gophers and moles

[laurencen]

well now I have the road and ditches in, grass coming thro I am honoured to have gophers and moles creating havoc, my airstrip is also being attacked, now I have taken a few gophers with a 22 but not getting ahead, any ideas what can be done

thanks

 

[Charlton John]

I recently had a problem as well. Bought a granular product called Mole Max, just spread it around the area and presto no more moles and voles, worked great. It does not kill them but after watered in they dont like the feel of it on their skin apparently and flee the area. In the past I have also used the smoke bombs in the holes and this worked well too, this will kill them I beleive. Good Luck

 

[MrDig]

Gophers love our sandy soil here, are very difficult to control. Many neighbors have given up, kitchen gardens are raised in stock tanks, etc.

I have tried trapping, repellents, cats, poison, 22's, stomping on them when they sometimes appear at dusk. None of these seemed to have any effect on the gopher population, dead plant.

About a year ago I got the only thing that works, so far: a Gopher Getter
GA-400 Gopher Getter

 

[MNBobcat]

Earlier this summer an old fella (82) stopped by my place and offered to trap gophers for $1 each. He took 190 of them out of my field. I paid him $2 each because he worked so hard. The county pays $2 each as well so he earned $4 a gopher.

About a month ago I rented a gopher getter to pull behind the tractor. It makes gopher tunnels and drops poisoned wheat into the tunnels. The gophers are now under control. Every rain I have 3 - 4 new mounds (on a 10 - 12 acre field) and I trap them out right away. I figure there are very few gophers left and I can handle what remains by trapping.

 

[MNBobcat]

About a year ago I got the only thing that works, so far: a Gopher Getter
GA-400 Gopher Getter

Do you use the strychnine or Rozol based poison?

 

[Mike120]

I've used a Gopher Getter with good results but I've always wanted one of these: Control damaging squirrels, gophers and other problem rodents with the Rodent Blaster Hot Shot. RodentBlaster.com. Seems like it would be a lot more fun.

 

[MrDig]

Do you use the strychnine or Rozol based poison?

I used strychnine bait with good results fall through spring. With summer, I started to have several areas where gophers survived many multiple passes with the machine. I tried Kaput-D Pocket Gopher Bait (Diphacinone), worked great, immediate big difference, no gophers survive.

It might be the type of poison, or just seasonal preference for the grain. Strychnine bait is on milo, Kaput on wheat.

Here's a pic of my Gopher Getter. Coulter is 22":

 

[Kenster]

This thread has been dead for several months but I wanted to add my thoughts on gophers. All the properties around here are infested with them. It's mostly sandy soil and the gophers love it. For about a year I went out nearly every morning very early with my LC Smith double barrel 16 guage and most mornings would find a hill being freshly dug. I'd wait a minute or so til the critter pushed up some more dirt and I'd pop him with bird shot. In a year's time I got about 70 confirmed kills. This doesn't count the many that I must have wounded and they crawled back down and died. If I miss them they would come back and fill in the tunnel. If the tunnel was never closed up I know I got him.
Anyway, just over a year ago I found a great trap on eBay called the Gophinator. I bought four of them. I've trapped about 140 in the past year. Anytime I've put a trap into a tunnel I've pulled out a gopher. If you dig down into a fresh mound a bit you'll find that the tunnel splits off two ways, sometimes three. You have to put a trap in each tunnel.
The two and a half acres around our house is virtually gopher free. If a new mound pops up it's easy to spot so I'll set my traps and have a gopher within an hour or so. The neighbors comment that I must be driving the varmits over to their properties. I go weeks now without seeing a mound.
The traps don't give you the instant satisfaction you get with a shotgun but it's sure fire. Just set the traps and come back later. Done deal.

 

[laurencen]

Hi Kenster, how are you covering the hole you dug after placing the traps

 

[Kenster]

Hi Kenster, how are you covering the hole you dug after placing the traps

Lauren, I never cover the hole. I stick the traps as far down the tunnel as I can reach. I leave it open because I think the light and the air lets the critters know that someone left the door open, so they go to investigate... I get 'em every time. I did tie a two foot leader to the trap made of thin, woven cable, then I tied a fairly long piece of heavy string to that and loop the string around a dowel I stick into the ground as an anchor so they won't get snagged and pull my trap into the tunnel. The metal cable keeps them from chewing through it in the very unlikely event that they don't die almost instantly from the trap.