the best laid plans of mice and men......

[trappnman]

finished up with the motorcycles (old iron needs TLC each spring) Monday, packed the truck for gophers to start yesterday, bought new traps, new stakes, heck even a new trowel to start off-

farmers calling now that its dry enough to get out (saw a lot of guys out in fields yesterday that's for sure) and to put me off schedule, one called Monday, a guy that has a bunch of big paddocks in addition to lots of hay saying the cows would be out of all paddocks this week, could I possibly hit them. Last year was first year for this farm , an organic farm, and I took 700+ gophers off last year- but the pastures were allowing gophers to move to the hay- so wanted this opportunity so agreed-

set out yesterday morning, got literally 100 yards from home and a clattering noise from rear of truck. Turns out it was muffler hitting driveshaft, and that occurred because of a broken leaf spring. Dang it gopher trapping is hard on vehicles- had a spring break in the Nissan, 3 on 2 different F-150s, in the Chevy Silverado, and now this is 2nd on Ranger.

All those tuff truck tests- gopher trap for a season and then tell me how "tuff" they are- hey, maybe I could be sponsored by some truck company bahahaha!

anyhoo- got truck to my guy (he lives 3 blocks away), unloaded it and loaded up the Suburban and set up the pastures, plus another farm. Grandpa was tired last night!

in any case, the season is upon us, and looking at a week at least of upper 60s-mid 70s and DRY-

anyone else after gophers yet?

[mustelameister]

Did I read that right Steve? 700 gophers off one farm??

These aren't 13-striped ground squirrels, are they? True gophers? I've never seen one.

[braveheart]

I broke mine in the Nissan 27 beaver and 35 8ft. 1/2 in. rebar and a big bump did it in.

[trappnman]

you read that right Mike-

these are pocket gophers- about the size of a hamster, with cheek pouches on either side of their mouth (the "pockets") in which they carry grass, roots, etc. I've often seen these pouches packed with grass.

They dig large tunnel systems under ground, bringing the dirt to the surface and depositing it into large mounds. They are always expanding, and can make many new mounds over a night, and a working gopher can leave 30-30+ mounds- and since most of these are in lawns and hayfields, the mounds make mowing and haying harder

imagine cutting hay with hundreds of these dirt mounds. And they bred like rats- early litters have litters, and adults have 2 much of the time. It is impossible to get rid of them, but you can keep them under control.

this is the crazy time- everyone wants you there, NOW- and its about a 3 week period until hay is too tall. Then its wait to May 22 or so and the choppers start (and then for them its every 5 weeks on the calendar) then the ones that bale start- so it becomes more staggered, with always having a few farms ready to go. and milkers cut before beef guys do.

I charge the farmers $4, and I keep the feet for bounty (the front feet are clawed almost like a muskrats front feet)and get from $1.50 to $2.50 from the townships in bounty.

[mustelameister]

Let's see . . . 700 X $4 apiece plus $1.50 to $2.50 for the bounty . . . sure beats trapping 'coon!!!

So when's that Pocket Gopher DVD coming out?

[trappnman]

Mark wanted to do one last year, but the timing never worked out

our best year we got around 3300 gophers

[bblwi]

Wow times change!! In 1958 at age 10 the town bounty was 25 cents and some farmers gave me a nickel or a dime, but not all of them would. I was not on your scale at all Steve. In 1959 I got a $5 clunker bike and went "longliner"!! I believe I topped out at abou 120 or so. The next year even though I was small I was able to throw hay bales and clean manure bedpacks so my gopher trapping ended.

$6.00 a gopher sounds like a lot but when you factor in the cost of equipment and repair and crop loss in alfalfa alone with haybines, choppers etc. those farmers really appreciated what you do for them. Probably saving more funds than harvesting their coons. At least you can harvest badgers digging out your $6.00 gophers, here in WI we tried to chase them away and if you couldn't you just moved on.

Bryce

[mustelameister]

Bryce . . . you've got pocket gophers up there? As a kid we smacked 13-striped ground squirrels for the bounty, don't remember what it was, wasn't much, but we had no pocket gophers north of La Crosse and I see none down here in Grant County. You're sure you're talking about pocket gophers?

[trappnman]

it looks like the Mississippi border counties have pocket gophers- even their own subspecies

this link shows range en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plains_pocket_gopher

same here back in the day Bryce- I think we got $.25 bounty, and $.05 on streakies (local term for 13 striped). I do get $.10 on streakies in a few townships. and the farmers never paid us. But back then, time was available, and farmers and more likely farm kids, kept the gophers down- today, time is at a premium and there are very few others tapping gophers- I do see a stake out here and there, mostly a farmer trapping his 1 or 2.

Hydrous kills them, but many farmers here don't like it on rotated ground

[bblwi]

We don't have pocket gophers in MTC CO with all the clay and rocks here they would find digging hard. I grew up in northwestern Jackson County with rolling hills and loamy sand soil and pocket gophers were a real issue. You get a colony of those in your hay field in the spring and you could have 20-50 dirt mounds that you had to cut through with your sickle bar on your mower. When the badgers came they added to the dirt mounds when they dug them out.

Bryce

[trappnman]

the farms we have been on, badger, badger everywhere. they are more in the fields now cause few mice, shrews, carrion so gophers are it

rainy night, will be going out shortly and do what we can- the next 4-6 days are going to be busy- hard to schedule it when everyone wants you there now! hope this is end of it (rain), a few days off and I won't catch up

I keep having a problem, 1 or 2 a day, where the trigger arms catch on each other, and trap doesn't fire. Its' always the wire that goes to the direct trigger, that somehow twists the next wire so it binds halfway up. I've tinkered and tried various positions, but still here or there and would be curious if anyone else has this issue, and if so what solution

[cameron1976]

Any chance you will do the gopher video this year Steve?

[trappnman]

I don't know- haven't talked to Mark lately.

[trappnman]

15 st days- tires one out for sure. We have been very lucky, even with 4 days of spotty rain, were able to get out every day. Yesterday, drips off and on, decided to go pull 2 farms (suppose to be rain most of this week) before the rain- as we left town it started pouring, got out of the river valley and up in the hill maybe 8 miles from home- never rained a drop. Suppose to be raining all day today ,but right now partly cloudy and we might miss it.

We got it down now to 3 pastures to set up to hopefully set up today in a 1 and done- if we can, then next time we should be able to get last farm set up, and then DONE until they start chopping around May 22. Then it gets easier, we always have a farm or three with hay up to do. This first rush is so time intensive, that I have zero time to work on projects . Got Loris bike done for spring (new tire, chain, etc) and mine as well- but just fired mine up, haven't had time to ride anywhere.

Still having that problem of 1 or 2 a day, the trigger wires bind on the cinches (if it really pisses me off for whatever reason). Tried everything so if anyone reading this has a solution, please share

[k9]

"Gophers by the Thousand" By Gappa Twappa LOL

[Deleted]

Apr 26, 2016 6:53:07 GMT -6 k9 said:

"Gophers by the Thousand" By Gappa Twappa LOL

PERFECT!  Since he's out of the Coyote-R-Us hats with the eyes, maybe he can come up with a "Gophers-R-We" moniker and a cubby gopher face!

[mnmink]

What brand traps are you using? My boys and I switched to the Revenge traps this year and they seem to work good. Has your township ever complained about paying the bounty on so many gophers? 

[trappnman]

I use 4 types of traps- #1 pan traps, Quick Sets, death clutches and Cinch traps.

I prefer the pan traps and the Cinches-

Quick sets used to be a favorite, but I'm convinced as the traps wear, their effectiveness drops- in fact, unless huge set ups, we leave them at home now.

If I dig out the hole, and the branch (main tunnel) is right there, I use a pan trap- this way both ways are covered, and I have always found pan traps to have a high success rate- certainly equal to any other trap I use. And by far does the Cinch trap have a higher rate of success than any other type of bodygrip trap I've used (also used to use Box traps and those little green Victor traps)

the townships don't complain- on the boards are usually a farmer or two I trap for- and since all the boards are rural people- they see the need. These gophers are spread out over6-7 townships

[RdFx]

Shucks Steve and Laurie what would you do in the summer if you didnt have gophers to chase! More time on the bikes right ?

[mnmink]

I've never used the cinch traps I will have to give them a try after they take the first cutting of hay. Last year we brought our township the feet from 300 gophers  they paid us but told my boys that that was enough for the year. We have 3 dairy farms we trap for  my boys really enjoy it and the make some fun money and it gets us trapping permisson. It's funny the townships never complain about paying for problem beaver but I suppose they cost them a lot more money.