Gopher Population?
- Thread starter Bad Bob
- Start date
All you need is a .22 and lots of ammo. Ask at farms if you can shoot gophers. Also ask at the RM offices. I shot gophers north of Mankota in the mid 2000's, tons and tons of gophers. They have all but disappeared. There are places where there are gophers, but they can be difficult to find. Sometimes if you stop in at the local gas station, buy a tank of gas, and ask about gophers, the people will get on the phone and ask farmers they know.
Despite the popular conception, you don't need to drink booze while shooting, nor do you necessarily need to offer booze to the farmers who let you shoot. I have a place I go to with my little travel trailer. The fellow sets me up in one of his farm yards, hooked up to power. He is just happy to have somebody cleaning out the gophers. I shoot with .22, .22WMR, .17HMR and 12 ga. Shotguns are a bit of a change and also no worries about ricochets.
Just a lighthearted note: Shoot gophers, not hunt gophers.
Nobody close to the city let's people shoot anymore there was a guy out by Blaine lake that let come out and shoot. However he let someone he found on kijiji shoot out there and they shot up a bunch of his equipment and even hit a few of his cattle with .22 so now he's closed his doors to everybody.
- Location
- the prairies
I got more the other weekend by Assiniboia then in the last three years...finally unloading some .17M2 on them varmints!
All you need is a .22 and lots of ammo. Ask at farms if you can shoot gophers. Also ask at the RM offices. I shot gophers north of Mankota in the mid 2000's, tons and tons of gophers. They have all but disappeared. There are places where there are gophers, but they can be difficult to find. Sometimes if you stop in at the local gas station, buy a tank of gas, and ask about gophers, the people will get on the phone and ask farmers they know.
Despite the popular conception, you don't need to drink booze while shooting, nor do you necessarily need to offer booze to the farmers who let you shoot. I have a place I go to with my little travel trailer. The fellow sets me up in one of his farm yards, hooked up to power. He is just happy to have somebody cleaning out the gophers. I shoot with .22, .22WMR, .17HMR and 12 ga. Shotguns are a bit of a change and also no worries about ricochets.
Just a lighthearted note: Shoot gophers, not hunt gophers.
Hahaha I guess hunting is a bit of a stretch
Thanks
powdermaker
CGN Regular
- Location
- Saskatchewan
I took a good friend of mine gopher shooting a few years ago. He was new to shooting sports, but very careful regarding gun safety. However, never gave any thought to the possibility of ricochets. He wanted to shoot at some gophers that were 50 yards away, in a direct line, 300 yards behind my parked truck. I told him to hold up, unless he wanted to pay for the damages. A lot of people don't realize the the .22 rimfire is the worst caliber for ricochets.
I haven't gone gopher shooting since they reintroduced strychnine poison as a control method. Glad to hear that there are still some good shooting to be had.
All you need is a .22 and lots of ammo. Ask at farms if you can shoot gophers. Also ask at the RM offices. I shot gophers north of Mankota in the mid 2000's, tons and tons of gophers. They have all but disappeared. There are places where there are gophers, but they can be difficult to find. Sometimes if you stop in at the local gas station, buy a tank of gas, and ask about gophers, the people will get on the phone and ask farmers they know.
Despite the popular conception, you don't need to drink booze while shooting, nor do you necessarily need to offer booze to the farmers who let you shoot. I have a place I go to with my little travel trailer. The fellow sets me up in one of his farm yards, hooked up to power. He is just happy to have somebody cleaning out the gophers. I shoot with .22, .22WMR, .17HMR and 12 ga. Shotguns are a bit of a change and also no worries about ricochets.
Just a lighthearted note: Shoot gophers, not hunt gophers.
I call it illegal hunting when I call the RCMP on the 8 to 10 hunting groups every year that seam to think they can go on my land when ever they want. I live 10 minutes east of Red Deer, this time of year is the worst for, douche bags with guns that show up and start shooting up anything and everything. You say no booze but that is not the norm, I have yet to see anyone of the illegal’s not have a couple of cases of beer. If I do not catch them in the act then it is lots of empties left behind along with subway bags McDonalds, Tim Hortons cups, car parts, and as always always full of holes, no of course lots of empty casings every where.
Young old it makes no difference, you always get the same line, I asked the owner, last time I was out so its ok now (liars everyone). I have owned this 1/4 section for the last 25 years. I tell the RCMP every time to push the crown for maximum and I always send a bill amounting to usually a couple hundred dollors, for the clean up to the illegal hunters, most do not pay it but those that do it is given to the kids for what ever that want.
I have called the RCMP so many times now that we are on a regular patrol now, its a good feeling to know that they take these calls seriously and will change there patrols accordingly.
Same here nobody gets permission, but me and close friends and they all know not to go out with out asking every time. Because they all know the history.
My dad and I used to go every summer. Every spring we went to three farm houses and asked in person if we could shoot gophers for the summer on their property. They always let us but they knew my dad because my grandpa had farmed that area (Lloydminster). It was never a short conversation either, at least two hours of stories and they gave us locations on where the ground demons were spotted the most. It’s where I learned to shoot, and where I was taught firearm safety. We’d pick up any beer cans, shotgun shells, or other garbage left behind. Once the farmers started using poison we never had much to shoot, and had stopped going. We got the impression the poison was used so there were no gophers on their land, that way they wouldn’t have idiots out there like the ones described above. I miss those days, some of the best memories I have with my dad.
OP: Good luck with your search, don’t forget to ask permission and clean up after yourself.
OP: Good luck with your search, don’t forget to ask permission and clean up after yourself.
I’ve heard some of the old timers around here talking about farming in the 30’s and 40’s. Before seeding a field, they would load up a drill with strychnine laced oats and spread them over the entire area to kill off the gophers.
Nowadays we do a pre-seed burnoff off the weeds, back then they had to do a pre-seed burnoff of the gophers.
Im sorry to hear that Edandedna
Douche Bags like that really need to be held accountable for their actions.
Pisses me off because it makes things a lot more tricky for the responsible "Gopher decommissioning teams"
I put a post on a local facebook group asking farmers who would like their gophers fed lead pills... and I have guys messaging me asking why I haven't been out yet... that's how many responses I got. I am smack dab between the Mankota area and Maple Creek area that was mentioned earlier, so trust me... there are gophers! I even bought a gopher call from the coop today, lol, I have a feeling it was a waste of $25 bucks... but worth a try for a little fun.
