Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Hellbent on Gopher Revenge.

We call that a mole is these parts, just as you describe but with huge paws for digging.

I never saw these until I moved to Minnesota from Ohio. The ones up here have horizontal stripes running the lengh of their bodies. Someone told me they're actually "7 striped ground squirrels"? They're just gophers to me and make great targets for the .22 or the pellet guns.

Bases on thread title, I thought this was a movie review for the movie "Caddy shack".

Please do NOT let this guy get anywhere near Crane OR. or certain parts of southern ID. With his expertise and all time on his hands, he could be capable of wiping out whole populations of rats in these areas given enough time and enough string.

Here you go Paul.

What us Michiganders call a chipmunk or gopher.

1234mag - in these parts that is a 13 striper squirrel. Fairly easy to shoot be cause they come out and scoot around. Fairly predictable Pretty much the same with the 2 striper type we call Chipmunks.

Our gophers are pocket gophers. They stay underground in tunnels and only come just to the surface to push up those mounds - dirt from their tunnel excavation. Only once in 19 years have I been able to shoot one - was walking toward the shooting table with a .22lR in hand and one of the pesky devils came up in the hole to push some dirt - almost underfoot. Our control consists mostly of consistent trapping (starting early in Spring) and dropping poisoned pellets into high-traffic tunnels.

This guy is dealing with a true gopher, not ground squirrels.
However, it really doesn't matter what you call them locally. The squirrels by any name are still good targets and the gophers by any name are still miserable pests.

There seems to be quite a bit of confusion between gophers, ground squirrels, and chipmunks.

I think you are correct. Lots of local naming of troublesome little rodents.

I just came in from running the tunnel traps - only had three set (six traps - maybe seven if a complicated tunnel deal) and got two gophers - needed to re-set one spot. 66% overnight is not bad. These are truly pocket gophers according to every found web definition/photo/drawing. I simply detest their damage.

Naw, two different animals. At least what we call a gopher (salamander is local term) and a mole are different. Like you said, Mole has big front feet for digging, blind, and down here the tunnel is pushed up soil, along the top of the ground. You can see the pushed up tunnel several feet along the top of the ground.

The gopher makes a mound of dirt here and then over there.

This is what we have and call them striped gophers. Early spring you can drive around all day and pick them off with a .22. We also have have pocket gophers. I trapped hundreds of them as a kid and sold their front claws to the township. It was always interesting to see what you would find in their cheek pockets. Mostly grasses and seeds but sometimes you would find coins and other "people" stuff.

The one in the video looks like what we call a Flicker tail around here.