Quote:
Originally posted by skier
We've never seen a dead gopher above ground, or any of the holes we plugged after putting the grain down been dug up from above or underneath, unless we plugged it wrong.
...including drowning (does not work, when the tunnels rise underground again they create quite large air pockets)
... and shooting was not an option in our area, it's simply illegal.
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First, I'm not trying to call you out or anything like that, but I do speak from experience.
I have used strychnine quite a few times; it is the most effective method. If you block the baited hole and all the holes that immediately adjoin it, then no gophers will come up to the surface. I think strychnine is a neurotoxin: small animals drop immediatly, larger animals will have neural activity... think of a chicken that recently lost its head. If there is an adjoining tunnel to the baited area that wasn't blocked, there is a chance that a poisioned animal will make it out. I have returned to a baited site a day later and found a dead gopher near the plugged hole with no obvious physical cause on the gopher and the original hole still filled. I know an old farmer that swears he lost a pair of barn cats the same way.
It will work to push a rubber garden hose deep down a tunnel and let it run with as much pressure as possible for an hour or so (which isn't an issue if youre in a rural location with your own well and pump). It won't work all the time, but it works as often as it fails. It is the most easy thing to try first and it won't hurt anything. Very least you annoy them.
Just out of intrest, I thought you were from Alberta (and I could easily be wrong). Where can you have 30 horses and have it illegal to shoot a .22? Inside some municipal area?