I have been trapping gophers, and in the last few days I have had way more plug ups than at the beginning (they are different spots also). The traps I have been using, have been used right out of the box with no oil removed, although some have a little rust on them. I was wondering if they are smelling my traps, or sensing them in the tunnels, since I have been sticking them down in the tunnels almost as far as I can without having to dig out new area. I started today to put some grass on the top, and checked one area, and it was plugged up within 2 hours (that was the time I set it to checking). Does anyone have any opinions or advice on trapping these, it seems I have better luck with canines, lol.

I have been using a little bit of peanut butter on the end of the traps and I cover the hole completely to make sure no light or air gets in. My catch rate has gone way up since I starting the peanut butter. Make sure that you bed the traps into the bottom of the tunnel as well.

Where do you put the peanut butter on the trap?

I put it behind the pan away from the jaws.

It is about time for the first babies to start getting out on their own. sometimes the baby gophers in the mothers tunnel will easily plug the traps cause they have so much room to work and they also seem to not push the dirt hard enough to fire the traps. not sure what traps you are using or how you are setting them but i think the peanut butter deal may solve your problem. Let us know if you catch any baby gophers please. I usually get the first ones here the first week in May, but it has been a weird year weather wise so who knows.

I have been catching small ones for the last month. Started one job yesterday and most of the tunnels were pretty small so I am sure I am dealing with a lot of juvenile gophers. They breed year round here as well and the calls coming in fluctuate a lot depending on when they are kicking the young out of the burrows. Seems like it is about a 4 month cycle here for them.

Steve, sounds like alot of fun. I call this the out of site out of mind time of the year here. Hopefully when they start mowing I'll get back into the gopher fields. Been doing alot of mole work though. Keep us posted on the new jobs, first time through is the most fun.

I would love to run that trapline for a day.... awesome!

The only thing I am questioning is some of these areas havent been trapped or anything for them in years/decades. I covered some with grass, and it seems to help a little, but nothing dramatic. No baby gophers yet, but I am north of many of you, so it may be a bit longer, but I will let you know if I catch any little ones.

I have had success if they are tripping the trap when they plug it by setting the trigger as deep as possible so they have to push it further before it fires.

Most of them are plugged, and not set off. I would think they would stop pushing the trap if they feel any pressure to move it, but I would not know for sure.

my guess is your setting the trigger to hard otherwise i had a really trap smart gopher once that i opened a hole and left t wide open then opened up the mound right next to it and covered it completely had him the next day

I dont think that is it, because about half the time they fire when I put them in the tunnel.