pocket gopher traps

[jacko]

was wondering what everyone liked, i am presently using
dk2's and was just curious

thanx

[trappnman]

Not sure what the trap is- but years ago I did a lot of tests with various traps- about 6 in all- and found that day in and day out I had the ghighest % of gophers in palin old #0 and #1 longsprings. Old ones- week springs are what you need. I trap gophers pretty much full time in season, and I use 99% footholds.

[TRapper]

tell us how you go about setting up for gophers using those traps and why the weak traps, thanks

good to be on the site.

[trappnman]

I've triede a lot of gopher traps and kept % of success rates. Some trap performed better for a time, but overall- week after week- the pan traps had the highest %.

I like weak traps for a simple reason- the gipher wieghs but a few ounces and has a muskrat type shaped and fragile foot. Weak spring traps allow the trap to fire and to hold the gopher unharmed. Duke has come out with a #0 specifically for gophers and I think they wil be a good trap.

I use a probe to find the tunnel, and dig down until I can find the split in the tunnel. Most mounds have this split within a foot or a little more from the surface.

Cock the trap so the spring is almost as far as it can go to the dog side of the trap. Place the trap at the junction of the two tunnels. Wiggle the trap into a the dirt a little. If you just have a sungle tunnel and can't find the fork- use the single tunnel.

I have to wire my traps to long stakes- if I didn't, I'd loose too many to yotes and badgers.

You can leave the hole open- but I prefer to recover them. I take a grass plug and push it halfway down the opening tunnel then put dirt on top of it. That way, gophers plugging traps only have half the tunnel to plug.

Yo ucan check traps every couple of hours cause cgophers run during the day- but I prefer to set out a line then check the next day. Overnight checks should have well over 90% activity- whereas checks hroughout the day are often at 10% or less.

[James White]

Great reply Steve