[schreib]

I have lots of gopher hills and have never trapped one before. I bought two traps and have not tried them yet because the number of hills is outright daunting!

Today I took my JD445 garden tractor, 53" deck and a 45" wide Swisher pull behind finishing deck to a small field of weeds and grasses 15 to 20" high in some places, mullen, you name it. I had to stop. I only made one long winding path around some of the gopher hills, with the 445 deck fully up(but blades running) and the pull behind up nearly as high as it would go. I still hit most of the gopher hills in the path and killed the pull behind mower once-- 12HP motor, 3 blades. Lots of dust.
Just not sure what to do?!
Looking for options here:
-- forget about killing all the gophers and plant some sort of tree that may grow in nearly 100% sand field. But . . . what? What kind of tree or anything will grow. I notice lots of weeds and a few grasses, cedar bushes, sumac, mullen, are growing. None are thriving.
-- try to kill the gophers. OK, How to kill that many? Any broadcast pellet method to kill the whole field full instead of one at a time?!

-- Hire someone with a big JD tractor and plow it all up; land plane it flat. . .?? Other ideas? What about all the gophers, they will just make more hills and mess. . .??

Size of field is about 4 Ac gravel path on two sides, swamp / pond on another, woods on other.

 

[rydplrs]

I had to trap and or kill about 10 groundhogs 3 years ago. It took 3-4 weeks to get them all.

I just had my first once since then, and even with a solid hit he ran off. I’ll be battling offspring next year I’m pretty sure.

 

[dixie460]

I don't have gopher problems so no experience with them, but can you get some buddies together to shoot em all?

 

[RadarDon]

Throw a bunch of moth balls in their holes. They'll move on.

 

[Technova]

I don't have gopher problems so no experience with them, but can you get some buddies together to shoot em all?

I shot 37 one year off my ZTR with a single shot 410. Never had much of a problem after that.
Sidebar, I used to mow with a Farmall Cub and they could always outrun me by about 10 feet.
I got the ZTR and figured I could mow them down at the faster speed, They still ran 10 feet in front of me as
if taunting me. They did not outrun the shotgun.

 

[rtgt]

To start with, how many gophers do you have around your property on neighboring property?

If they have them as bad as you do you will need to make a joint effort at getting rid of them.

My preference would be to start the removal using high velocity lead poisoning if you have a safe direction to shoot. Sounds like a perfect excuse to get a 17HMR.

 

[Bootheal]

You will not be disappointed in the 17 HMR.

Don’t have gophers but groundhogs have turned into a great sport!. Lots of cows so line of sight is important and yes, they almost always get back to the hole (not all). Just amazing critters. Stealthy, good hearing, I think good eye sight. For me, when they start heading to the hole, I’m done for a few hours.

 

[schreib]

I had to trap and or kill about 10 groundhogs 3 years ago. It took 3-4 weeks to get them all.

I just had my first once since then, and even with a solid hit he ran off. I’ll be battling offspring next year I’m pretty sure.

Yeah, groundhogs are easy. Gophers are harder. . . for me at least!

 

[schreib]

I shot 37 one year off my ZTR with a single shot 410. Never had much of a problem after that.
Sidebar, I used to mow with a Farmall Cub and they could always outrun me by about 10 feet.
I got the ZTR and figured I could mow them down at the faster speed, They still ran 10 feet in front of me as
if taunting me. They did not outrun the shotgun.

Interesting, groundhogs around here make holes under my firewood pile not middle of field.

 

[schreib]

You will not be disappointed in the 17 HMR.

Don’t have gophers but groundhogs have turned into a great sport!. Lots of cows so line of sight is important and yes, they almost always get back to the hole (not all). Just amazing critters. Stealthy, good hearing, I think good eye sight. For me, when they start heading to the hole, I’m done for a few hours.

I checked out the 17 HMR. Looks pretty dang good.
I have actually run down groundhogs and nailed them with my 50 yr old 22 from a few yards.
When is best time to hunt gophers with this 17 HMR? Do I need night vision too?!

 

[Festus]

I've seen products that are similar to road flares.. ignite and stuff down the hole. Gasses 'em.

 

[Treefarmer]

I had to trap and or kill about 10 groundhogs 3 years ago. It took 3-4 weeks to get them all.

I just had my first once since then, and even with a solid hit he ran off. I’ll be battling offspring next year I’m pretty sure.

Maybe not. I've had a lot of groundhogs run to the hole and die there. Back in the days when there was a bounty on them, I'd either use some barbed wire or cut a branch and pull them out. Hey, that was 50 cents- big money!

 

[5shank]

This year has been excellent for chuck hunting at the farm and rifle range. Got 2 last week at the range while breaking in a barrel. The real trick is placing your shot so your target has enough left to make it back to their hole, no shovel needed!

 

[Treefarmer]

It's going to be a lot easier to see and shoot the gophers if the grass is shorter so I would start at the edge and cut in as much as you can.

 

[rtgt]

When is best time to hunt gophers with this 17 HMR? Do I need night vision too?!

This might be a good read for you.

Gopher Hunting Tips and Techniques (long) - Varmint, Small Game and Hog Hunting


As to night vision...., for the money I'd just get the best scope you can. Second thing I'd opt for would be a suppressor.

 

[Treefarmer]

This might be a good read for you.

Gopher Hunting Tips and Techniques (long) - Varmint, Small Game and Hog Hunting


As to night vision...., for the money I'd just get the best scope you can. Second thing I'd opt for would be a suppressor.

Interesting article. Very different than groundhogs.

 

[Kbar]

I use a couple methods for moles

MOLECAT - The Best Way to Get Rid of Moles, Gophers, Ground Squirrels and Rats

Are you wanting to get rid of burrowing pests? MOLECAT is more efficient than a trap - it kills instantly, safely, and humanely with a percussive blast. MOLECAT can also be used to get rid of yard pests like voles, shrews, rats, squirrels and snakes. Actual Size: 7.25 x 1 3/4

www.molecat.com

And I regularly use this

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/victor-poison-peanuts-pellets-m6006

I don’t know about gophers but both applications say they work on them also

 

[arlen]

1 gopher can throw up allot of mounds! If you catch 2 or 3 in an area you will see a huge difference. We used to be overrun with pocket gophers, but we started trapping them and now the yard an pastures are pretty much gopher free. Whenever we see a mound, we catch him in a couple days. We probably only catch 4 or 5 a year now.
Only bother with fresh mounds, use a little garden shovel to open the hole up a little, take a steel rod to find the direction of the run, and open that up enough to get the trap in there. Then cover the hole with some grass and weeds. A little light showing through is good. Mister gopher will come to repair the damage when he sees the light.
Stake your trap good or a coyote will dig out the gopher and run away with the gopher and your trap.

 

[Technova]

Sounds like a perfect excuse to get a 17HMR.

I have two 17HMR, great caliber.
Be careful on flat ground, bullets will skip at low angles.in short grass such as a lawn.
Amazing how much more power it has over a 22 or 22 mag, dented my steel 22 targets

 

[schreib]

Well guys, I have lots of great ideas here:
-- planting pine trees and ignore the buggers
-- poison peanuts and the "molecat"
-- shotgun at 6 to 10 ft(referenced in Gopher Hunting Tips and Techniques (long) - Varmint, Small Game and Hog Hunting)
-- excuse to buy another gun-- 17HMR
My plan now:
In front of my deck I may just wait around dusk and sit off 10 ft and shotgun some of the buggers, probably use some more poison peanuts(done so in the past) and buy a molecat too!
In the far field I may just plant pines!
Thanks for all the great suggestions. The Gopher Hunting Tip ref. was very interesting to read.