Dirt mound after mowing?

[dennishoddy]

I believe it’s a pocket gopher. If you look at the photo you can see roughly two lobes that make a heart shape. The top of the heart, the cleavage is at about 4-4:30 of the pile. The hole is under that part of the pile. Each lobe is made from either leg kicking soil out of the hole.
Most often the hole will branch out into a corridor, so you’ll have two holes.
Gotta dig down to those and trap each side. I wire all my traps in pairs and then just wrap it around a stake mid point of the wire to hold it.

I probe the ground to find the direction of the tunnel and use a large serving spoon to dig out the exit hole in the mound until finding the tunnel.
The secret to use the gophinator for me anyway is to enlarge the exit hole to twice the diameter so the gopher has to push a whole lot of dirt to fill it. I put the trap just under the surface into the enlarged hole with a wire attached to a substantial stake. After catching one, just pull it out, and backfilll the hole with the dirt mound the dirt the gopher already has on the ground. Much less damage to the lawn vs digging a hole and using two traps.
I’m 100% on this method. Don’t have a count but I’ve trapped one a week or more for 30 years we lived here.
I use a wire and substantial stake because coyotes cruise our yard and if they cross a trap location, they dig it out and have dinner.

 

[cm_osu]

I've had very good luck with these traps for gophers.

https://www.wildlifecontrolsupplies.com/animal/NWSGG01.html

As a bonus, they're made in Oklahoma.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[AKguy1985]

That is a mole mound. I had a rat terrier that was great at hunting moles.

 

[SoonerP226]

That describes our place. We can never stop them, only control the ones that come across the fence into the yard.
I’ve read of using castor bean oil to create a barrier. Looked into the cost of treating a 3 acre yard, and decided trapping them isn’t so much work after all.

My grandma had an all-out war with gophers in her garden. She tried all kinds of stuff, including whirligigs and castor bean oil (she even grew the castor beans in the garden). I don't recall any of it working all that well.

I always wanted to try the one where you pump propane into the gopher holes, then hit a striker. I hear it's Carl Spackler Approved.

 

[TwoForFlinching]

I always wanted to try the one where you pump propane into the gopher holes, then hit a striker. I hear it's Carl Spackler Approved.

Tried it once. Wasn't nearly as cool as we expected. All we did was blow those tunnels mostly into ditches my dad freaked out about.

Trap em. You can do it.

 

[adamsredlines]

Thread revival...they had (mostly) moved on but started popping up again. I got to talking to the neighbor lady and she said when their daughter needed to do a school fundraiser...they educated themselves on trapping gophers and got pretty good at it She said if they see a mound in my yard, they'd set a trap if I didnt mind. By all means, go right ahead! Well, I go to the grocery store this morning and all is normal..get home and see a fresh mound...unload groceries and put them away and come outside and see a trap set on it.
I go out later and see it looks different, so it had been sprung. About that time the neighbor comes out and we check the trap and no dice. Mind you I got home around 10am, and she said she set the trap around 10:30 and I saw it was sprung at 1:30. So we reset the trap, put it back in the same hole and I checked it at 2:30 and the trap is sprung and moving. Success...pulled that sucker out, gave him a whack on the noggin and its looking like these traps are the ticket!

https://www.lowes.com/pd/GopherHawk-Gopher-Killer/1001267018

 

[bigred1]

Reads: humane, designed to kill the gopher or mole instantly. Ha ha
Worth a try I suppose. If it doesn't just whack em.

 

[dennishoddy]

LOL there is no "instant" kill other than something that blows them into bits or gunfire.
Reminds me that I need to go set a gophinator at some new mounds west of the house after this rain quits.

 

[John6185]

Exhaust fumes won't kill them nor will flooding the holes with water. They are like the Viet Cong were with their their tunnels in Vietnam and they infuriated the Army and the Gophers drive us mad. I have read that they use the same tunnel year after year. I've finally caught a couple after years of trying and it's a good feeling.

 

[Oklahomabassin]

Exhaust fumes won't kill them nor will flooding the holes with water. They are like the Viet Cong were with their their tunnels in Vietnam and they infuriated the Army and the Gophers drive us mad. I have read that they use the same tunnel year after year. I've finally caught a couple after years of trying and it's a good feeling.