First Gopher Hunt ... EFF That Was Awesome!

[Ormachek]

I remember shooting gohpers, I was in prone and all of a sudden I felt a tug on my leg.

I looked down and there was a bugger crawling up my damn pants leg! I thought to myself `Good lord! They are hutning humans now!!!`

He was quite friendly, so I let him live.

You should have screamed "It's coming right for us!!!!" and blasted him!

 

[Spazmo]

The Zombie Gopher Apocalypse is upon us eh?

 

[rookie wildcat]

First gopher hunt this morning. Most fun I have ever had!! My buddy got 18, I got at least that many. All in about 2 hours or so. Dang things are hard to hit with a .22 at varying ranges from 20yds to 100yds. LOTS of bracketing. And it sure was windy this morning. I am hooked. Going again tomorrow. These buggers are all over this farm!!

 

[KDX]

There's a gopher call you can buy that works pretty good. I've seen them at WSS.

 

[saskcop]

Good job. I gotta get out there . Lots of 'em around here.

 

[Doc M]

Took a buddy out to the family farm last weekend, on Saturday, and we got at least 40-odd between the two of us (him with a scoped Remington Nylon 66, and me with a scoped Ruger 10/22). I added two magpies when we returned from an ammo trip to the closest town...

I hadn't shot gophers in a few years, but I sure hadn't forgotten how much fun it could be! What I HAD forgotten is how sensitive .22LR is to crosswind... haha! In about 15 minutes I had my "doping" skills back up to par and it was game on.

And... I've never seen so many on the family pasturelands, so I'll be making a few more trips - that's for sure!

-M

 

[saskcop]

It is really easy to forget how much fun it can be. When I was a kid and routinely shot a couple of boxes in the pasture each weekend, I was a much better off-hand shot with a rifle.

 

[LloydM]

Like Scott N from post #4, using the term hunting just does not sit well with me when talking about pest control...

Post #24 got me wondering:
1.) What does the gopher call sound like? I have seen them at WSS myself, but never used one or tried it in the store.
2.) Does anyone call Gophers without the gizmo? ie. does anyone squeek at them? I am embarrassed to admit it, but I find that I can actually 'call' gophers. I can't do the call very loud though, so it is really only useful for close range, and it does not always work - maybe a third of the time I would guess. I immitate a distress call which is just enough to get them to poke their head up and see whats going on.

 

[sphincterxxx]

wow, you guys have gotten me excited about this. i MUST go in the next month or two (make the 10 hour drive to AB)... thanks for the inspiration!

 

[Doc M]

Post #24 got me wondering:
1.) What does the gopher call sound like? I have seen them at WSS myself, but never used one or tried it in the store.

I saw one in Stettler's Peavey Mart once, and couldn't resist - gave it a blow, and it sounded just like the "peep" you hear in a critter field. Just a few Hz below a dog whistle, lol!

If I need to 'call' I just do a soft, shrill whistle between my tongue and my upper teeth... but I don't ever recall having to "call" gophers when I was a kid - we were usually swimming in the darned things. If I did it, it was usually just for fun to see if I could get one to stand up for a better shot...

-M

 

[2fat2fly]

Like Scott N from post #4, using the term hunting just does not sit well with me when talking about pest control...

Post #24 got me wondering:
1.) What does the gopher call sound like? I have seen them at WSS myself, but never used one or tried it in the store.
2.) Does anyone call Gophers without the gizmo? ie. does anyone squeek at them? I am embarrassed to admit it, but I find that I can actually 'call' gophers. I can't do the call very loud though, so it is really only useful for close range, and it does not always work - maybe a third of the time I would guess. I immitate a distress call which is just enough to get them to poke their head up and see whats going on.

I squeek at them and can bring them pretty much to my feet. They aren't the brightest crayons in the box.

 

[Until the Angels Fall]

Sounds like you had a fun time

 

[daBear]

Blow across the top of an empty 22 casing. They stop and look, usually standing, then they fall down quickly in a teeny pink mist.....Heading over to SK so gotta find a spot in the SW part of the province.
Later
dB

 

[lclund1946]

First gopher hunt for Aussie friends

I used to do a lot of gopher "safaris" up around Gibbons when I lived in St Albert. The farmers were always very receptive. I've even had them offer to buy ammo-and bring out a cold beer in the evening to express their gratitude.

The biggest challenges are reading the wind and mirage and keeping your barrel clean and cool-and finding the time to roll your handloads. I used to use a BREN gun tripod to set up on heavy concentrations of them. I built an adapter for it that I could mount my shooting rest on. The .223 is king for this-cheap to reload and easy on barrels. And who says gophers can't fly?

Last fall I took two Australian friends on their first gopher shoot. I think they would vote for my 20 EXTREME as "king" of the gopher guns. Even though I had already shot hundreds of gophers off this field there were a few left for them. Here is a picture of a few that they didn't blow to bits.

[/IMG]

My 20 Extreme shoots as flat, or flatter, depending on how I load it and hits harder at 500 yards, than a 22-250 with Hornady 40 V-Max factory ammo. I can load it slow or to the same velocities as a 204 Ruger, 3650-4125 fps with 32 V-Max bullets, with 20.6 - 22.6 grains of powder. I have at least 12 loads that will shoot near 1/3 MOA to 300 + yards. Here are a few of my best loads and I have a few more to add.

[/IMG]

I have to get loading as I have used up most of my ammo on the 500+ gophers that I have shot, this spring, with this rifle.

 

[rookie wildcat]

Another 30+ for me this morning!!! Much easier doping today than it was yesterday. Maybe it took a few rounds to get things coming back. Quite proud of one shot. 164 yds with a .22LR, directly into the wind. Took 6 rounds to find it but the 6th one killed it dead!! My hunting partner had to match it so he did one at 147yds with 4 rounds. UNBELIEVABLE. This is too much fun!!

 

[MrSchultz]

Another 30+ for me this morning!!! Much easier doping today than it was yesterday. Maybe it took a few rounds to get things coming back. Quite proud of one shot. 164 yds with a .22LR, directly into the wind. Took 6 rounds to find it but the 6th one killed it dead!! My hunting partner had to match it so he did one at 147yds with 4 rounds. UNBELIEVABLE. This is too much fun!!

so where do you shoot gophers?

 

[rookie wildcat]

mostly on the ground, through the body, but a couple in the head.

 

[rookie wildcat]

HA HA.... Seroiusly, tough, farms in the Cold Lake/Bonnyville area. Don't have it as sweet as a buddy who goes to SK for a weekend and shoots them there. Farmers there supply ammo since you are doing them a favour. Doesn't matter to me though. I'll pay for the ammo as long as I get to shoot 'em.

 

[Spazmo]

I went east of Edmonton (past Elk Island Provincial Park, approx 55 kms from the edge of Edmonton), and then started asking farmer's permission. Once you get over the "I can't talk to them" phobia, it's quite good. All of the farmers I talked to were helpful.

 

[windage]

The vibrations definitely makes sense ... When my buddy and I decided to approach a known gopher area on foot with my SR-22, all of them went to ground. Only after waiting 10 mins in a spot that they would shot their heads.

Strangely enough though, we had GREAT luck driving up in my pickup to the area, as they seemed to scurry about without a care for the truck. My buddy acting as spotter, each time we saw one while in the truck, it would act oblivious if we left the engine running, got out of the vehicle, loaded our firearms, then took the shot vs turning the engine off, getting out, loading, then shooting. By time we performed the latter, the bugger was already down his hole.

I've heard from multiple sources to do similar (keep the engine running) if you spot a grouse. On logging roads, they are so used to the trucks going by, that they don't think twice if the engine is running. It's when the engine stops that they start to become spooked.

For some reason, driving around a field in a pickup is the best way to eliminate gophers. Walking around a field always gives less kill opportunities. Most ranchers I knew, including my grandpa, always had a .22 rifle sitting between the seats. When he drove to check on the cattle or the fence, the gophers were always curious to have a look at the vehicle. Most were shot from the window of the truck.

I went gopher shooting on Thursday. I was a little dissappointed. Alot of my gopher hotspots I went to have been wiped out due to poisoning. I thought they banned poisoning gophers but I guess not any more.