The Art of Gopher Hunting

It was many years ago at our old house at the age of 10 that I began this sport. Gopher hunting was a useful occupation for father put a $2 bounty on the heads of these nasty critters that would dig up our pasture and eat our trees.

It started when we had our first flood irrigation day and the gophers were coming up everywhere to get out of the water. Mom said she got like 4! So, I carefully whittled a good point on my “gopher spear” and excitedly anticipated the next irrigation day.

2 weeks later the ditch was opened and the waters began to pour into the fields and I expectantly paced up and down looking for the “tons” of gophers that were supposed to be there- I couldn’t find any! After what seemed hours (but was probably only 30 minutes) I was hot and tired, but I didn’t give up. I decided to sit under an inviting tree and watch a likely looking patch of high ground with lots of fresh gopher activity.

After probably another 30 minutes I was starting to get bored and worried that the irrigation would go down and I would NEVER get one (remember I was 10)! So I started praying for a gopher and sure enough to my great delight a sopping wet gopher dragged itself out of a hole not 10 feet away from me!

Carefully, barely able to contain myself, I crept up on the bedraggled gopher and sprang upon it, thwacking it with my “spear”. But those gophers are tough and I actually broke it over its head before it stopped running! Proudly I carried my trophy to Dad (he said he had to see a body before he paid the bounty) and received my well earned $2.

After that I went hunting most every irrigation day; my tools got better too: next time I used a thick stick, then a hoe, and even tried my BB gun once! One time I got a very big, fat female, and upon showing it to Mom she casually commented that it looked pregnant- she regretted that because I instantly asked her if we could skin it and see! Reluctantly she agreed (after telling me I’d do the next one) and we found she was pregnant with 4! So I got $10 for that one because life begins at conception!

I also skinned a  few, and still have those small pelts salted and stored away somewhere… I’ll get around to tanning them someday… The only tanning solution we have ever used was on a goat hide and it was actually pretty easy and affordable; this is what we used.

At our current residence we don’t have flood irrigation though, but still have lots of gophers and an even bigger garden and orchard- so I’ve had to use a different tactic. After thorough research Dad bought traps like these from Amazon.

It has taken me awhile, but I think I have figured it out by now because I can catch a gopher pretty reliably now and have probably caught around 30!

Here is how to successfully operate one of these gopher traps:

• First tie it with a long line (I used baling twine) to a pointed stake. Those gophers will bury your trap if it isn’t done right and it is nice to be able to just pull it out. Not only that, I always forget where I set it up and it is easier to see a stake than a buried trap!
  
  

  Tie the twine to the stake.

  

  Tie the twine securely to the trap.
• Find and dig out a mound. When setting your trap look for a nice fresh mound and dig it out till you find the tunnels. A good digging dog can help you find the entrance, otherwise, occasionally I just can’t find it! You have to go deep or else the  gophers will just kick dirt over it and ignore it. I dig till I find two tunnels and pick one and dig it out enough to stick the trap way back there.
  
  

  A fresh gopher hill

  

  Lady digs it out

  

  Find and widen the tunnel
• Set your trap! It actually took me awhile to figure out how to do this step, and to build up the hand strength! But I finally got the hang of it. The stake makes a handy lever too. Here is a helpful video.
  
  

  Lift the catch bar

  

  Pin the jaws under the catch bar

  

  Then insert the end in the hole of the plate (Very bottom of picture)

  

  Leveraging against a board helps if you don’t have the hand strength/trick to set your trap at first.
• Position in tunnel. This is where the skill comes in: you have to put it in far enough that the gopher will unwittingly walk into it, and this can be hard if your soil is very rocky because you have to enlarge the tunnel to fit the trap.
  
  

  Try not to trip the trap when putting it in!

  

  Then put it as far down the tunnel as possible.
• Wait for it! I generally make my trap rounds every morning (except Sundays), and if I’ve set them right I will usually catch 2-3 gophers with my 4 traps. When I catch one I give it to my dog who dug out the hole for me, then move the trap to a different location.

  

Using these traps I have been able to keep the orchard and garden area fairly gopher free! And I still enjoy going gopher hunting with my dog.

Isaiah 5:1b-2a   …My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: ² And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes…

~Ann