Rooster, are you 100% sure they are gophers and not moles? Moles are far more common (and not as destructive as they appear).
Well..since I have not been to J Elky's house to observe first hand, I can't answer that with 100% accuracy.
I can tell you this. If it's pushing up dirt mounds in the lawn and garden that are a about as big around as pizza pan, its a pocket gopher. Their tunnels are closed. You have to poke around the mound with a stake (I used rods off of old potato diggers with one end cut off so its straight) until the rod/stake falls through the top soil easily. This is the tunnel. You can either use pan traps and cover the tunnel back up or death grip traps and leave the tunnel open. When they come pushing a load of dirt to close the hole, they walk through the open jaws and trigger the trap. With pan traps, you dig a trap bed so the open jaws are the same height as the tunnel floor. Then sift dirt over the trap being careful not to get too much under the pan. Stake your trap chain outside the hole and cover the hole with a board, piece of tin or a large rock and seal the edeges with dirt so no light can get in. Sometimes, if the wood has a peculiar smell to it, the gopher will plug your trap tight. They will do the same if they feel your trap before stepping on the pan.
Last edited by Rooster7; 05/27/13.
The deer hunter does not notice the mountains
"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve" - Isoroku Yamamoto
There sure are a lot of America haters that want to live here...
