Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints central Idaho gophers

Yesterday was a good day in the mountains of central Idaho, the temperature was 65, the sun was shining, the sky was blue, and there was not a breath of wind.

So far this year we had not seen any gophers up but with weather like this I did not see how they could resist being up. About 2:30 in the afternoon my favorite gopher shooting partner (my wife) and I headed for our local gopher patch. At first it looked a little bleak, we finally found a couple out in the sage brush and she got the first two kills of our season, both one shot kills. In another hour of so we found some around the edges of the hayfields, by about 5 we had 15 between us, by then the temps were starting to drop and that ended the day.

Not a great day as far as numbers but it felt good to be back out on the hunt again and enjoying the good times with my hunting partner.

Unfortunately that will be about it for another week or so if the weatherman's predictions are correct.

drover

Drover: Glad you and the Mrs. got out together and got a few.
Yeah its raining here in SW Montana as well and predictions for more.
Were you all using rimfires or centerfires?
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

We were using custom sporter 10/22's,that I built,for most of the shots. I could not resist pulling out the Cooper 222 sporter for a few 200 yard shots though. I really enjoy shooting them with a centerfire - love the "hang time".

Yep! It is pouring here now, it looks like the weatherman was right, and it does appear to be heading your way.

It is just as well that the weather went sour, it it were sunny and nice I would not be able to resist going out again, I know that most of the ones that are up now are the males but still it is too easy to get greedy early on and pay for it later.

good shooting - drover

Up here in Alberta Canada they are just starting to move. I shot my first two on snowbanks on March 14. They have a winter storm warning out for my area today so it will be a few more days before there are enough out for a good days shooting.

I have friends in southern and central Alberta and Sask and they are anxious to get out too. They are reporting seeing a few but they say that generally the weather has just not co-operated.

This is the earlier than usual for them to be up around our area, although we do sometimes catch out on the snowbanks on a bright, warm winter day.

What part of Alberta are you in? I spend a lot of time in Alberta, BC, and sometimes Sask during the summer, competing in rifle matches,and of course some gopher shooting if it is the right time of year and the weather is co-operative.

Welcome to the forum.

good shooting - drover

Sat. was a great day for gopher's around here (or so my son and his buddy's tell me). It was sunny and 65 for most of the day but did end up raining toward evening. They figured they got 40 or so which wasn't bad for the 2 hrs they were out. My boss had us build 80 bait station's and had us put them out a week ago so it should take a toll on them, but there are so many gopher's and local rancher's love to have you come shoot them that it will still be a good year for shoot'in. We have 4- .17 HMR'S, 2- 10/22'S, 2- 22LR bolt action's, 1- Nylon 66 22lr, and 2- 22 pistol's for gopher gun's and a 22-250 for long range dog's. What's nice is my boss buy's all the 22lr and .17 HMR ammo for shooting off his property. It should be a good year for ground rat's.

Yep, I had two freinds out yesterday in the good weather in west-central Montana, they figured they got about 350, and thought like you...should be a good year!
Ingwe

Drover, I live in East Central Alberta, near Hardisty. We had freezing rain and about four inches of snow today so I expect the gophers will keep their heads tucked down for a few more days.

I do not recall that I have been to Hardisty but I have been very close. I have shot smallbore silhouette at Stettler, and the BPCR 1000 yard Buffalo match near Donaldo.

I have also shot quite a few gophers just north of Stettler at a good friends farm - lots of gophers around there. Nice country, I like your area a lot.

We will probably spend a couple of days at Stettler in June on our way to Whitehorse, Yukon for the Canadian National silhouette championships. That is unless fuel prices go up, and the U.S. dollar exchange goes up again like they did last year. Whitehorse is right at 2500 miles one-way for us - mega dollar trip pulling a camp trailer, but pulling a trailer is still cheaper than flying, renting a car, paying for a hotel room in Whitehorse.

good shooting - drover