Gopher talk
- Thread starter metalbender
- Start date
Me pense yew wuzz sleep'in in class?
Chort and tweet...............................dem dare natt'er'in gofer's izz dah broads.
The qwiet wunzs izz the males.
I can see two gophers through my office window right now! Wish I had drove to work today so I'd have a rifle for my lunch break!
The buggers are surprisingly fat, definitely had an easy winter so far. Could still have some nasty weather over the next couple of months though.
The buggers are surprisingly fat, definitely had an easy winter so far. Could still have some nasty weather over the next couple of months though.
Last year my father and I went out to a farm down my etzikom, took the 10/22 and the .17hmr 500 rounds for each, Never seen anything like it before in my life, the ground was literally moving, Had to leave in the early afternoon because we had expended all of our ammo. Hope to get down there again this year, I hope its the same as it was.
That's awesome! It's amazing the damage those tips will do. I found they break claws a lot, you have that problem?
You guys and your guns
This is the same one as above
There is a few I shot last year with the bow.
hometownhero
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Toon Town, Sk
Broke 2 both from hitting steel. One was a steel pole for a chain link fence. The other was a chunk of flat iron in the tall grass when I missed at 50 yards. The rest have a lot of shots and no broken claws. The 2 that did break still kill just as good.
leveractionjunkie
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Kamloops, BC
Wish I still had the time and access to properties to shoot them like I used to 
Nothing better than shooting gophers, maybe magpies but its too close to call
Nothing better than shooting gophers, maybe magpies but its too close to call 
Around 2006, people put out the call on Regina 980 AM radio to come down to the Mankota area. Being civic minded, I phoned the lady they interviewed. "Come on down", was her answer. She bought me lunch and gave me directions to her brother's farm. I have never seen such a mess! I had to ask a fellow who come out from his yard to visit, what was supposed to be in the fields I was shooting in. This was in July. I am a good SK farm boy, and I couldn't tell what the crop was supposed to be.
One day, I spent all afternoon walking back and forth along a mile of road, shooting first on one side for a while, then on the other. Every once in awhile, a pickup would come along, stop, blaze away for a while, then carry on. It was a disaster area. One field stunk from all the dead gophers laying around. The seagulls were having a feast. Those who think they should eat what they shoot needed to talk with those farmers for just a few minutes.
As an example of how clueless people can be, on the talk show on 980, one woman thought "they" should relocate the gophers, instead of shooting them.
One day, I spent all afternoon walking back and forth along a mile of road, shooting first on one side for a while, then on the other. Every once in awhile, a pickup would come along, stop, blaze away for a while, then carry on. It was a disaster area. One field stunk from all the dead gophers laying around. The seagulls were having a feast. Those who think they should eat what they shoot needed to talk with those farmers for just a few minutes.
As an example of how clueless people can be, on the talk show on 980, one woman thought "they" should relocate the gophers, instead of shooting them.
Around 2006, people put out the call on Regina 980 AM radio to come down to the Mankota area. Being civic minded, I phoned the lady they interviewed. "Come on down", was her answer. She bought me lunch and gave me directions to her brother's farm. I have never seen such a mess! I had to ask a fellow who come out from his yard to visit, what was supposed to be in the fields I was shooting in. This was in July. I am a good SK farm boy, and I couldn't tell what the crop was supposed to be.
One day, I spent all afternoon walking back and forth along a mile of road, shooting first on one side for a while, then on the other. Every once in awhile, a pickup would come along, stop, blaze away for a while, then carry on. It was a disaster area. One field stunk from all the dead gophers laying around. The seagulls were having a feast. Those who think they should eat what they shoot needed to talk with those farmers for just a few minutes.
As an example of how clueless people can be, on the talk show on 980, one woman thought "they" should relocate the gophers, instead of shooting them.
I help to relocate them to the empty stomachs of hungry birds and coyotes.
There doesn't seem to be as many gophers around in southern Manitoba, I think it's due to a lot of farmers poisoning them.
It's unfortunate because I'm sure a clean shot from a .22 or a .17hmr is a much more humane than the poison.
Some times I see a ridge in a field where the crop is completely eaten and there are gopher mounds everywhere, so I stop and watch for awhile but there are zero gophers. You can find this a lot actually, I don't know what the regs are on poisoning gophers but I'm fairly certain that's what is happening here.
It's unfortunate because I'm sure a clean shot from a .22 or a .17hmr is a much more humane than the poison.
Some times I see a ridge in a field where the crop is completely eaten and there are gopher mounds everywhere, so I stop and watch for awhile but there are zero gophers. You can find this a lot actually, I don't know what the regs are on poisoning gophers but I'm fairly certain that's what is happening here.
I'm an agronomist in S. Alberta and I see this all the time. Gophers in canola in particular can be very hard to shoot simply because of the nutritional value of what they are eating. They can come up in the morning and quickly get what they need then sleep off the rest of the day. You have to be in the right place at the right time to make an impact. Poisoning gophers in a field where the crop is already up is very difficult since they will prefer to eat the fresh green crop to the dry grain or bait.
Perhaps the lower gopher population has something to do with strychnine availability?
Wasn't it banned for a long while and just became available in the last few years because they realized the population of gophers was getting out of hand?
Wasn't it banned for a long while and just became available in the last few years because they realized the population of gophers was getting out of hand?
If you don't want to hunt them or poison them I fill a water barrel in the loader of my tractor and empty it into the holes, they either come out or drown, coming out I use the firearm of choice that day to dispatch. I cleared out a bunch quickly this way so as to avoid poison, not good for other species or domestic animals.
we used to drown them by the creek or slough ( any close water source) and beat them with a stick when they came up. Grandma taught us how to do this at a church retreat years ago. We had the time of our lives!!!! Grandma in her dress squealing when the gophers came up, and battering the first few gophers to beat the band. she just passed away 1 day before 101'st birthday, had a good life, so killing gophers must not be a bad thing and teaching others to do so can't be too bad, as she had a good life. RIP ye ole gopher basher!!!
- Location
- WMU248 near Edmonton
whats all that brown stuff....
only way i'm shooting any little squeekers this weekend is if they have snow shovels.... but there is the odd brown patch starting to show.
only way i'm shooting any little squeekers this weekend is if they have snow shovels.... but there is the odd brown patch starting to show.
wayupnorth
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Northern Alberta
hey, that was your 10,000 post Woodchopper!
congrats!
i was going to say something silly about your comment of 'odd brown patch' but since this is your 10,000 post ill let it escape my silly friday postings!
