Gopher eradication

[LowRiver2]

That's the biggest secret, leave the hole open because they come back to cover it. I used to cover my traps in the hole trying to be sneaky, but they weren't planning on coming back anyway. You have to give them a reason to come back. I get them every time.

I'd buy a Gopher Hawk for shits & giggles but they cost too much & the cheap ass traps just work too damn good.

#4
Stuck this right in hole, caught in 2 hours

 

[LowRiver2]

#5 less than an hour later: heard it go off. Dog yanked it from GH trap and finished it .
Impressive

 

[Taboma]

What a conundrum, got my Gopher Hawk, but can't find any fresh mounds to test it. I suppose that's a good thing, but LowRiver2 is racking up numerous kills and I'm not getting to kill a damned one, while my $ 32 sits on the shelf. ( If I walk out in the morning and find five mounds in my lawn, I'm really going to regret writing that )

 

[jet496]

View attachment 972554
#5 less than an hour later: heard it go off. Dog yanked it from GH trap and finished it .
Impressive

So do you simply stick it in the hole where the mound is after you uncover it or try & find their tunnel with that poking tool?

 

[Rajobigguy]

Am I the only one that has had 100% success with gopher gassers? Seriously at four different houses with varying terrain and never had a failure. One house did require a couple of treatments but in the end they all took a big dirt nap.

 

[LowRiver2]

So do you simply stick it in the hole where the mound is after you uncover it or try & find their tunnel with that poking tool?

Funny story:

Washing my truck, look over and see #4 staring at me . Open hole. I walk towards the set trap up on the hill and I’ll be damned if there isn’t #5 looking out his hole at me.
I put the trap straight in the hole of #4, went in , had lunch, then came back. #4 caught.
I set the trap , was washing my Mini Cooper when the Mrs. and I heard #5 trap spring strike.
Set it in hole (not the instructed way).

I set it on harder pack dirt after on a fresh mound, no hits yet.

 

[jet496]

Am I the only one that has had 100% success with gopher gassers? Seriously at four different houses with varying terrain and never had a failure. One house did require a couple of treatments but in the end they all took a big dirt nap.

Nope, I still have some gas sticks but they never worked for some reason, even though I gassed the shit out of them. The best, before I had to start using traps, was Type 1 strychnine bait that you put in the tunnels with a bait contraption from Home Depot. That stuff was outlawed awhile back & Type 2 just feeds them.

 

[jet496]

Funny story:

Washing my truck, look over and see #4 staring at me . Open hole. I walk towards the set trap up on the hill and I’ll be damned if there isn’t #5 looking out his hole at me.
I put the trap straight in the hole of #4, went in , had lunch, then came back. #4 caught.
I set the trap , was washing my Mini Cooper when the Mrs. and I heard #5 trap spring strike.
Set it in hole (not the instructed way).

I set it on harder pack dirt after on a fresh mound, no hits yet.

I've only had one gopher that I couldn't get with anything & it was tearing my yard up bad. Some gophers are smarter than others I guess. I called in Animals to Go & he did the trick with smaller traps that are like the ones we use. The professionals use them & called the GOPHINATOR.

PS: I just ordered 4 of the Gophinators from Wildlife Control Supplies. They're stainless steel & only $7.95 each. I really don't need them but think they'll make it where I can insert the trap deeper without widening the hole.

 

[Taboma]

I've only had one gopher that I couldn't get with anything & it was tearing my yard up bad. Some gophers are smarter than others I guess. I called in Animals to Go & he did the trick with smaller traps that are like the ones we use. The professionals use them & called the GOPHINATOR.

PS: I just ordered 4 of the Gophinators from Wildlife Control Supplies. They're stainless steel & only $7.95 each. I really don't need them but think they'll make it where I can insert the trap deeper without widening the hole.

I've had my eye on them for certain areas or just to change it up a bit. Those are the ones you wind up right ?

 

[lbhsbz]

Boat cop is right but for the purpose of killing a gopher it's not gonna be enough, gas engine no catalytic converters, lawnmower would work.

View attachment 968435

Most small engines have catalytic converters now.

 

[jet496]

I've had my eye on them for certain areas or just to change it up a bit. Those are the ones you wind up right ?

Yes

 

[n2otoofast4u]

2 years ago my gopher problem was out of control. I was shooting them with a 20ga when I could, but I’m not home enough for this to be overly effective, and my neighbors we breeding the little bastards I swear! So, I took a point away from my man card and hired a guy. 13 gophers and $600 later, I still had gophers coming over from the neighbors. So I really payed attention to what he did, what traps he used, and the following spring I set out to do it on my own. I’ve learned lots of little tricks, but my kill ratio is pretty damn high, and it’s almost turned into fun. The trapper would only come twice a week, so if he missed, they would sit for days before being reset. Doing it myself, I can set daily, or on the weekends multiple times a day if needed.

This is what the pro used, and what I use now. I do sharpen the ends of the jaws to help them dig into their skin. That really helped my kill percentage.

 

[Halvecto]

I have tried everything and the only thing that I have found that works is the Exterminator that I use. The company’s name is Enviroworx. He opens a small hole in the gopher mound and drops cyanide pills into the gopher hole. He covers it back up and the moisture in the dirt dissolves the pills and the hole fills with cyanide gas. It’s completely safe for pets and people. The gopher(s) are dead before the next day. He guarantees his work and will come back for free within 30 days. The owners name is Paul, call him at (818) 342-6674.

Don't waste your time trying anything else.

Get a few cats. Seriously, I was never a cat guy. Now, I will always have at least one cat. We don't do the litter-box thing and feed lightly so they have an interest in hunting. I've had as many as three, but now just one. We have had her about 5 years and she is still a hunting machine. They stay outside or in the garage 90% of the time and can go many days in a row catching and eating much of some kind of bird, lizard, mouse, rabbit, rat, gopher, etc.. The raccoons are too big and aggressive. The other day the cat was clearly spooked by something, when I saw a skunk running away. The air-rifle pellet took care of that the next day (from a distance!). I've tried just about everything. My property has a large yard and we are adjacent to open field and horse corrals pushing the critters onto my land. I tried for months to get a handle on it. I eventually hired the monthly pro-service to get and keep the gophers under control. Since I went with this company I have basically no pocket gopher or ground squirrels. Specialized rodent control that requires some special license for putting the gas pills underground. This company sprays for bugs, spiders, etc. also in same service. Very nice people. https://www.critterbusters.com/gopher-control-services/

 

[wash11]

I ordered the gopher stick thingy based on recommendations in this thread. 2 for 2 on the 1st day so I ordered three more.

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[Taboma]

I ordered the gopher stick thingy based on recommendations in this thread. 2 for 2 on the 1st day so I ordered three more. View attachment 972971


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Joel, were there always gophers on your property, or just since you started working the soil and planting ?
I can't recall having ever seen a gopher at our Hackberry place, area exploration or heard any neighbors telling gopher eradication stories. Certainly some intimidating ant mounds and a few holes in banks, but those are more honey badger size, not gopher. See tiny squirrels zipping across the roads, but now you've got me curious so I'll be watching.
Glad the Gopher Hawk is working, mine's working as well, since I put it on the shelf, not a single new gopher mound has appeared

 

[wash11]

Joel, were there always gophers on your property, or just since you started working the soil and planting ?
I can't recall having ever seen a gopher at our Hackberry place, area exploration or heard any neighbors telling gopher eradication stories. Certainly some intimidating ant mounds and a few holes in banks, but those are more honey badger size, not gopher. See tiny squirrels zipping across the roads, but now you've got me curious so I'll be watching.
Glad the Gopher Hawk is working, mine's working as well, since I put it on the shelf, not a single new gopher mound has appeared

It's an infestation that we haven't seen before last year. Not sure where they came from but our high clay, irrigated alfalfa field is about the most perfect home they could ask for.

 

[Taboma]

It's an infestation that we haven't seen before last year. Not sure where they came from but our high clay, irrigated alfalfa field is about the most perfect home they could ask for.

They better watch their little asses. If they knew your creative and energetic entrepreneurial skills, they'd skedaddle, else gopher pelts might be your newest endeavor.
I've always found it amazing how their fur stays so clean looking despite their constant tunneling and living in damp dirt.

Curious I just posted a question for my ranch neighbors in our private group, wondering if they have gophers, since I haven't noticed any up there.

This reminds me of growing tomatoes in pots. Never noticed any tomato horn worms or gypsy moths around here until we started two tomato plants --- Seems odd with so few tomato plants in our area, how a gypsy moth would fly so far and wide seeking two plants grown from seed.

 

[LowRiver2]

#6 in 9 days: Sikarri is digging this trap. Even found scat on next mound lol

 

[LowRiver2]

Make that 7 gophers in 9 days. No fresh mounds, now time to wait for the stealthy ones after filling all old holes

 

[BoatCop]

View attachment 973079 View attachment 973081
Make that 7 gophers in 9 days. No fresh mounds, now time to wait for the stealthy ones after filling all old holes

Excellent work. I stomp around my back (and front) yard anywhere I think there may be a tunnel, heavy on the heel, until I find one. My lawn rats tend to have shallow runs. Once I find one, I stomp as much of the tunnel I can find, water the hell out of it, and fill in the trenches with a soil/compost mix. The way the bermuda grows here, the lawn will be filled in by April (once it gets out of the dormant stage) After that, new runs will fill in within 2-3 weeks, during the growing season.

Stomping out their runs will force them to make new ones, and more likely cause a mound sooner, than later. When they do....... they'll feel the wrath of spring steel.

 

[wash11]

3 for 4 in a couple days with the stick. Little bastards pushed clay and clogged the trap the 3rd time I set it but got him on the 4th.

Still alive but stunned so I threw him to the chickens. Those little feathered dinosaurs had him tore down in a couple minutes.

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[LowRiver2]

Excellent work. I stomp around my back (and front) yard anywhere I think there may be a tunnel, heavy on the heel, until I find one. My lawn rats tend to have shallow runs. Once I find one, I stomp as much of the tunnel I can find, water the hell out of it, and fill in the trenches with a soil/compost mix. The way the bermuda grows here, the lawn will be filled in by April (once it gets out of the dormant stage) After that, new runs will fill in within 2-3 weeks, during the growing season.

Stomping out their runs will force them to make new ones, and more likely cause a mound sooner, than later. When they do....... they'll feel the wrath of spring steel.

Great advice . I started using my heel on all old holes, good idea to go after the tunnels too. I’m thinking seeding St Augustine in (ugly but tough grass), but I’ll do seed tossing too. I just want green, I don’t have the time or persistence to care for sod in my old age, lol.

 

[EmpirE231]

You guys are motivating me to give the gopher hawk another try. I used to be awesome with my traps... but we have a smart one tearing things up and I have not been successful the last few weeks.

Also does not help that I've been dealing with some serious sciatic pain, so getting up / down / digging etc has been killing me lately.

 

[wash11]

You guys are motivating me to give the gopher hawk another try. I used to be awesome with my traps... but we have a smart one tearing things up and I have not been successful the last few weeks.

Also does not help that I've been dealing with some serious sciatic pain, so getting up / down / digging etc has been killing me lately.

I was skeptical at best when I ordered the gopher hawk but seeing other inmates having some luck pushed me. Really glad I did.


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[Carlson-jet]

Some are missing out on a good opportunity. A few edibles, regay muzak and a cage could make this somebody who cares problem.

 

[LowRiver2]

I was skeptical at best when I ordered the gopher hawk but seeing other inmates having some luck pushed me. Really glad I did.


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Same here, was worth it for me.
On to the abandoned dog run:
Anyone know what these are dug by?

I have them all over this section of dry dirt.
I kicked one in, no ants or wasps. About 1/8th” wide

 

[LowRiver2]

So I smashed all holes on my “hamburger hill”,
Two of the holes kicked out dirt in 30 minutes.
War of the gophers in full swing

 

[LowRiver2]

You guys are motivating me to give the gopher hawk another try. I used to be awesome with my traps... but we have a smart one tearing things up and I have not been successful the last few weeks.

Also does not help that I've been dealing with some serious sciatic pain, so getting up / down / digging etc has been killing me lately.

I hear ya’
I jacked up my shoulder on a work call (sprain luckily), and stayed home this weekend vs off roading. I decided to go at this problem with diligence and thanks to the trap, it paid off.

It’s going to be a never ending battle but glad to finally make some headway.

 

[LowRiver2]

#8 and #9 caught in last 24 hours . Siki ripped one of them out of the trap decapitating it.
She sits by the trap now lol

 

[Taboma]

#8 and #9 caught in last 24 hours . Siki ripped one of them out of the trap decapitating it.
She sits by the trap now lol

Mine's still on the shelf, brand new and working awesome by apparently intimidation.

 

[LowRiver2]

Mine's still on the shelf, brand new and working awesome by apparently intimidation.

My wife set the trap for the last two, she’s a closet caddy shack’er like me

 

[Taboma]

My wife set the trap for the last two, she’s a closet caddy shack’er like me

Well that's going to take a bite out of our exclusive "Gopher Hunter" mystique. I can just see the next Gopher Hawk ad now, "So easy this beautiful woman can do it"

 

[LowRiver2]

Well that's going to take a bite out of our exclusive "Gopher Hunter" mystique. I can just see the next Gopher Hawk ad now, "So easy this beautiful woman can do it"

Nurses are bloodthirsty too, just sayin’

 

[Taboma]

Nurses are bloodthirsty too, just sayin’

I dated a few back in the day and I still suffer "White Coat Syndrome" PTSD
Had one nurse girlfriend diagnose me with a prostrate problem in my early 20's, claimed I was losing sex drive and wanted me to see a doc. Wasn't that, it was that other chick I was seeing keeping me chained to the bed.
While going through the electrical apprenticeship, one of my journeyman, who was married to a nurse, offered advise that if I appreciated sympathy when I got injured, do not marry a nurse.
So I didn't and I still don't get any damned sympathy

 

[BoatCop]

The hits just keep on coming. This one from the front yard. 15 minutes from set to sprung. So far, 2 from the front and 3 from the back in a month.

 

[BoatCop]

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[Taboma]

OK, finally, last Friday I found what appeared to be a couple of gopher feeder holes, not mounds mind you, just the loosely filled in holes gophers stick their heads out of then move on.
So I grabbed my brand spanken new Gopher Hawk off the shelf and got it dirty for the first time. Found the tunnel, dirt was hard on top, but got it routed out and the trap inserted and it felt like a good set.
Sat, Sun, this morning, traps not tripped hmmmmm. When I went over to extract it, I noticed more feeder holes a few feet away. When I pulled it up, it was filled with fine backfill, the bastard had buried it without tripping it ---- how they do that is amazing. A few feet away, re-probed and reset it, again feels like it's in the tunnel, so we'll see if he buries me again. At least I know it's an active tunnel, so if he buries it again, I'll be digging a hole and going in with different weapons for round 3.

 

[Rondog4405]

I thought I had gotten rid of my gopher problem months ago. A few days ago I noticed a few holes buried. Son of a bitch!! More gophers are back! Came home today and the lil fucker had a big hole dug. Ran down to home depot and bought a black box trap. Dug down a foot or so and found the main tunnel. Wedged the trap in right at the opening in the tunnel.. I put a door mat over it all and within a hour ..got him!! Sorry no picts..tossed him. Now I gotta kill the one tearing up my back property.

 

[67Charger]

I have resorted to pissing them off with mortars. Every time I find a fresh hole, I find the tunnel, drop in a 1.5" mortar (firework) light it and cover the hole with a 1' square, .5" thick steel plate and stand on it. 2 explosions, some crackles, lots of smoke, and hopefully pissed off and deaf gophers. I can't kill them, I've tried, but I can certainly piss them off and create a hostile home environment. At least it makes ME feel better.

My GopherHawk broke. Won't set. It seems like it stops about 1/4" short of catching the trip. Maybe I'll take it apart and look at it.

 

[LowRiver2]

Shot of my dog ripping number 11 out of the trap.

 

[Ladsm]

Those sticks look like the answer.

I had a house that had them bad so I decided when I had to resurface the pool to just fill the gopher holes with the pool water. I pumped 13,000 gallons of water from an 1-1/2" fire house into (1) gopher hole and I never filled it up!!!!!!!!!

 

[Taboma]

Gopher Hawk fail # 2 for me --- maybe it's the DG soil, maybe it's the gopher, maybe it's the guy setting it.

When I extract the untriggered trap, like last time, it's filled with obvious gopher backfill dirt, just keeps burying it.

Set again for try # 3, I was going to dig it up and set one of my other trap types, but was lunch time, so tried a new spot.
This gopher isn't aggressively making actual mounds, just feeder holes where he's sticking his head up, eating a few weeds, then pushing dirt up in that hole and moving to another spot.

 

[wash11]

I'm up to 9 kills as of yesterday. I'm starting to get the hang of where it's best to set up now. As Taboma says, they backfill the trap so it's worthless but if you keep cleaning it out, eventually you'll get them. I've got 4 traps running at this point and think I'm down to 3 or 4 of the little fuckers left. Overall, this gopherhawk deal has been the most effective tool i've seen.

 

[LowRiver2]

Gopher Hawk fail # 2 for me --- maybe it's the DG soil, maybe it's the gopher, maybe it's the guy setting it.

When I extract the untriggered trap, like last time, it's filled with obvious gopher backfill dirt, just keeps burying it.

Set again for try # 3, I was going to dig it up and set one of my other trap types, but was lunch time, so tried a new spot.
This gopher isn't aggressively making actual mounds, just feeder holes where he's sticking his head up, eating a few weeds, then pushing dirt up in that hole and moving to another spot.

The dirt composition definitely comes into play with the gopher hawk I’ve had the same issues you have on my hill section where it’s been turned over a lot by golfers it works best when the soil is wet and held together by grass as boat cop said remember to smash in any holes you have it forces them to try to make new holes and might make one in solid ground enough for the trap to function properly

 

[Taboma]

The dirt composition definitely comes into play with the gopher hawk I’ve had the same issues you have on my hill section where it’s been turned over a lot by golfers it works best when the soil is wet and held together by grass as boat cop said remember to smash in any holes you have it forces them to try to make new holes and might make one in solid ground enough for the trap to function properly

You are explaining my trapping site perfectly. Hard cap DG, but fairly loose fill below, steep slope, with years of accumulated tunnels. This slope has always been a challenge, even for setting conventional traps. Just on the other side of the neighbor's fence lies a gopher breeding ground, the tunnels I've collapsed all lead right to the fence.

Years ago I used a 4' piece of 1/2' sch 40 pvc, with the end angle cut. On the other end a shut off valve and hose adaptor. This is my flooding stick, so today if this fuck has once again backfilled my trap, I'm going to unleash the water jet from hell and fill his tunnels with mud.

Most likely won't kill him, but I do enjoy just causing sticky wet chaos in his fury little life by soaking and collapsing his tunnels. Then see what his next move is, either leave my slope or dig new tunnels.

I primarily bought the Gopher Hawk for use in my lawn are should I need it, where the soil is as you described. Using it on this slope which has always been a gopher hunting challenge, is more of a test.

 

[Taboma]

Took three tries, but my Gopher Hawk's cherry done got popped Had to dig him out, tried to pulled up and it wasn't budging, knew I'd hooked one.

 

[wash11]

Number 10.

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[wash11]

Number 11. These things are definitely worth the money.

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[BoatCop]

So it's been a month since I've seen any rodent activity, anywhere near my house. No new tunnels or mounds in the front, back or even in the back field, anywhere. So imagine my surprise when I walk out and find this laying right in the middle of my front yard:

Fresh, not stiff or decomposed. No tunnels or holes or mounds anywhere around. Just laying there.

I'm thinking maybe a cat or dog caught one somewhere and, even though mortally injured, fought back and made them drop him on my yard where he dies. Either that or a bird (lots of owls and hawks around here) had him and for some reason got spooked and just dropped him out of the sky.

But I kinda wanna think that the local gopher population has heard of my prowess with the various gopher eradication devices and offered one of their own as a virgin (could be, I didn't check) sacrifice, in an attempt to appease their god (me).

 

[Flatsix66]

Based on this thread and getting turned onto the Gopher Hawk I ordered a few from Amazon. They arrived while I was out of town this weekend but my wife found them and tried them out in her horse pasture, caught two overnight! Catches Gophers and the Wife is having fun killing the little bastards so I don't have to - Win - Win!