Great Easter Gopher hunt

brucecorporal

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Super GunNutz
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the prairies
In spite of the crappiest spring in a long time I still got 11 gophers in the two warm hours on Sunday afternoon.
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** Edit: Thx for the pics!

A gopher safari on the prairies is definitely on my bucket list!!



:needPics:
 
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I can't wait until the snow is gone. We have properties lined up and there are a bunch of them out there. Best day last year was 243 in about 6 hours.:sniper:
 
Still quite a bit of snow around but on the warmer days I have been going out for about 3 hours in the early afternoon. Best day was 14 with most shots being fairly long with the .17.
 
My wife and I shoot our first gophers today. She's super excited lol. We still have about a foot of snow on the level in most places
 
I have one for gopher stew... but it does taste a little musky

I've often wondered what they taste like. Odd that they would be musky, given what they eat. Could they be heating up before you get a chance to clean them? I'm just asking, because I'm thinking of going out this Spring, but I won't shoot anything I won't eat (unless it's damaging stuff, which I don't think they do where I'd be hunting). Any techniques/recipes/hints on preparing them would be appreciated.
 
I've often wondered what they taste like. Odd that they would be musky, given what they eat. Could they be heating up before you get a chance to clean them? I'm just asking, because I'm thinking of going out this Spring, but I won't shoot anything I won't eat (unless it's damaging stuff, which I don't think they do where I'd be hunting). Any techniques/recipes/hints on preparing them would be appreciated.

I'll dig out the recipie and send it to you. Depends on the gophers themselves. A little stronger than rabbit. Like the difference between mutton, lamb,goat. Same flavours, but in different concentrations.

I doubled the bacon last time and it smoothed out considerably. Then again, 60-80 gophers in a stew pot do not have a chance against 2lbs of Mitchells Bacon!!!
 
Early spring gophers fresh out of hibernation would probably have a very strong taste, fat gopher in June ready for hibernation probably less so
 
I've often wondered what they taste like. Odd that they would be musky, given what they eat. Could they be heating up before you get a chance to clean them? I'm just asking, because I'm thinking of going out this Spring, but I won't shoot anything I won't eat (unless it's damaging stuff, which I don't think they do where I'd be hunting). Any techniques/recipes/hints on preparing them would be appreciated.

I'm no authority on these matters, but am heading out to AB a little over a month from now for my 3rd gopher-shooting-specific western trip. :) (awful sentence) I'd urge you to leave the "gopher cooking and eating" discussion for Ontario, or, for web forums. lol I mean, no harm in it I guess...but most land owners I've met out there already think I might have a screw loose simply because I "fly all that way JUST to shoot gophers?". lol That said, I've also been told I'm welcome back anytime.

I think once you crank a few of them and catch a whiff, the idea of eating one goes right out the window. Or should. To each, their own.

Thanks for posting OP~appreciate the photos too!
 
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