Gophers

[MPHSystems]

In my neighborhood, they just move up and down the street, lately they are at my house. How do you kill those fucking things? I‘m not interested in putting a lot of effort into it and unfortunately this is illegal in california.

 

[t&y]

How, I pay a guy... lol. Neighbors don't do anything about it, so there is an ongoing issue. They will go after roots of plants and grass, so if you are not going to use your land for anything, my suggestion is soak it thoroughly then compact the shit out of it. That is what I did in the area of my backyard that we are leaving as parking, dirt, etc. We have not had any goffer issues after we went that route in the unused area. They still popup from time to time in the grass and our pest control guy is all over them. Gone within a day.

 

[DLC]

I have a little system that I use a mix of flooding, road flares and poison!

my neighbors don’t do a ton to help the issue.

my brother uses traps and is successful …. He gets to see the dead body! I usually don’t see anything but no more activity

 

[Dunerking]

Get a Black Box…it was the only real way I was able to get them out.

 

[MPHSystems]

Get a Black Box…it was the only real way I was able to get them out.

Black box?


Did an airplane crash in your front yard?

 

[Nordie]

There was a pretty good thread on this maybe a year ago? It was pretty good and seemed informative.

Edit, I found it

Gopher eradication

Did a search in the lounge: Not much I know water doesn’t work. I’ve done road flares, .22 air rifle sniping , in ground traps I have about 1/4 acre I need to knock down on these bastards before spring. Neighbor has adjacent acre of open land and they burrow right into my yard Open to all...

www.riverdavesplace.com

 

[TimeBandit]

I have thrown in the towel when it comes to gophers.

They were there first, and will be thriving after I'm gone.

 

[Hoodoo]

Run your truck exhaust down the hole.

 

[TPC]

I was really good at it for decades then,,, failure.
I hire a service and they are 100% successful.

 

[4Waters]

Run your truck exhaust down the hole.

Pre 2008 Diesel yes, gas vehicles have been to clean since the late 90's, lawn mower exhaust is the ticket

 

[Taboma]

I think the key to this thread can be read in MPH System's 2nd sentence ---- " I‘m not interested in putting a lot of effort into it "
If that's the case, then hire somebody.

From my lengthy experience with gophers, there's no end to the money you can throw away on products that claim to be as EZ as dropping a gas bomb down the hole. Or Sonic vibrators, go ahead, try them all, they're as EZ as pulling cash from your wallet and are about as equally effective.

OR, buy a few different styles of traps, and make killing the bastards a fun and most gratifying hobby.
The amount of success is pretty much equal to the amount of dedication and effort.
I find it amazingly satisfying to quickly trap and extract a large fat-ass gopher from a tunnel.

I take selfies with the these miniature beavers. Although I admit, some of these big bruisers got old big because they're crafty and pros at avoiding being trapped.
I've finally got some kills after using three different style traps, re-set in different adjacent tunnels over a week's time.
When you get one of those, it's f*cking awesome and you earned the right to boast when you're swapping Gopher Killin Stories with your neighbor buds.

My most gratifying kill was chasing one around an excavation crater and finally stabbing the prick with a screwdriver, OMG I damn near got wood.

 

[Rondog4405]

Lil bastards have wrecked my lawn. I used to use the black box..but even with that you have to dig a big hole. My gophers have gotten wise to it. Used to get m everytime. Now they just pack dirt into the box everytime. Frustrating as hell! Might be time to pony up and call pro

 

[Done-it-again]

These work great.

 

[Taboma]

Pre 2008 Diesel yes, gas vehicles have been to clean since the late 90's, lawn mower exhaust is the ticket

The trick to successfully gassing them is ----- Carbon Monoxide is odorless, and will effectively kill them.
Diesel smoke stinks, will make them cough and burn their eyes, but long before they're dead, they will take about ten seconds, seal off the tunnel and flip you the bird.
Sure, you might toast a beer thinking they're dead because they disappear for a day or three, but not seeing them and being dead isn't the same.

So yes, a dirty running yard implement engine will have better odds of success. This of course assuming you get it in the right tunnel and in the right direction. This is why when setting traps, I make the effort to dig until I can locate the tunnels going both directions and set a trap in both.
Oh and the hole you see up top, that's not even the tunnel, that's a short offshoot and normally re-plugged from the main tunnel, to keep snakes out.

 

[Taboma]

These work great.


View attachment 1159842

I've had great success with those, if great care is used in forming the hole and setting them. Sometimes I leave the hole open, sometimes closed. But, often you'll find the entire excavation packed or filled to the brim, both traps untripped and that's demoralizing. That's when I bring out the Macabee, or other spring types that I insert far back in the tunnel. I also have had great luck with the Gophinator traps, but they require soft soil, so I use them more in the winter.

 

[lenmann]

I have really good luck for the 6 years since I moved to the country with the Cinch trap. The only digging needed is removing the plug from their mound hole.

https://www.amazon.com/Marking-Heavy-Duty-Reusable-Trapping-Resistant/dp/B00Q85AWZ4/ref=sr_1_2_sns_sspa?gclid=CjwKCAjw7eSZBhB8EiwA60kCW-uSHODWiece1HpDc2dZPXLm1W875UslJPXiHlfl0uma9LeL0c2_eRoCf84QAvD_BwE&hvadid=410045830540&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9032044&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=5049068107244173882&hvtargid=kwd-27706223631&hydadcr=22284_11243217&keywords=mole%2Bcinch%2Btrap&qid=1664724396&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIyLjI1IiwicXNhIjoiMi4wNSIsInFzcCI6IjIuMjIifQ%3D%3D&sr=8-2-spons&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFDTklFNEkwRVVTN04mZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTEwMDMwODlVR0lUVVZGVFU5UVMmZW5jcnlwdGVkQWRJZD1BMDE5MDA2ODNWRVcwTTkyREgxVVEmd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl&th=1

 

[MPHSystems]

My most gratifying kill was chasing one around an excavation crater and finally stabbing the prick with a screwdriver, OMG I damn near got wood.

You were doing great right up until the end here. I have to ask, is everything ok at home?

 

[spectra75]

Go to Pets Mart and buy a snake. Insert in gopher hole.

 

[Flatsix66]

https://www.amazon.com/GopherHawk-Trapping-Wedge-Probe-GH-SET/dp/B00KXE6RKK/ref=asc_df_B00KXE6RKK/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309778422879&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3360321967436863761&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031493&hvtargid=pla-568615870951&psc=1

 

[Taboma]

You were doing great right up until the end here. I have to ask, is everything ok at home?

Ummm, yeah, awesome, But you won't understand young grasshopper. You won't understand until you've killed a gopher at 74

 

[Icky]

Argon or another inert gas?

 

[Taboma]

I have really good luck for the 6 years since I moved to the country with the Cinch trap. The only digging needed is removing the plug from their mound hole.

https://www.amazon.com/Marking-Heavy-Duty-Reusable-Trapping-Resistant/dp/B00Q85AWZ4/ref=sr_1_2_sns_sspa?gclid=CjwKCAjw7eSZBhB8EiwA60kCW-uSHODWiece1HpDc2dZPXLm1W875UslJPXiHlfl0uma9LeL0c2_eRoCf84QAvD_BwE&hvadid=410045830540&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9032044&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=5049068107244173882&hvtargid=kwd-27706223631&hydadcr=22284_11243217&keywords=mole%2Bcinch%2Btrap&qid=1664724396&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIyLjI1IiwicXNhIjoiMi4wNSIsInFzcCI6IjIuMjIifQ%3D%3D&sr=8-2-spons&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFDTklFNEkwRVVTN04mZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTEwMDMwODlVR0lUVVZGVFU5UVMmZW5jcnlwdGVkQWRJZD1BMDE5MDA2ODNWRVcwTTkyREgxVVEmd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl&th=1

I watched a video on arming one and it seemed tricky, borderline risky, NO ?

 

[Taboma]

Lil bastards have wrecked my lawn. I used to use the black box..but even with that you have to dig a big hole. My gophers have gotten wise to it. Used to get m everytime. Now they just pack dirt into the box everytime. Frustrating as hell! Might be time to pony up and call pro

I think there's Pro's, the ones who are seriously gopher trappers and then there's Pest Control guys who also sell gopher eradication.
I've watched the guy my neighbor uses for generalized pest control in action. All he's doing is using is a baiting probe anybody can buy at Home Depot, to deposit poison bait that anybody can buy at Home Depot, with extremely limited success.
I've gotten strychnine laced poison grain out of Texas that I've used both a bait probe and or finding the tunnel and using a funnel to insert much larger amounts --- with SOME "Apparent" success, for awhile.
The problem is, you don't find any body, and after awhile mounds start reappearing. Then it seems it won't work at all. Yet I know the poison is still good, because I've set a small dish of it inside my BBQ and found a mouse dead, with his head still laying in the dish it worked so fast.

After about 30 years of gopher killin, what I do know is, these bastards are holding "Trap & Poison Avoidance" training seminars. Because like TPC above had posted, you can be a gopher trapper supreme, then suddenly find you can't trap one regardless of what you try.

 

[Instigator]

In my neighborhood, they just move up and down the street, lately they are at my house. How do you kill those fucking things? I‘m not interested in putting a lot of effort into it and unfortunately this is illegal in california.

A small engine, exhaust flex pipe and a stainless steel dog bowl.

Rodent Control | Glendale, AZ - Gopher Heaven

 

[TrollerDave]

You got to think like a gopher. Get into their head. Maybe look like one.
And add a little C4.

 

[Ziggy]

Poison, flares, smoke bombs, shovels, exhaust fumes and a dog, nothing worked with any lasting results.
Been on a monthly service now for a few years, they come once a month to inspect & treat property. I can call them back a day or two later if I see more activity, they will come back repeatedly as a follow-up.
Had a bad infestation earlier this summer in my Bermuda lawn that about drove me to the 5150 farm. My gopher tech set trap after trap arm deep into the tunnels and made it his mission to eradicate these vermin. He'd compliment the traps with some poison granules. 5+ total he caught. He'd stop by once or twice a week until the dirt piles stopped reappearing. Took about 3 weeks but 100% effective.
Good news is my lawn still had time to regrow & recover better than before in actuality.
If anyone wants a referral just ask, I beleave the company is out of Norco & has been very friendly.

 

[Taboma]

Poison, flares, smoke bombs, shovels, exhaust fumes and a dog, nothing worked with any lasting results.
Been on a monthly service now for a few years, they come once a month to inspect & treat property. I can call them back a day or two later if I see more activity, they will come back repeatedly as a follow-up.
Had a bad infestation earlier this summer in my Bermuda lawn that about drove me to the 5150 farm. My gopher tech set trap after trap arm deep into the tunnels and made it his mission to eradicate these vermin. He'd compliment the traps with some poison granules. 5+ total he caught. He'd stop by once or twice a week until the dirt piles stopped reappearing. Took about 3 weeks but 100% effective.
Good news is my lawn still had time to regrow & recover better than before in actuality.
If anyone wants a referral just ask, I beleave the company is out of Norco & has been very friendly.

Yup, that's the kind of dedication it really takes, to mount a successful knock-down. Problem is, you can do that, but when your neighbor is offering sanctuary, it's not long before a new generation are seeking their own territory. So the fun starts anew.

 

[Ziggy]

You got to think like a gopher. Get into their head. Maybe look like one.
And add a little C4.

I tried that, lol. Then I read about how extensive their tunnel network was & that is when I decided to let the pros take over.

 

[Ziggy]

Yup, that's the kind of dedication it really takes, to mount a successful knock-down. Problem is, you can do that, but when your neighbor is offering sanctuary, it's not long before a new generation are seeking their own territory. So the fun starts anew.

Lol, yeah, I tried the flooding methed a few times & succeeded in creating a waterfall in my neighbors yard

 

[lenmann]

I watched a video on arming one and it seemed tricky, borderline risky, NO ?

Definitely a technique but once you've done it a couple of times its pretty effortless. I trap on average 36 of the little bastards a year with these. I live on 10 acres and keep a 100 yard gopher free perimeter around the structures. Around here they are most active in the spring and fall so things are starting to pick up about now. I stuff the dead bodies back in the hole to send a message...

 

[stephenkatsea]

Had a somewhat surprising gopher problem when we lived in Port Hueneme. Just didn't expect them to be so prolific that close to the ocean. But, I was wrong. I tried the usual garden hose flooding, smoke bombs etc. Don't know if those methods did any good what so ever. We could actually hear them under the slab of our master bedroom. Wife didn't care much for that. I reverted to a couple of old style kill traps. Finally found one of those traps with the retrieve line pulled tight back into the hole. I carefully pulled on the line and the damned thing actually pulled back! Our Bassett Hound was going bananas. Got the dog out of the yard and began pulling on that line again. I finally pulled out the SOB. It was still very much alive. It was huge. Biggest damned gopher I'd ever seen. I killed him/her with a shovel. Took a few whacks. Kept it for a couple days, to show the neighbors, in a box away from our dog. This was King or Queen Gopher. Became a neighborhood celebrity for a few days due to its unbelievable size. That seemed to be the end of our gopher problem. Never saw or heard signs of any more. Perhaps the prior flooding and multiple gas bombs had gotten the others? And this was the last of the pack.

 

[VooDooChildZ28]

If yore a cheap ass get a couple gopher hawks from the hardware store. If not hire someone, ask for Omega

 

[Taboma]

Lol, yeah, I tried the flooding methed a few times & succeeded in creating a waterfall in my neighbors yard

My attempt on my sloped grove, seemed to never exit, until it finally broke through and left a muddy mess out in the street.

 

[Taboma]

If yore a cheap ass get a couple gopher hawks from the hardware store. If not hire someone, ask for Omega

Yup, got two, they work great when the soil is moist and soft enough.
Snagged one by the leg once, like the one StephenKbythesea wrote about, this big fat-ass wasn't going to pull out, so I had to dig around the Gopher Hawk. Finally got him out and he as PISSED. Shit head was trying to bite everything in reach. Had my wife grab a Homer bucket, filled it up and dropped him and the gopher hawk in. That solved his attitude problem.

 

[spectra75]

Get a cat from the pound.

 

[Mike K]

I tried everything and anything.
Electric beeping sound things
Gopher smoke bombs.
Tried to flush them out.
Used every possible every style trap.
Broken glass in the holes.
I could go on and on.
I did that for two years.
I finally hired a company that does it.
It worked.
I should have done that from the beginning because they are really really hard to get rid of them.
What I spent on the crap to get them … I coulda hired the company 3 times.

 

[n2otoofast4u]

I started a thread here a few years back asking the same thing. I finally hired a guy and his program worked. He was an ABSOLUTE ASSHOLE, so I fired his ass and went back at it on my own using some methods I learned from him.

1- don’t be afraid to dig, most likely you’re going to make a bit of a mess getting things figured out.

2- long, skinny shovel, and a probe are your friend!

I used these traps, I sharpened the tines, and would move the trigger back a bit to make them react faster. I had great success!

 

[DarkHorseRacing]

Get a cat from the pound.

And do not feed it. If it’s hungry point it’s nose at a gopher hole.

 

[chvynhra]

The gopher hawk is the only thing that works for me. I'm three for three with it.

 

[Flying_Lavey]

Run your truck exhaust down the hole.

Pre 2008 Diesel yes, gas vehicles have been to clean since the late 90's, lawn mower exhaust is the ticket

For a small fee and fuel I will bring my 200 Merc down and mix it fat. If the property is large enough to need 2 sources I can bring the KX500 as well. Lol!

 

[ka0tyk]

I went to home depot and bought a long "sump pump" plastic hose. Hooked that up to the truck and stuck the other end down the hole. I tried traps, baits, poisons, flooding with water, etc and they were too smart for any of that. My neighbor has paid guys to dig giant holes in their yard to plant posion and they still have em. Mine were gone after they got gassed. Just let the truck idle for like an hour and done. Saw it on youtube and figured id give it a try.

 

[Lunatic Fringe]

You guys are just doing it wrong.
Watch and learn...

 

[jet496]

I started a thread here a few years back asking the same thing. I finally hired a guy and his program worked. He was an ABSOLUTE ASSHOLE, so I fired his ass and went back at it on my own using some methods I learned from him.

1- don’t be afraid to dig, most likely you’re going to make a bit of a mess getting things figured out.

2- long, skinny shovel, and a probe are your friend!

I used these traps, I sharpened the tines, and would move the trigger back a bit to make them react faster. I had great success! View attachment 1159985

These work but I actually prefer the silver ones from Home Depot that look like these. Don't use the green ones. Guaranteed to get them if you simply find the right active hole.

I go around & stomp flat every hole & when I see where they are the next day, I carefully open it up & typically find two paths in there. I dig it out just enough to fit my fist in each side, set the traps a few inches in, tie a string to a flag, so they don't take off with the trap & can remember where it is..

Note that I have 2 acres that were infested. Zero now, with only a few popping up here & there. I get them every time. I had a gopher guy I used to pay show me because he hurt is back so showed me the tricks. One of which is DO NOT COVER THE HOLE BACK UP. Leave the dirt aside until you get them because keeping the hole open attracts them back to it because they want to fill it closed again. Don't like the draft or light.

 

[v6toy4x]

I hire the pest guy and he gasses them, about once a year. As mentioned I tried all the traps, flares etc spent a bunch then went with the pros!

 

[Taboma]

And do not feed it. If it’s hungry point it’s nose at a gopher hole.

My coyote pack supports that theory, recommends buying them by the dozen.

 

[Bear Down]

Poison, flares, smoke bombs, shovels, exhaust fumes and a dog, nothing worked with any lasting results.
Been on a monthly service now for a few years, they come once a month to inspect & treat property. I can call them back a day or two later if I see more activity, they will come back repeatedly as a follow-up.
Had a bad infestation earlier this summer in my Bermuda lawn that about drove me to the 5150 farm. My gopher tech set trap after trap arm deep into the tunnels and made it his mission to eradicate these vermin. He'd compliment the traps with some poison granules. 5+ total he caught. He'd stop by once or twice a week until the dirt piles stopped reappearing. Took about 3 weeks but 100% effective.
Good news is my lawn still had time to regrow & recover better than before in actuality.
If anyone wants a referral just ask, I beleave the company is out of Norco & has been very friendly.

What does that service run? im in upland and if you can share the info that would be great

 

[hallett21]

Fuck gophers lol

 

[Ziggy]

What does that service run? im in upland and if you can share the info that would be great

$67.20 .....was 60 last year

 

[wayniac]

The trick to successfully gassing them is ----- Carbon Monoxide is odorless, and will effectively kill them.
Diesel smoke stinks, will make them cough and burn their eyes, but long before they're dead, they will take about ten seconds, seal off the tunnel and flip you the bird.
Sure, you might toast a beer thinking they're dead because they disappear for a day or three, but not seeing them and being dead isn't the same.

So yes, a dirty running yard implement engine will have better odds of success. This of course assuming you get it in the right tunnel and in the right direction. This is why when setting traps, I make the effort to dig until I can locate the tunnels going both directions and set a trap in both.
Oh and the hole you see up top, that's not even the tunnel, that's a short offshoot and normally re-plugged from the main tunnel, to keep snakes out.

i had one of the little bastard push the damn poison gas sticks back up through the dirt... I have had success with the black box, and the gopher hawk. If i see them popping their head out of a whole, ill grab the hose and a bucket and toss them in the field with the hawks. They go pretty fast...

 

[Dunerking]

If I’m bored I’ll put out a radio and my air rifle and shot them along with those shitty ground squirrels. They both seem to like music!