I need to commit mass gopher murder. I’ve lost two trees out of seven to the little bastards, a grafted dolgo and a chestnut on dolgo.
I have gopher hawk traps but I think my problem is larger than that. I’ve also got some of the poison gas bombs. Have any of you had luck with the pellet poison you put in their burrows?
Looked up a few youtube post about fighting gophers. 3 prong attack. Gasing, traps, n poison. You sure they gophers and not voles. Put a piece of plywood down and open it a week later. See how many voles you got. You dig up the trees and look at the roots? Poison under pieces of plywood make great vole bait stations.
Assuming base of tree areas are clear of weeds.
May need to gopher guard the trees buried fencing or something like that.
Thought there was something to repel the gophers too besides kill them.
not sure if the root treatment of immacloprid effects gophers or not. Systemmaxx pesticide.
Did some homework on it 2 or 3 years ago when I started planting trees. I did not spray around plum trees in 2017 and voles got to them bad.
Buy some gravel with sharp edges and mix it with your soil around the tree about a foot to foot and a half down. It deters critters from digging. There are tree guards for gophers you can get. Like WSU said keeping it mowed and open deters them too. They mention owl boxes too, might be more for voles.
Dont ammend the soil, it makes it easier for them to dig. MAybe you can handle them like woodchucks. I used to have a garbage can with a hose and a 12v blower fan. Fill it up with stuff to make smoke, smoke em out n shoot them. USed ot hunt them like bunny rabbits with a shotgun or small rifle once the weasel pops out. Farmer would trade dead woodchucks for doe tags. First time using that method I had somewhere around 25 in one day. Cows break their legs sometimes from the holes. Used to fill the holes with stone too.
MY oldest got a picture of an owl taking out a adult possum, so gopher might be on the menu for them too.
Pocket gophers for sure. I’ve caught them with the gopher hawk. The damage is below ground level. I use 3x3’ weed mats and mow low around them and the cage. Aluminum window screen is used and buried about 3” below the surface. I’ve got the tell tale pocket gopher mounds.
I’m planning to keep trapping and add poison to the routine on regular. It’s maddening.
I use the DK 1 gopher traps the minute I see a mound pop up. Many YouTube videos out there. Find the travel holes and set the trap inside the hole. I spray the trap with wd40, not sure why that works but it does. Once the trap is set, cover the trap/hole with grass. Most of the time I only get one per mound.
I use the DK 1 gopher traps the minute I see a mound pop up. Many YouTube videos out there. Find the travel holes and set the trap inside the hole. I spray the trap with wd40, not sure why that works but it does. Once the trap is set, cover the trap/hole with grass. Most of the time I only get one per mound.
Might be some sort of saltiness to it. That stuff and wood stains attracts porcupines to whatever wood it is on. Been a long time since I heard about this, but fishermen used to use wd40 as a scent additive to lures. I use it alot on flintlocks because I have to clean with water to get the sulfur out of the barrel. A frien of mine's boat drowned in a hurricane. Luckily he remove the battery before the storm and only had the bilge pump hooked to it. Unwater the motor, drowned it in wd40 and worked fine afterwards for years.
Several places up north have a bounty on gophers - up to $5 - and some utility companies may match - the gophers chew up fiber optics. I lived in MN back in the 60’s as a youngster - got 25 cents for pocket gophers and a nickel for 13 lined ground squirrels. Good money back then for a 12 yr old.
My brother-in-law claims he got paid a dime for the ears off a gopher while his freind in the adjacent county got paid for the tail. They went into biz together and were double dipping in their early days. lol
My brother-in-law claims he got paid a dime for the ears off a gopher while his freind in the adjacent county got paid for the tail. They went into biz together and were double dipping in their early days. lol
My township made us bring in the front feet off pocket gophers when I was a kid. My mom was not fond of my jar of gopher feet that I kept in the freezer.
Wife's uncle has a set up that pushes gas of some sort down the holes. Let it go for a while and hit the igniter. Waited too long to hit the igniter once. He won't do that again. Shook the ground and smoke was coming out of about 20 holes all over.
Wife's uncle has a set up that pushes gas of some sort down the holes. Let it go for a while and hit the igniter. Waited too long to hit the igniter once. He won't do that again. Shook the ground and smoke was coming out of about 20 holes all over.
