Gopher Traps

[coonboy]

What are the best traps to use for pocket gophers? When I was little we used 0 long springs. Do the Death Klutch or Victor type traps work better?

[bfflobo]

I think the Macabee Gopher Trap is the best. Has been around 60 years that I know of and not sure before that.
Strychnine oat bait down inside the tunnel is better. "Omega" is the brand around here. Strychnine is cheap, oats are cheap, Omega is not. Our government at work again.

[trappnman]

bfflobo- what is the macabee trap like? never have seen one i don't think.

everyone has a different favorite gopher trap. What some swear by, others swear at.

for me, I rank the ones I have used a lot and tested as follows, worst to best:

Cinch trap- I absolutely hate them- cumbersome, rube Goldberg type trigger, I find them to be plug magnets- YET, a good friend bearcat, has incredible %s with them-

Victors- the only victors I 've used are the death clutch type, with the upright pan and the pointed ends. Hate them. To small really, lots of misses and just an inefficient trap in my opinion. I called them little greenies, cause they come, or used to, painted a bright green

Death clutches- always used some since a kid, 20 years ago brought 2 doz to really test in early spring, loved them, bought 5 more doz- have 3 left. Old farmers used to say gophers were "smarter in summer" and easier to catch spring and fall.

I think thats earth moving differences in those times, and as such, at those times of year, the DC preformed well. Fell back terribly in hotter. drier weather. Old farmers still swear by them

Lanesboro traps- or box traps- a good enough trap, but takes too much digging to set it.

the traps I prefer now, are pan traps and Quick sets- running about 100 ls #1 pans, another 2 doz or so #0s and #1 coils, and 50 Quick sets

I find them both equal in success %- and I use the trap to fit the hole(s)

if a good double tunnel, I use non directional pan traps, if a single tunnel, I use the quicksets

on pan traps, I find that by a FAR %- #1 outperform #0s- and #0 outperform any coil. My #1 and #0 coils are my last resort- I'll even set the DC's first.

for whatever reason, coils are plugged at almost double the rate of ls.

[kspanky]

Tons of Gophers out here where im at i had 1 rancher ask me if i wanted to trap them for money but i have no idea about them,kspanky

[jbconnected]

www.traplineproducts.com/onlinestore.html

I got six each of the mole & gopher traps to try last year. They are pricey but they are a really good trap.

[bfflobo]

gophertrapping.com/

[trappnman]

thanks bfflobo

the macabee looks like a bit larger version of the old victors.

[Scott W.]

Steve Albano's stainless steel Gophinator is great, and I had him send me some "magnums" because our midwestern gophers are big. I also use and like a lot the Johnson Quicksets. They were starting to rust which stiffened the triggers too much, so I waxed them and now they are back to normal.

[trappnman]

scott- I just give them a spritz of WD every so often to combat the stiffness problem.

[coonboy]

After you set the trap do you plug the hole to keep light out or leave it open?

[bfflobo]

I leave it open but sometimes lay some grass or a dirt clod over the hole to darken it some. As I understand it, it is the difference in air pressure that alerts the gopher that the hole is open. He gets caught pushing a load of dirt up to plug the opening. This is why the trigger is spaced aways from the jaws.

[trappnman]

as I understand it, you are right on concerning air pressure.

on body traps I do just as bfllobo does- either leave it open, or throw a little grass over it.

but on footholds, I do cover the hole. I find it makes a difference in less pluged tunnels, plus less predator trouble with covered from birds and coyotes. badger it doesn't matter either way.

best covering is a wad of grass or hay- you can stick it down into the surface tunnel, keeps plugs smaller if they get plugged, is always handy once the season gets under way, and is disposible at the site- once we pull, we shove the grass back in, and fill with dirt.

early seaosn before enough grass, or some chopped hay fields with no plugging material available, we cut cardboard into squares- reusable even with some rain. A substatute for cardboard is to take a double sheet of newspaper, lay it open, fill with dirt, and then wrap and set over hole- works ok, but seldom lasts more than 2 nights, even if no rain it absorbs moisture

[Scott W.]

I tried messing with asphalt shingle tabs to cover the holes. Can't say if they were worth the hassle, but they sure don't wear out.

[hdwolfer]

If I was closer to KS I'd be there in a flash, if they have that many gophers and needing trappers.
As for gopher traps, have tried a wide assortment of them. Have found the best with the highest catch ratio is the Cinch trap. With a little tweaking and understanding how the trap works I can take a 25% catch ratio to a 85% catch ratio or higher. My best is 98 gophers out of 100 traps not once but several times. Usually can catch 3,000 to 5,000 gophers in 45 days. Not this season to much rain going to be a slow start.
99% of the time I leave the hole open. They work on the barometor pressure in the spring.

[coonboy]

How much do the farmers pay per gopher?

[trappnman]

hdwolfer- I know bearcat shares your love of the Cinch's, but I never got the knack and frankly, are to mechanical for my taste. but in the right hands, i cannot argue their success- I just like the simplicity of the QSs, and I do love my pans as well.

Seems like I saw some pics of your area once?
you do a lot of irrigation land?

If so, nice. I have one farm like that where we can set/maintain 150 traps in continuous fields- but its spread out so its a days work tending them

but most times its 30 traps on this farm. 50 traps on that farm, etc. Lots of our farms now are maintenance type, where you need to run them each year, but under control. picked up 6 or so new farms coyote trapping- 2 are big operations and no trapping for years, so could be ripe

Are you doing your 45 days all at once? Or do you spread it around all season? here, we hit it hard as soon as we can (5 inches of snow last night isn't going to help the start!) at the start, then run the hay cuttings, filling in with smaller jobs/residential in between. always a pasture or two to run at will.

5000 is a LOT of gophers- we are in the 3200-3500 range every year with a high of 3600+

whats your setting style? Here, due to terrain, and narrow strip areas, you get a lot of overlap with mounds and I have a week, little more window before I can't drive it. all my area is hay cut 4-6 times a year, beginning in mid may most years, last year late April until late Oct/Nov

and everyone has hay down at the same time!

chickens today, feathers tomorrow......

so I find I have to overlap mounds more than I like- you get a bend in a strip with 50 mounds- could be 5 could be 10- so I set heavy and thus have a lower %, but can move on quicker than not setting heavy.

All all new setups, on separate gophers, I'm up in that 90+%-
but day in and day out, setting heavy on mixed new/old setups, no. we also leave a % out that have made catches one more day-at certain times of the year (breeding season, or when pups are still in nest and venturing out). I've taken as many as 5 greyback pups out of one hole day after day.

if you trap during mid summer with a lot of young, do you find you catch a good % of them? I find the quicksets lacking here. Was told by Jamie to put duct tape around pan, but the downfall was that it had to be replaced after every catch, and was a real timewaster PIA. In the few days we tried it, didn't notice enough difference to matter, so we quit

Those greybacks are so small and light, that I get way more plugged, snapped QS. I think they are between pan and jaws when it fires-

Thats where pan traps preform better for me- a weak #1 will fire under that few oz weight

I agree on leaving them open on body grip traps- had one of my favorite farmers tell me he always tossed a little grass over hole and did better, so we halfarse do it if convenient- can't say it matters either way

but on footholds, I want them plugged. I've experimented many times open and closed, and you get far more plugs, very noticeably so, leaving them open

with them, I don't want them moving dirt, I just want them running the tunnel- you still get plugs of course- cause they want to plug the entrance hole- so thats why we prefer a grass plug- it can be inserted way into the entrance- leaving less of a hole, air space whatever to re-fill.

I charge $3.50, 4.00 and $5 to the farmers depending on distance and if can be bountied. these are working farms where the goal is control, not elimination. many of those farms border set asides, wooded ravines, neighbors that don't care- and in good ground with so much varied terrain, gophers are always moving in.

many if not all of these farms I coyote trap.

for small acreages with a few gophers, its $35 setup, $10 a gopher IF local.

for commercial- orchards, tree lots- its $35 an hour door to door and mileage

for residential with 1-2 gophers, its $35 setup and $25 a gopher, again only local, otherwise same as commercial

[hdwolfer]

Out west any ground that grows hay it is irrigated or it doesn't grow anything. No one will pay to trap gophers on range ground.
We do a lot of hunting and pecking on small places too.
The secret of the cinch trap is, from the time you step off the atv to when you are back on it is a minute to minute/half to find the run and set it then on to the next mound.
As for the little gray backs when they get to be the size of your finger you can catch a % of the little ones.
Like to do the 45 days in one block, but sometimes it doesn't happen. Do very little between cuttings due to other indevors.
Out here the hay isn't down more than 4-5 days from the day it's cut to put up and the water is back on the hay. 10% RH and 100 degrees doesn't take long for the hay to dry.

[bud24]

cinch trap #1, the gophinator #2. www.traplineproducts.com