Gopher Trap
A Quick Guide to the Gopher Trap
Experts say that the gopher trap is the best way to get rid of gophers. While there are other methods you can use, the gopher trap continually is at the top of the list when it comes to ridding your land of this rodent. The wire trap is the one most used to get rid of gophers.
One of the most popular is a gopher trap made by Macabee. While there are other manufacturers of gopher traps, this one is considered the best by many, and has been around since 1900. The Macabee is considered to be a wire trap. One of the most difficult things about all wire traps is that they can be hard to set and position in the gopher’s tunnel.
Getting rid of gophers is a tough job but the damage they can do to crops can be in the thousands of dollars. Even backyard gardeners who work hard to produce a small harvest can have all their hard work come to nothing when gophers arrive. Many people get confused between gophers and moles. Gophers are larger and their holes are further underneath the ground. You can usually tell where a mole has dug a tunnel because they do it just under the surface and you can see where the ground is raised up.
If you are lucky enough to find a new, open gopher hole, all you have to do is set the Macabee gopher trap and position it inside the tunnel. This instance is very rare. Most of the time you need to get a metal stake and insert it in the ground to find out where the main tunnel might be. Then you have to dig down to the tunnel. You should tie the traps together and a string to the traps. Pound a stake into the ground about three feet from the tunnel hole and tie the string to it. This prevents the traps from being pulled far into the tunnel.
Set both traps and place them in the tunnel, each one in an opposite direction. You can bait the traps with some grain or leaves if you wish. Gophers love tomato leaves and the strong scent will keep them from smelling your scent. Cover the hole with a board or something similar so that most of the light is kept out. The gopher will actually move toward the slits of light that are still coming in the hole because he wants to fill them with dirt. When he gets there, he will be greeted by the trap.
Traps for gophers are not the kind that keep the animal alive. All wire traps kill the gopher by squeezing him between the wires so that he immediately dies from not being able to breathe. If this method bothers you, just think about the damage he has done or will do if he is not eliminated. If no gophers are caught in 48 hours, continually move the traps to new locations until you catch them.
It is a good idea always to wear gloves when dealing with gopher traps, whether placing them, moving them, or removing the gopher from them.