I had alot of gophers move into my yard over the last few months and now am waging war. Never done it before and need advice. What kind of traps are best and any other tips and techniques are wanted. I have dogs and chickens so poison is not an option. Any help please.

http://www.wildlifecontrolsupplies.com/M...ct_Code=NWSDK-1

This is a link to the best gopher trap I have found. We use these traps exclusively for gophers with grat success.

DK-1's aren't a bad trap. Not as good as "The Gophinator", in my totally unbiased opinion, but not bad.

Kansas is right, I bought 17 of them and caught over 40 gopher in 2 weeks. They are a great trap and will get the job done!!

Cool Gophinator trap I will order some in just to try this year. I really am sold on the death klutch but hey I wanna be versed in all of them. I started dipping my DK's and they last so much longer and just look better too.

About 5 years ago we ordered in about 40 dk's and caught 90 gophers in 2 days at a softball complex here in town. They paid for themselves literally overnight. Coolest gopher job ever. I would make 20 sets and then go back and start checking from the first on. Catching critters immediately.

Jeff

Check out that Gophinator trap , Kansas Rook.

Just think , no more dipping DK's - ever.

I have heard good reviews about it as well , if we had some gophers here on the east coast , I would buy it. Very well made trap.

I never dip the death clutch, never had a problem.

We didn't dip the dk because we had a problem catching they jsut last longer and look better. No more rusty hands with sets and the customer sees us using a good clean product. I know it sounds strange but all of our technician wear tan cargo pants and tucked in blue shirts. I want equipment to be clean and techs to look good.

Anyone else here that anal?

I used the DK-1 for over 10 years in my gopher control business, and as I said above, it's a very good trap. And they're cheap.

The only problem I had with it is that the jaw spread is too wide to fit into the tunnels of the female gophers of our Western species of gopher, which is a tad smaller than what you guys have in Oklahoma and Kansas. So I used DK-1's for the males, and Macabees for the females. The Macabees are a really not a very effective gopher trap, and it was a hassle to have to carry around two different kinds of traps.

Anyway, I designed The Gophinator with a jaw spread about 3/4 of an inch narrower than the jaw spread on a DK-1, and it will get both the males and females consistently. It's small enough to fit in the smaller tunnels of the females, and it has plenty of power to kill even the largest males.

The other major differences between my trap and the DK-1 is that mine is made entirely out of stainless steel, so no rust, and no need to dip them, and they'll last indefinitely. And The Gohpinator has a hinged trigger that I like better than the free floating trigger pan on the DK-1.

Kansas Rook, do the DK-1's fit into all the gopher tunnels you come across, or are there some that you have to enlarge a bit to get the trap to fit in?

Thanks guys, any other tips on setting or anything someone who has never used a gopher trap needs to know?

Steve,

Yes no question we have to enlarge some of the hole in order to get the traps to fit the holes. We have a lot of sand base around here so that isn't a huge issue. However, when we do stumble into some clay base or rock soil we have a tough time.

I am going to order in some gophinators based on what you have said above sounds like a dandy trap.

Jeff

Smashedfingers, there's plenty of info available online about locating tunnels and setting traps. Basically, just use a probe like a really long screwdriver to locate tunnels, dig them out, and place set traps in tunnels. I push the traps down into the soil a bit to stabilize them. And I put a little peanut butter behind the trap as a little incentive for the gopher to show up, though you can catch them without bait, as they want to move through their tunnels anyway.

And wear some leather gloves when you set them, as the winder on either my traps or the DK-1 can really whip around and nail you if it slips when you're winding it.

And thanks for the order--traps are going out today!

Smashedfingers, I have been in the business of solving wildlife problems for people for almost 15 years now and very rarly does anything new come along that is really a lot better than what is already on the market but I got to tell you Steves Gophintor trap is one that is! I've been using this trap for about 4 months now and it is my "go-too" gopher trap. If you knew me you would know that I'am not easily impressed and don't endorse a lot of stuff but this trap is for real. Ilove that I don't have to dip it (stainless-no rust) and I really like the smoothness of the trigger release. The only thing I would have liked to see on it was an easy way to stake it down. Other than that minor detail imho it's just a [Please excuse my language... I'm an idiot] good gopher trap.

Fingers probing is the way to go to locate tunnels. once you trap a few you can tell by the way the dirt is lying about exactly where the tunnel is. Makes it a lot easier!

probtrapper, thanks for the positive feedback, I appreciate it.

When you say you would of liked to have seen an easy way to stake down the trap, do you mean to prevent the gopher from pushing the trap backwards in the tunnel? Or do you mean you'd like to see a cable or other tether on the trap to stake the trap down so you don't lose them to scavengers, etc.?

I don't notice gophers pushing traps backwards in the tunnels, but what I have noticed for the 15 years that I've been doing this is that it's much harder to trap gophers in bone dry soil than it is to get them in moist soil, and I have never been able to figure out a good reason to that. maybe it's because when the trap sits on hard soil, it's not stabilized as well, and moves around when the gopher walks on it, scaring the gopher off. Or maybe it's because the hard, dry soil interferes with the closing of the trap jaws more than wetter, softer soil does. I don't know for sure, but I know it's a challenge to catch them in really dry conditions. And maybe it is because the gophers are pushing the traps around on the drier ground more than they can when the trap is pushed down into some softer soil?

Anyone have any ideas on that?

By the way, when I talked with you on the phone awhile back, you mentioned that you actually deal with more moles than gophers, and I'm just finishing and testing a much scaled down version of The Gophinator for use on moles. I'm two for two so far, but haven't had the chance to test it extensively yet, but I will over the next few weeks, as all heck breaks out with the moles here this time of year. On one of the moles I caught last week, I had set the traps in a tunnel directly under a bender board around the perimeter of a lawn, as situation where you just can't get an out-o-site set on, and the trap just nailed him. And as they're totally underground, I can set them at schools, parks, and in yards with kids.

I'll send you a couple samples if you want to try them out. Just send me a PM with your mailing address.

-Steve

Steve I think you are on the right track as to damp vs. dry conditions. Up here (Redding area) most of my gopher work is in very dry soil. In fact the Sacramento river runs right through the heart of town and the closer you get to the river the damper the soil is and we get considerably more mole jobs than gopher work. Conversly the farther away we venture from the river the drier the soil and the more gopher work we have. We have lots of areas in the summer that I have had to take a screwdriver and hammer and chip away the soil just to get to the run to set a trap! In these conditions I believe there has to be a way to "bed" or stake the trap so that it doesn't move. 'cause I also believe that if he comes to the trap and it moves he knows that something is not right and you end up with a plugged trap. Also I sent you a pm yesterday and, you bet I want to try your mole traps out. I'll send you my address in a pm. Thanks, Bob

Ok Steve I just placed my order to give the gophinator a try. I look forward to trying them out. Thanks. Drop me a pm when you get the mole model figured out or you need a Kansas test site.

Jeff

I catch a few hundered pocket gophers with the "death klutch" trap with a 80-90% daily catch rate no joke.

Find the freshest hole. Take a rake or your foot and level the mound. The enterance to the hole will now be easy to find. Then poke a 1/2" rebar rod down and at a angle into the dirt that the gopher used to plug the whole. start at 12 o-clock then 1 o-clock then 2-clock and so on. When you do this dont push any deeper than 12" max. What your doing is trying to find the tunnel. When you push the stake down and it gets easy you have broken into the tunnel. Take a small trowl and dig down to were the stake found the tunnel. Take extra care that the hole is no wider than the trap. You want the trap jaws to be snug aganst the tunnel walls. Once, you have cleared the hole of as much loose dirt as you can set the trap. I like the trap set at a almost hair trigger. The trap goes off when the trigger moves an 1/8 of an inch. I used to set it lighter but, i had a lot more sprung traps with fur in them. Next, (this is something no one i know does) dip the trap in used oil that came form a car or truck or something. Then, put the trap down the hole far enough that loop at the end for the stake is still visable. Before, you stake the trap twist it a few degrees right and left. This make room for the trap to fire without hitting the top of the tunnel slowing it down enough that the gopher could get lose. This step is very important! Now stake the trap and take some dirt from the mound and sprinkle it over the trap to hide the trap some. I dont feel this is nessisary it just make me feel better. A few last things if the hole splits off you will need to set two traps or find a new hole. If you have any questions go ahead and ask i'll be glad to help you out.

Inqvalsone, do you dip the trap in used motor oil just to prevent rust, or do you think the trap works better that way? I used to spray my traps down with a lithium grease from an aerosol can to help prevent rust.

It prevents rust, speeds the trap up, that much i know for sure. I also have a theory that the smell of motor oil makes the gopher want to plug the hole. I'm not sure but my catch shows i'm doing something right. I think that gophers have some fear of human smell and that gets covered when i use oil.

Do you guys cover the tunnels to keep out light after setting the traps, or do you leave them open? I've trapped many gophers both ways, but I prefer to cover the tunnels, and put a little peanut butter behind the trap as bait. I figure that if the gopher comes to an open tunnel, he's pretty likely to be in a suspicious frame of mind, and he'll more than likely be pushing a load of dirt in front of him to close off the tunnel, and that may interfere with the operation of the trap. If he comes through a closed tunnel, especially to investigate a food source, he more than likely will not be pushing dirt in front of him.

I never could see that human scent made any difference to them at all.

Steve, when You get Your mole trap fine tuned, I would like to try one on Our big townsends up here in Washington.

I leave them open, covering the hole is just one more step to do. I have tried closing and baiting but my catch was the same. How many people here get a bounty in there state for gophers? We get 1.50 for a pair of front feet and the farmer matches that so i'm getting 3 bucks a gopher.

I set traps sunday and caught one when I checked on tuesday. Why are you guys digging into the tunnels from the mounds, why can't a guy just stick it down the hole from the mound about a foot? When I tried to dig out the tunnel I just filled it with dirt. Just wondering

I dig into the mounds because, I don't want to set two traps. Sometimes the gopher plugs its hole tight enough I have to brake open the tunnel a foot or so from the mound then you've got a split tunnel and need two traps.

When ever possible I never set at the mound. I always probe away from the mound and when I locate the run thats where I dig my acsess hole. I use a tile spade and cut a round hole about six inches in dia. that exposes the run. I then clean out the the run on each side of the hole and place a trap down inside the run. I do this because there is always the possiblity of catching a double especialy in the early spring. After the traps are set and stabilized the last thing I do is put the plug of grass I cut out back in place to cut out all light. If the soil is too loose I place a small square of plywood over the hole. It sounds like a lot of work but it's really not bad at all and I can set up the average yeard in about 30 min. I read where some of you guys leave the hole to the run open and have no trouble making catches but my mind set is I don't leave anything to chance and I want every advantage I can get. A trap shy gopher can be as bad as a trap shy beaver which equates to a lot of wasted trips to check plugged traps.
Probtrapper

I agree with you on the trap shy gopher they suck but, a double? I've only caught one of those ever. That day was the best day of gopher trapping ever! Out of 32 mounds set I got 33 gophers thats over 100%!
I do set in the run if I can't find the mound enterance, maby one out of five. Think about this Probtrapper. You set for eratication but I'm trapping for a bounty. I set one trap per group of mounds for max catch. I get 80-90% daily catch rate.

I set away from the mound and leave the tunnel open. This generally creates a quicker catch. Gopher feels cool or warm air currents and moves to plug the hole. Getting the traps deep in the run is the key to open plugs.

Another benefit to two traps is the occasional double. More likely obviosuly during breeding. I stated earlier that we trap for a 25$ set up and 10 dollars a head and I was chastized for not being a proffesional. Ingvalsone sounds like your doing ok for 3 each lol.

Steve I still haven't had a chance to tryout your traps but I have them in my office and I like the way they set. I would like to see a small half circle on the back of the trap to connect my wire to though.

does anyone use the lansbouro box trap for gophers? I started with those when I was very young and couldn't set the death klutch cause i was'nt strong enough. I ended up switching over to all death klutches.

wow 10 bucks a head how do you get away with that one (lol)?

Funny thing is trying to figure out a cost for moles. I HATE MOLES. Catching gophers is like shooting fish in a barrell. But I HATE MOLES. We are using Talpirid a lot now and charging to bait instead of trapping those ugly, bigfooted, gray nose holes.

Not to change the thread direction, but probably half of my mole trapping jobs are on properties that owners have spent tons of money (some over $3000 over a few years) on grub control and poisons, usually Talpirid. Some owners applied it themselves, others had traditional pest control companies do it. Trapping is THE answer for effective mole control, so I would definitely spend as much time as needed learning to use the Victor Out-O-Sights. You will be amazed how fast you can rid a property of moles through an intense trapping program. In my opinion, charging per mole is ridiculous if you are operating a commercial wildlife control company. That would be like charging per bat for bat exclusions.... doesn't make any sense. It's about the time and work required to solve the problem, not how many animals are at the site. I have narrowed my mole pricing structure to 2 programs: a 5-day for small lawns and a 10-day for larger lawns. Anything over 3 acres is priced after inspection only.

Kansas Rook, I tie down the traps with tethers attached to the very back loop of the trap, just behind the spring. I use to use wire or nylon cord to make the tethers, but I've gone to using 1/16 inch 7X7 strand stainless steel aircraft cable, with an attachment and a loop made with a dual copper swaging sleeve. Huge improvement. You can get the aircraft cable for about 10 cents a foot, and the swaging sleeves run about 5 cents, so it's cost effective, and they're easy to put on with a swaging tool. All available at usriggingsupply.com.

Ron, doing a huge volume of voles at the moment. They seem to really have some boom years where the population explodes, and this appears to be one of the worst I've seen in many years. I just got in 500 snap-e mouse traps, and I'm cutting up downspouts on my table saw like mad. Man, that system works great. Fast setup, and very effective.

Steve,Haven't seen the set up you're talking about? Could you show us?
Have you tried the vole paste bait?
bob evans cwcp

Robert,

I have some pics of the vole set-up. It's simply a back-to-back trap set-up right in the runway with a top cover. The cover prevents accidental catches of small song birds, and also works as an extra "attraction" for the voles as they like the security of overhead protection. In these pics I am using some small drawer organizers (painted green) and they are held in position with small gardening and landscaping spkies. The traps are Kness (Snap-E's) and I drill a hole through the base and secure them down with a 16 penny nail.

Any type of channel works for the top covers, but using gutter downspouts with one side cut out (rmoved) provides a long-lasting cover. Steve has been using the downspouts for about a year, and the set-up works fantastic. No bait required whatsoever. Of course if you want you could bait the triggers, but it certainly isn't needed as long as you're setting the active runways (the ones with piles of droppings in them).


Traps placed back-to-back and staked with nails.


Results shown with cover in place.

Yeah, it works great. I think the setup works better without bait, because it's a lot less likely to get disturbed by dogs, coons, rats, and a whole bunch of other things besides the target voles. And the sides of the cover right up against the sides of the trap means the vole is going to be right on the end of the trap when it springs, right where the trap delivers maximum impact. I get them every time this way. I used to set them under plastic flower pots, baited with peanut butter, and it was a mess. Very hit or miss, and LOTS of disturbed sets.


And I set them back to back with the triggers facing out when I set them on a trail, but when they're traveling underground in mole or gopher tunnels, and only coming up at holes, I do everything the same, except I set the traps with triggers facing the hole.

How are you guys bidding these jobs? We have very few calls here on the voles but I am interested on if you charge by the head or set fees?

I bid mole, gopher, and vole jobs all the same. Most of my accounts are monthly service accounts where I get paid a flat fee, from $85 on up to a couple of hundred dollars per month on residential properties, to control all the burrowing critters.

Like Ron, I don't do any per animal charges. Kansas Rook, moles are great business if you have enough clients that can afford that service, because they keep coming back more so than gophers do, and thus really require a regular long term service to keep them under control. I have really built my business around accumulating those long term contracts.

Nice way to go!I've used flower pots ect to cover traps but your set up is a more professional looking set.I've been useing the T-rex rat traps for most of my smalls,very few if any misses!
thanks for the pics.
On priceing,I'm finding more and more that want a weekly figure on wildlife removals?
bob evans cwcp