I'm having a slight gopher problem at my house. The cats and dog are doing their share to keep the gophers in check, but I wanna get in the action.Plus, due to safety concerns regarding the children & pets, I don't want to use poison.

When is the best time of day to hunt gophers?
What can I use to bait them out into the open?
I'm planning to use my 10/22, eventhough I live out in the boonies.

Thanks for the help.

Paul

Get up high.  Use a .50 BMG "bunker buster" to take out the little vermin underground where they live and breed! [:)]

okay this won't get them out into the open but is does work. First get a pack of juicy fruit gum. Next while wearing an old pair of garden gloves carefully dig out where the mound is with an old garden trowel until you can see the tunnel.  Put the juicy fruit in the tunnel.  put a rock blocking the tunnel that comes up so when you cover the hole back up it does not cover the gum.  The gophers eat the gum and it stops them up and they die. The "old" gloves and trowel are so the tunnel still smells like dirt.  Hope it works for you.

Pick a warm, sunny day when they'll be out to sun themselves.  In the spring, the younger ones will stay together around the holes, my uncle has had a lot of sucess with a .410 from the pickup window like this.  If you can whistle like they do, or reproduce the sound somehow, you'll have better luck getting them out.  They can't resist standing straight up and answering!  I can't remember for sure, but I think they're cannibals as well (stops tunnel pluggage for those that die underground).  If you move from a spot where you killed a few, come back later to check for more.


If you want something different and fun for the kids try this; Take a fishing rod and tie a slipknot in the end of the line.  Place the slipknot around the hole, using small rocks to keep the loop on the ground around the opening.  Back-off with plenty of line (40ft+ in open country) and whistle (high pitched, even tone, half second on, 4 sec+ off.  You know, like they do!!)  When he pops-up, jerk the rod back and you'll suck him right out of the hole!!!  Keep reeling real fast and he shouldn't get away.  Have a pair of welding gloves for grabbing them, they can bite damn hard and carry disease.

I did this for a neighbor in town that had a gopher problem.  He was one of those guys who had the imaculate lawn.  He tried poisons with no luck.  I was 12-13 at the time and he laughed while I was setting up.  You should have seen his jaw hit the ground when I arced that gopher from his backyard to mine!!

Freeze Gopher!