I hate gophers! The little S.O.B.s don’t do anything useful as far as I can tell and are down right destructive in my yard. I have done battle with the little buggers and while I can win a particular battle, they seem to be winning the war…
I’ve had them in the back yard off and on for the better part of three years. They first appeared in the yard probably 8 or 9 years ago, but I was able to drive them out with a couple of the “sonic spikes.” But for whatever reason, about three years ago, the spikes seemed to have no effect on them. Additionally, instead of entering the yard from the back which abuts a large empty field, they came in through a neighbors yard. So they circumvented whatever wall of sound there was.
Being fed up with the onslaught, I decided it was time to start trapping them. So in early October I set the traps. Within a couple of days no luck, so I moved the traps. Bingo! October 13th see you later…
What kind of traps? I use pincer traps that go in the tunnel. You can buy a pair for around $15 at the hardware store. Sweeneys 9013 Gopher Trap, 2-Pack
About six weeks later, towards the end of December, a new gopher decided it was his turn to tear up the yard. After the second mound appeared, in went the traps and on New Year’s day, number two is history.
Here we are six weeks later and another decides it’s time to tear up the yard. I set the traps and after two days, he’d managed to set the traps off without so much as a scratch… Not sure if he was extra smart or just lucky, but he was pushing a mound of dirt which gave him enough distance from the trigger to the jaws that all I ever got was a big old dirt clod. In fact the second time I tried to retrieve the trap, I only got the wire… The ring that I’d attached to the wire pulled apart and all I got was the wire. Off to the hardware store to buy more traps. The little bugger made such a mess of the yard that instead of just lowering the traps in by hand I decided to do some digging. Using a standard shovel I dug down. I found three tunnels leading from the hole that I’d dug. I also found the trap that had disappeared earlier. It was probably only 6 or 8 inches beyond where I’d placed it. I put a trap in each of the tunnels. When I went into what appeared to be a single tunnel I found out that it was actually a “Y” junction so I placed a trap in each of the parts of the “Y”. Since it was such a big hole, I didn’t want to fill it in and dig it up to check it so instead, I covered it with some old plywood and scrap of carpet to make it reasonably dark.
There are conflicting opinions as to whether you should make it completely dark, or “a little” light. Thought is whether to not tip your hand -OR- to allow just enough light for them to want to repair the damage. Too much light and they’re on to you, they just stay away…
I checked the traps after two days. One was full of dirt, one had been sprung and their were bits of fur and some blood on the jaws, but no gopher. This was slightly satisfying. (Don’t you know that I know exactly what Bill Murray’s character in Caddy Shack felt like?)
I also bought and installed a new “sonic spike” P3 International P7911 Sol Mate Solar Powered Mole & Gopher Chaser this one says that it has nearly twice the range of the previous one I had. It runs on “D” cells as opposed to “C” cells for roughly the same amount of time, so that makes sense that it can ensonify a larger area. I saw a new mound so I didn’t check the traps for about three days. When I finally did check them, I scored. This one had been snagged on a shoulder rather than around the neck. Probably because the tunnel was so big around he was on the edge of it, rather than center line when he tripped the trap.
They’ve all been about the same size, weighing in at between 13 and 15 ozs and you can see their length in the photos with the ruler. I prefer the trap to poisons for a couple of reasons:
- I get to see that I was successful
- No worries about unintended critters like dogs, cats or kids eating the stuff
I have tried the smoke bombs, but as extensive as their tunnel network is, doubt I could light enough of them to get the gas concentration high enough to do any good. Same thing with water. They’re pretty clever about creating and plugging tunnels. Unless I could get the hose right in the actual “den” area I doubt it would ever be successful.
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6
This was another dumb one and I believe young. The jaws of the trap closed around the gophers torso and in fact ripped through it just in front of the hind legs. Not going to weigh it…
They’re back again. This is getting really old! Seems early, shouldn’t they be giving me a couple of weeks to rest…
5
On the way to school with my Kindergartener I checked the traps. Lifting the first cover from the hole, I saw a sprung trap. Pulling it out and another one bites the dust! The gopher had managed to spring one of the other traps and didn’t touch the third.
They’re back… While rescuing a mallard duckling that was abandoned by it’s mom in our backyard I was making a trip into the house and noticed another hole. The traps went in at about 5pm…
4
This was a “dumb” one, it’s dead. Got home this evening and traps 1 & 2 were untouched. As they say, the third ones the charm… This female weighed in at 8 oz, will go up in a bit. 1 day shy of 5 weeks.
They’re back… My chair at the dinner table faces the back yard by looking out through a sliding glass door. I noticed an all too familiar mound of dirt in the back yard. My wife said yep, they were there this morning as she went out to walk our kindergartener to school. There were actually 4 holes, two new and two that were re-opened. I put in the traps right after dinner, one of the benefits of DST.