gopher trappers

[trappnman]

how did your year go?

for us, it was a late start, April 21st and a very wet beginning. Seems like the entire period from mid may to end of July, was a day of rain, 2 days of sun, day of rain, etc. and this rain was always 1/2", more. So fields never dried out, and farmers would call me telling hay was cut- and 2 weeks later still laying on the ground.

and hot and humid- several 100 degree days, lots of 90s, and dew points in upper 70s, even a few days in low 80s-

then it got dry, and august and this month very little rain so the ground is hard as a rock, and you have to literally chisel some holes out.

As a result of the above, and having too many farms in maintenance mode, our take was down almost 1/3. but we compensated for that by raising prices by the same, and actually had 2 townships raise the bounty. so $$ it was a wash- plus, we cut down on gas expenses by setting smarter and doing more grouping of farmers.

used to own a bunch of death clutches, overall did not like them. Now only have a few left, but found out that if you set them into a hole that is precisely the size of the trap- where you have to wiggle the trap into the hole- the success rate is astounding day after day.

When I come onto a "perfect" DC setup, my success rate is well into the 90s. Will be picking up another doz for situational setups next year.

mole and gopher trappers, heres an odd thing I saw last week.

all along a cornfield, for maybe 50 yards, was a series of what I'd swear were gopher mounds. Also running along the corn, was a very obvious mole tunnel(s)

now, with very rare exceptions, mole mounds and gopher mounds, look nothing alike. even those deep digging moles with no visible tunnels, that bring up some pretty good sized mounds of dirt, do not look like gopher mounds. the shape is different, the texture and where the entrance holes are in relation to the mound.

in any case- those mounds looked like picture book gopher mounds- yet I dug into at least a doz of them along the line and in every case, they went directly into the surface "mole" tunnels.

and i probed each mound deep and never found a deeper, gopher type entrance.

My conclusion was mole, so didn't set it up- I don't trap field moles-

but have wondered since-

was it a mole acting like a gopher in making mounds?

or was it a gopher, tunneling at the surface only?

any thoughts?

have 2 more farms left to do, each should take a 3-4 days with some overlap that are finally ready to trap. Rained a little last night, but drying up some now so can trap this afternoon.

I'd like to be done next wednesday but if I have to pull on the thursday I will.

Side benefit of gopher trapping is I got some new permisisons for fur, have a freezer full of gophers for coyote baits, and have all the dry dirt I need stored and ready.

so next week will be the 25th week of trapping gophers this year, with at least a few gophers caught every week. At least no snow this year- seems like most years, we get a skiff of snow both early and late, and trust me, gopher trapping in snow is about the least fun of any snow trapping!

so one more week, then pack for the MFH convention in Hill City, get home for 3 days to get ready- and then its COYOTES.

[Scott W.]

I have caught moles in the same hole that I caught a gopher in. In my case I believe the gopher did the original digging, and the mole was just taking advantage of it. I wonder if in your case the mole made the surface burrow, and a young gopher came along and cleaned house making the perfect gopher mounds.

My season went well. I learned I like trapping clay soils much better than sand!

[calvin]

Was too busy to do much gopher trapping this year. I/ll take sand over clay anyday, however. Numbers are generally higher and so is the digging....without the rocks cutting your knuckles...or at least the rocks move enough in sand so you don't lose so much blood.

[trappnman]

well, neither clay or sand is good! LOL

clay makes digging hard in either dry or wet- dry and you have to chisel it open, wet and its like liverwurst to dig.

sand gives you more plugs I feel, becasue I would think the tunnels would almost always be collapsing here and there, so they are moving around a lot of dirt.

luckily, most of my gopher ground is good blakc loam, and thats the best i nmy opinion ofr ease in setting.

yesterday, had 120 or so traps to check- got about 30 of them checked- and one of those "hot" days were % was high- very windy, and then it started to rain. gradually at first but then harder and harder. got 89 checked and that was enough- once it gets so the mounds are wet, and the tools can't be kept dry, it becomes an exercise in futility and time ot call it a day. We also had maybe 30 more to set up, and fresh setting in rain is even more of a chore.

puts us behind 1 day, but what can you do?

the next and last farm of the year, is 35 miles west, in irrigation country, so its almost pure sand in places.

[trappnman]

speaking of cuts-

ever find any sharp junk?

I've been real lucky, haven't cut my self badly- but over the years have dug up a kitchen knive, pieces of horse harnesses (how old are those?), lots of chunks of glass, old pieces of barb wire, rusted pieces of metal from implements, etc.

what I really hate, is getting bit by a gopher in the hole- had that happen 4 times- none in 7-8 years- and once actually pulled gopher out of hole on end of my finger.

what happens, is on fresh mounds, its not uncommon for the off side to only go back a short ways and dead end- and I think, by random chance, I've trapped a gopher in that dead end side.

Once was setting a pan trap, had it in the hole and was getting the plug, and I heard it snap and had the gopher.

10-12 times over the years, I've had a mother gopher, and 3-4 baby gophers at the trap- and YES, I count all of them in billing LOL

have also seen and caught 20 or so gophers that were above ground.

any odd things occur for anyone else?