Steve Albano-Moles & Gophers TalkCast

[Robb Russell]

Title: Steve Albano On Moles & Gophers
Time: 04/13/2008 07:37 PM EDT

Episode Notes: A full evening with Steve Albano, of Peninsula Animal Trapping PO Box 4128 Menlo Park, CA 94025 [phone] [e-mail]

Learn all about his wildlife control business and his products he has to offer the industry. After more than 14 years of operating a gopher and mole control service business using the marginally effective traps available on the market, Steve threw them all away in frustration, and designed The Gophinator.

Recently Steve also released a new mole trap and sent out sample to various professionals throughout the industry to filed test them. Steve will be handling calls tonight on both his new mole trap and using The Gophinator in his business.


This is about two hours long and offers a Yank perspective to trapping them burrowing critters.

Next week we will feature a special called Ron Jones" The Squirrel man returns.



You can listen to this episode & previous episodes here.

www.thewildlifepro.com or

www.talkshoe.com/tc/16456

[trappnman]

gophernator in my opinion is a worthless tool for more than 1 or 2 gohpers- but thats just from following a feller using one. In a lot of fields.

[Robb Russell]

The Gophinator , thegophinator.com when put in the ground in tandem in each of the entry/exit points is pretty much a lethal and done deal. Sure your not talking about the Rodentator.

The audio went far beyond the use of his equipment alone. Infact he spoke of all of them out and some of their finer points each.

[Robb Russell]

As a side question perhaps I can set up a night where three of you involved with "Coyotes R US" gets a chance to be interviewed promote the site and /or business and also take in calls from your own members. The system can handle conference calls up to 25 callers.

[trappnman]

not sure which one- the one that uses the wand and propane. Not very effceint at all.

[Jason Grimm]

Steve here is a pic of the "Gophinator":

[trappnman]

ok- gotcha LOL

yes, I meant the other thing- the propane and wand- looks cool, but results are far from good.

Never used that gopher trap. The one thing I see that I personally feels makes a difference in killer traps, is the width between the jaws, and having metal under the jaws like a death clutch does.

I prefer #1 longsprings, but do use some gopher specific traps. The one I've found best for me, is the Quickset trap. Its a little wider between the jaws, and it has nothing the gopher walks on until he hits the trigger. just bought 2 more doz of those for this year. My preferred choice for open holes.

[Robb Russell]

You know one of the things I like about forums for all of us to show our better way. Perhaps I can get you on the air soon for a talkcast. Sure we can spotlight this forum as well.

Here is a photo from Steve when he was finally happy with his kill ration with Gophers.

[trappnman]

kill ratios all depend on how close you set, and what day it is in the progression of trapping.

Robb- what other gopher traps have you tried?

like anything, individual trappers swear by different traps. Some round here like the box or Lanesboro trap, others swear by DC, others with that goofy rube goldberg 3 trigger trap, some even like (gaaawk1) victor gopher traps- my least favorite by far.

I find that body grip traps work far better, for me, in spring than they do in the dog days of summer.

I only use body grips in open holes, if I dig to the V, I 'll use a long spring.

[stevealbano]

Rob, thanks for posting the pictures and clearing up the confusion about the my Gophinator vs. the Rodenator. Trappnman, no problem on the name confusion--I've heard the same thing about the Rodenator, that it's fun to use, but not particularly effective in killing gophers.

Jason, thanks for turning me on to this site, and posting the pic. That's a great close up picture of my trap. Is it OK with you if I grab a copy of that and use it on my website or on forums? Thanks.

Trappnman, do you have any pictures of how you use the longspring traps on gophers. I've heard of that, but never seen a setup and I'd be interested in seeing that. You guys got plenty of gophers in MN. If you want to try a sample of my gopher traps, give me an address, and I'll send you out a couple of free samples. My traps are slightly smaller than the Death Clutch traps, and some guys in your area find them a little small for the tunnels, but they have plenty of power to kill even the larger size gophers. And they're stainless steel, so you don't have to worry about rust.

[trappnman]

Hi steve- glad to see you here.

I got pics, but it would be easier to take some more (hopefully tomorrow if it dries up enough today) then to find the old.

I'd love to try out your trap. I'll pm you.

What I do with longsprings is this- dig down to the Y and clear all dirt from the tunnels you can reach. I then, somewhat, bed the trap so its stable and if possible or easy, a little recessed.

I cock the spring quite a bit, so that the spring still goes into the entrance tunnel, but the jaws are more or less coming across than over. I have mixed feelings n covering the traps, but lean to better success if covered, and for sure lots less eaten gophers by covering hole. To cover, I would use a hard flat topping such a a shingle, because a plug is then a real deep plug.

Instead, we use either a grass wad (preferred) or a crumpled up newspaper to plug the entrance hole about 1/2 way down, then cover that with dirt.

I then stake the trap to avoid trap losses by badgers, raptors and coyotes.

If I got a straight hole (where the Y is too deep) then I'll use a specific type trap. All holes in progress of being dug- that prized "open hole" I also use specific traps, although longsprings to work, but perhaps not as well.

% vary so much- but day in and day out, I'd say about 65% success in new settings and not setting heavy (3-4 traps for 1 gopher when you want to be in and out quick) counting plugs and empties.

nice talking to another gopher trapper- so some questions?

1) how often do you leave trap after taking 1 gopher?

We very seldom do, believing that multiple gophers over time are more new gophers moving in, rather than multiples. Exceptions are "grey backs" those young just mobile gophers you can often catch 3-4 plus mom in as many days from1 trap.

I'm always figuring stuff, and we several times have tried leaving traps in , but the % is so low, it's not worth it to us.

2) How long do you leave an empty trap?

Gophers don't move every night, but almost all the time, if left empty untouched for 48 hours, hes dead or moved on. We figured out that its about 50/50 on this next day after an empty.
We give a trap 1 empty, and if empty the next day move it.

3) how far down main tunnel are you putting traps?

I like to have most of trap in tunnel, again for protection from predators.

Do you ever cover these traps? Not completely like longsprings, but I'm 50/50 on the old farmers advice that traps like DC work better if you throw a little grass over hole.

We tend to do it, but not sure if it helps or not.

[Jason Grimm]

Feel free to use the pic however you need it. I was hoping to have a few more pics of the different size mole traps showing kills, but no hits yets. I moved a couple today.

[richc]

I am interested in reading more about how to trap moles. I had a lot of mole damage last summer for first time. I bought two of those victor mole traps, so help in finding correct tunnel to set is main problem I think. I gather that their den could be under my driveway, under garage and etc?

[stevealbano]

Trappnman, sounds like we're using pretty much the same techniques on gophers, the main difference being that I have never used long spring traps, but have always used gopher specific traps.

To answer your questions...

how often do you leave trap after taking 1 gopher?

Very rarely. Honestly, I only leave a trap after killing a gopher in cases where I think that will be good PR with a new customer who's scrutinizing the job pretty closely. I always tell them there probably won't be any more gophers, but I know they'll feel better if I put some more traps in "just in case". If I caught a gopher and there's new activity in the same area(and I agree that usually means another moved in), then I'll re-set traps, but almost never in the same spot where I caught the previous one. I'll almost always do a completely new set near the freshest activity.

How long do you leave an empty trap?

I agree that if the gopher hasn't made contact with the trap within 48 hours(that's more than enough), then you need to move it elsewhere. I think gophers are usually in the trap within a single day.

How far down main tunnel are you putting traps?

I'll dig the tunnel out, clean out loose dirt, and set the trap so that the entire trap is inside the gopher tunnel. With my trap, that puts the front jaws of the trap maybe 6 or 8 inches into the tunnel.


Also, I do bait behind traps with a little peanut butter. I've been doing this for years, and I'm not sure how much it helps, as you can certainly catch plenty of gophers with no bait at all. I think when I set in a little used lateral tunnel, the bait helps get the gopher into the trap. On a main run, he's going to get to the trap pretty fast anyway, and bait probably wouldn't make a difference.

Also, I do block off behind the set trap just about the same way you do. I'll grab a dirt clod or a wad of plants, and block the tunnel behind the set, and then filter in some loose dirt on top of that to keep out light.