Gophers

Theirs only one way to know for sure other then blasting them to if you got them. Catch them in a trap. I use a trap called the "Black Hole". looks like a piece of black plastic pipe with an opening in one end. You place it down in the hole and bait the other end with a carrot. When the Gopher goes in to get the carrot he trips a wire and gets strangled. It usually works nine times out of ten.

Sometimes a smart gopher will sense something is wrong and back fill.
That's when it's time to bring out the heavy artillery. I take out my shop vac, put some water in the bottom of it (to prevent it from melting) and place a shallow pan with some weight in it. Then light off a few gopher gas sticks in the pan. Attach the hose to the exhaust part of the vac and punch it down the hole. You will see gas coming up out of the ground where ever the tunnels are close to the surface. ( watch the dogs reaction, it's hilarious )

If you just light them and drop them in the tunnel the gas will not travel fast enough and the gopher will back fill to stop the gas from filling his tunnel. The push from the vac has a better chance of filling his tunnels and hopefully getting a nest if their is one.

I also dug a hole about 2' x 2' where I planted each pumpkin seed hill and double lined it with chicken wire in hopes that the gophers will not be able to chew through it.

So far this year,  Two kills. ( not counting the skunks ).

Bob T.
Torrance Ca.

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