other end in one of the gopher tunnels. Ran the truck for an hour. Did absolutely nothing to the gophers.

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[Cole Canadian]

Don't know if you can do it down there? there was some licensing restrictions put on up here but quite a few years ago my hayfield was just about a write off due to a gopher infestation.
A farmer friend of mine brought over a portable tank of anhydrous ammonia with a hose and a valve on it.
We put the hose down the holes and covered it with dirt let the tank run for about 2min. and plugged the hole when we pulled the hose out, then moved onto the next mound.
It took the better part of 2days to do 30 acres (and a few mop up ones from the previous day) but we just about eradicated the whole population.
Brought it back 2wks and we cleaned out the rest of them.
A few moved in in the years after that but a little target practice and a good cat keeps them in check now.
It was a good way to have a few pop's with a friend and get some serious exterminating done. Again I don't know if it' legal where you are, and it will kill the grass initially around the tunnel entrance but it will also kill the gophers without having to blow things up.

 

[Canuck 1]

There's five species of gophers in CA, 13 in the USA --- ours eat plants, WTF kinda gopher's you Canucks raisin up there ??

Discusting little pests

There's five species of gophers in CA, 13 in the USA --- ours eat plants, WTF kinda gopher's you Canucks raisin up there ??

Columbian ground squirrels are the offenders, disgusting little creatures that are fun to shoot and a pain to eradicate.

 

[GETBOATS]

 

[GETBOATS]

Had a Harrier "Luke" AKA Dumbass for 12 laughter filled years, ate every thing with fur, ate least 2 gophers a day. He was a digging machine.

 

[white tortilla]

I have the Gopher Hawk trap. It works great for me in the grass and my hill. But you neee to be in “dirt” and somewhat soft dirt. Rock hard shit or sandy sand it won’t work well. I’ve probably killed 15 gophers with mine. Usually overnight.

 

[LowRiver2]

When we had dogs would put there crap down the gopher holes..
They would disappear.. I guess they didn't like shitty area..

I’ve done this for two months :
My gophers just burro to another spot

 

[EmpirE231]

I have the Gopher Hawk trap. It works great for me in the grass and my hill. But you neee to be in “dirt” and somewhat soft dirt. Rock hard shit or sandy sand it won’t work well. I’ve probably killed 15 gophers with mine. Usually overnight.

I haven't had good luck with the gopherhawk yet....

I use the probe, and pretty damn sure I found the tunnel.... then I use the digging tool... but somehow never find the tunnel. Already bent the snares, got a replacement and willing to give it another try... any tips or tricks before I resort back to just digging up the tunnels and setting the old fashioned traps?

 

[LowRiver2]

Had a Harrier "Luke" AKA Dumbass for 12 laughter filled years, ate every thing with fur, ate least 2 gophers a day. He was a digging machine.

Sikari on the left is a mini Alaskan Eskimo that has killed over 40 fruit rats in the last couple years. She’s killed one gopher as she doesn’t have the patience to sit for them to pop up. I’ve let her have some of the pellet rifle kills for fun.

 

[Nordie]

I live in caliche land. WTF is a gopher?

 

[Taboma]

I live in caliche land. WTF is a gopher?

That little bastard with the hard hat and jack hammer Any gopher than could tunnel through that shit should be avoided at all costs.

 

[Nordie]

That little bastard with the hard hat and jack hammer Any gopher than could tunnel through that shit should be avoided at all costs.

I had to move a sprinkler line, I dug that shit with my makita roto hammer/chipping tool.

Where is @TBI when you need someone to kill a gopher?

 

[jet496]

Since California quit selling strychnine i resorted to the Home Depot Victor Gopher Traps you set underground. Probably better than the poison.

There are tricks though. If you have a ton of dirt piles just stomp all of it flat and wait until the next day to see where they're at.

Then pull the dirt out of the fresh hole, find the tunnels, which is usually 2 going both ways. Make them wide enough for your hand & put a trap in each tunnel & stick in there, doesn't have to be far, one end of trap should be right on the edge.

The biggest thing is DO NOT cover the hole back up. They will come back to close them because of the breeze or sun, that's what attracts them to the traps.

Swear to God, I will catch them in a day or two, usually the next day. There's typically only one or two in each area even though it looks like a million causing all that damage.

I have no gophers.

 

[white tortilla]

I haven't had good luck with the gopherhawk yet....

I use the probe, and pretty damn sure I found the tunnel.... then I use the digging tool... but somehow never find the tunnel. Already bent the snares, got a replacement and willing to give it another try... any tips or tricks before I resort back to just digging up the tunnels and setting the old fashioned traps?

Dont have any tricks to say. Probe. Find tunnel. Put in the larger prove and set trap.My snares get bent after a few times but I just straighten them by hand. It’s been over 50% success rate for me if I set it.

 

[Taboma]

I had to move a sprinkler line, I dug that shit with my makita roto hammer/chipping tool.

Where is @TBI when you need someone to kill a gopher?

Had one run out while I was setting the trap, keeping running around in a circle, so stabbed him through the ass with my 3' long phillips screwdriver I use for probing.

 

[Taboma]

Since California quit selling strychnine i resorted to the Home Depot Victor Gopher Traps you set underground. Probably better than the poison.

There are tricks though. If you have a ton of dirt piles from their holes stomp all of it flat and wait until the next day to see where they're at.

Then pull the dirt out of the fresh hole, find the tunnels, which is usually 2 going both ways. Make them wide enough for your hand & put a trap in each tunnel & stick in there, doesn't have to be far, one end of trap should be right on the edge.

The biggest thing is DO NOT cover the hole back up. They will come back to close it because it because of the breeze or sun, that's what attracts them to the traps.

Swear to God, I will catch them in a day or two, usually the next day. There's typically only one or two in each area even though it looks like a million causing all that damage.

I have no gophers.

You mean the Victor Easy Set traps ? If so, yes, I've had better luck with those leaving the hole open, but also setting it "Hair Trigger", so the hole in the trip paddle is right on the edge. I started setting them hair trigger after watching this video --- I always wondered how they buried the trap and didn't set it off --- rather amazing really.
Also be sure to tie it off to a stake or spike, I had one catch the gopher by the leg, and if not for being tied off, he would have disappeared with my trap.

 

[Nordie]

I've only had one memory of seeing a gopher, and that's some Hollywood creepy movie type of stuff...I still remember it like it was yesterday.

I'm pretty sure I was in 8th grade, and my Great Grandma Harris had passed on. So we're all at the cemetery, the real nice ceremony deal. Everyone is saying nice things about the evil woman, I guess she wasn't all that bad she used to give me ovaltine and tang.

So my cousin and I notice this gopher poking it's head out of the ground a few headstones over.

Well us desert rats ain't never seen some shit like this, so we're checking out this creature. Then I'm guessing the dude that digs the holes or lowers the bodies or whatever walks up to us, and fucking punts that mother fucker. He looked at my cousin and I and was like fuck those gophers. Damn gopher was just laying there twitching and we all just kind of walked away.

 

[BoatCop]

I've been dealing with these fuckers for at least 20 years. Used the Victor Easy trap above. Sometimes can get 'em in less that 10-15 minutes. Sometimes they bury them without tripping. I've even lost a few when they chewed through the string. (I use bailing wire now) Just caught one in the front yard tonight.

Over the years I've used Gopher Gassers, Road Flares, lawn mower exhaust, vehicle exhaust, tunnel fillers, repellents, coyote urine, bobcat urine, cat litter, dog shit, pretty much have tried and used everything. The only way I KNOW what is effective is to see the dead gopher, so I'm partial to traps.

My problem is that my property backs up to an open field, that's part of the school athletic field. I've read up on gopher behavior and know that, except in breeding and pup season, there's usually only one rat for a relatively large area. So I know when I trap one, it could be weeks or months before another moves into the now abandoned tunnel system. The school couldn't give a shit about the gophers in their field. (I've talked to the school board and maintenance people) I'll bet they will when some kid breaks their leg getting caught up in one of their trenches. To the side of me, my neighbor from hell has an RV part junkyard on his property and couldn't give two shits about a few mounds amongst his castle of crap. SO when I do eradicate a rat or two, it's only a matter of time before they show back up.

My dogs (Basset Hounds) are really good at going after the gophers, (that's what they were bred for) but absolutely useless for catching them. Their holes do more damage than the gophers. The only hounds I had that would actually do something were my Bloodhounds. One time I was in the back room and my wife started screaming bloody murder. I thought that one of the dogs sliced its foot off or something. Nope. Just my Pepper, sitting at the back door with a gopher in her mouth, by the nape of its neck, little legs flailing away. The other bloodhound came up with a half decomposed gopher, that he smelled and dug up. Took me an hour to catch him and get them damn thing away from him.

In any event I just ordered the Gopher Hawk, just so my gopher kill repertoire will have another tool. We'll see how well it works.