We have several acres and a lot of gophers. They push up my daffodils every year. I plant 700 a year. They destroy the tree roots and cause a lot of trouble for me.
I tried gasing them, poisoning them, and using all the fancy gopher traps on the market with zero luck. I found these traps and in two weeks time, (with 3 days of snow so I wasn't trapping daily) I trapped 22 gophers by myself. I am 72 years old. I use a screwdriver to set my traps and wear a heavy leather glove on the hand that's using the screwdriver. Sometimes I over-set the trap if I see I am trapping large gophers. I check my traps daily mid mornings. Note: Our gophers are not active when it rains or snows. I learned this the hard way.
My trapping method if anyone is interested: I start trapping in early spring and continue trapping through fall in CA. I
use a narrow shovel with a point and look or dirt that has a circle in it. I think those are future air holes but that tell me where they are at that moment. Do Not dig where I see mound of dirt. Look for those circles. You will know them when you see them. I take my shovel and if the dirt is loose, I can feel it with the tip of [he shovel. I then shovel 2 scoops of dirt going about 8 inches down. I should see the gopher hole or holes. I use construction knee pads from Amazon so it's
comfortable. IF I see 2 holes, I will double trapb one trapin each hole. These have always produced success!
Next I have lime green and bright orange teachers I tie tightly to the back of each trap. Because each trap is expensive I ordered a copper tag with our address on it. Coyotes and foxes will pull them out and take the traps with them so I use tent stakes and tie the teathers into the ground. I have a military 'gopher' bag to carry my hand spade, my little hammer which doubles as my gopher "bop them on the head" if they're still alive and trapped. Anyway back to the copper address tag. That tag is attached to thin coated wiring that comes in a spool. The wire with the address tag is also tied to the back of the trap. I also have stakes with colorful pieces of thin plastic that you can see where the traps have been set the day before. The last item I use besides latex gloves and rubber gloves, sunglasses, a good hat, my knee boots, 2 bottles of bottled water, Kleenex, and the aforementioned construction knee pads are white golf tees. I place 3 tees above the actual gopher hole that I have opened up. Our gophers holes do not go straight back. Rather they veer left or right. I guess that keeps the wind from blowing directly into the hole? Anyway, I dig as far back as my arm will allow. Then I use a long screwdriver to make SURE the hole is good meaning that the screwdriver doesn't hit solid dirt. If all is good, I set the trap SLOWLY as far in as possible. I push and pull the trap gently in place to sink the bottom of the trap into the dirt and cover the hole or holes with clumps of dirt over the opening so it is dark inside the hole with no daylight or air coming into the hole. The last thing I do is place 1 white golf tee telling myself this is the first time I have trapped this hole. If I come up empty the next day when checking, I will replace the trap and place 2 tees. I stop if I didn't trap anything the 2nd time as that tells me that the tunnel is not active at this time.
Tip: I leave my bright orange or
yellow teathers loosely above the ground. The next day when checking each trap I will see if my lanyards or teathers are taught. I know I've successfully trapped a gopher underground.
I will also place 2 golf tees with 2 lanyards or teathers that tell me I placed a double trap underground. I have never lost a trap and somes I will double stake my traps so animals don't run off with them. I hope readers enjoyed my Gopher Girl's trapping methods. I love these traps!!! Pardon my typos.
