Gophers using life jackets in Gappa terrritory?

[RdFx]

Hey Steve just wondering how your doing in the gopher trade? So much rain, so much crop land not planted or late. Hay very high, farmers that want dry hay ...forget it.... after cutting the hay is growing fast. See some fox pups out, havent seen any yote pups yet.

[trappnman]

we were lucky in that right at first cutting, we had 3 weeks of no rain- so got caught up. Since then, had a lot of rain, including .6 yesterday, but have 4-5 farmers starting 2nd crop. Fields look good here- corn well past knee high- they got it in at right time- rain, then a spell of hot and rain every other day

[braveheart]

Good write up on the gophers Steve in the Trapper.
We are dry here lot of sub soil moisture but dry on top a lot of late crops as well here.

[trappnman]

thank you- its not rocket science, but there is a learning curve

[bblwi]

Way, way behind here. In our county 60-70 % of the alfalfa was killed this winter and early spring. Much of the new seeding is now dead due to water puddles all over and much of the live stuff is turning yellow with phytophra and other diseases. A lot of that will need to be re-seeded in August if it gets dry enough. A lot of wheat died as well and that that is turning now is well below average for grain and straw yields.
Our corn crop is about 3 weeks behind our normal with many fields having large drowned out spots and lots of corn really yellow due to saturation and no air in the root zone. Soybeans are looking about normal or not as bad would be a good word. Several have done 2nd cutting here of the stuff that lived and it is short and thin. Another factor is that plants under that much stress don't have the nutritional value either and thus mixing this in cow rations is starting to cause some milk production issues. Not a bad thing with our huge over production but with extra costs and more to come and lower milk prices our dairy farmers here are not doing well financially and it is catching up to them emotionally now as many are having some serious meetings with their lenders and suppliers.
All the ditches and sloughs have water so rats will be will dispersed this year and probably will have reproduced well except on my rivers where they have been actually over their banks for almost the whole time since the thaw.

Bryce

[RdFx]

Bryce same conditions on crops up her in N Central Wi. Rats should be dispersed good as water all over the place AND in crop fields. Lots of coon running around, hardly any skunks this year. People want bvr and coon, fox removed for nothing so politely tell them if its worth nothing go to it as it must be easy then. No comments fm them...

[retired]

I also appreciated Steve's article on pocket gophers. Had a long time permission ask if I'd take his gophers so I thought I'd give it a try. Some came easy. Other times it's been a humbling experience. I'm learning pocket gophers aren't very forgiving if you don't get them the first time.

[trappnman]

I think a lot of why some gophers seem "smart" and hard to catch, is that they have habits that keep them out of a trap. for example- some gophers will plug hole before the trap itself, and repeat it. so you catch the "normal " gophers night one- and each day, the ones left, are the ones with the "non catchable" habits.

If I can have 3 trap nights, not too many I can't catch. The worse is when they quit digging and you can't find fresh holes. Been so dry here, ground like a rock and their activity is slowed down.

[braveheart]

Steve Good read on the gophers again.!!!!

[RdFx]

Good article