Gophers!!

I can't imagine those Richardson's Ground Squirrels ('gophers') are disease infested vermin. Other than the fatal gunshot wounds, they look pretty healthy. Why would they be any different from other squirrels that people eat? I suppose being a colonial species could allow disease to spread... but if it was bad, they'd all die off in a hurry.

Those Montana boys were shooting prairie dogs... a lot bigger than the Alberta 'gophers'.. and a threatened species in Canada found only in southern Saskatchewan.

We do have something similar to the Alberta gophers in BC... Columbian Ground Squirrels are found in the southern half of the province - I think limited to the interior. As far as I know, it's illegal to shoot them on Crown land. Private land only.

I'm no real fan of killing animals for target practice... and I don't buy the old 'livestock will break their legs' excuse. Of course, some landowners just don't want them around, and shooting them is a lot better than poisoning them!
 
Yea. 300 or so last year in about 4 hours and only about 200 this year. No, I won't tell you where! Best option is to get permission from some rancher to shoot on their land. Trouble is, you really have a hard time finding any large populations any more, so when you do, you keep hush, hush about it and you don't shoot loud rifles. 22LR and 22WMR only.
 
I have not heard of this north of the US boarder but just so you know:

Health Risks

Ground squirrels are hosts for fleas and may act as carriers for bubonic plague. Plague is transmitted to humans via flea bites. Early symptoms of plague include swollen and tender lymph nodes, chills and fever. Early diagnosis and treatment is imperative. When walking through suspected plague areas, apply an insect repellent to socks and pant cuffs before tucking pants inside boots.
 
HeadDamage said:
I have not heard of this north of the US boarder but just so you know:

Health Risks

Ground squirrels are hosts for fleas and may act as carriers for bubonic plague. Plague is transmitted to humans via flea bites. Early symptoms of plague include swollen and tender lymph nodes, chills and fever. Early diagnosis and treatment is imperative. When walking through suspected plague areas, apply an insect repellent to socks and pant cuffs before tucking pants inside boots.
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Prairie Dogs are carriers of Silvatic Plague which is a close relative of Bubonic Plague. However plague is easily treatable with modern medicines so not really a huge worry these days.


A good day of gopher shooting is a dry july sunny day....you can bag 200 easy
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June is better than July. The babies come out the end of May and early June. That is high season for shooting. Depending on the field and populations that year you can shoot a lot more than that in a day. A few years ago some friends and I shot over 2000 in a weekend in a single field. I have seen fields so polluted with gophers that there is hardly any grass left. Doubles become routine and triples are even possible.


Holly cow, .223 on gophers, you guys have money to blow! 50 cents a shot!
Fun but I'd be a little worried about bullets skipping. 22s I've seen skip and go 100yds past their intended target. I hope you guys took that into account using .223.
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.22 rimfire is good on gophers but lacks the range and explosive effect of centrefire rounds. High velocity rifle rounds are considerably safer than rimfire because the frangible bullets disintegrate on impact. They don't ricochet at all. I have shot gophers with all kinds of calibers including 243 and even 308 for longer distance kills.
 
.22 rimfire is good on gophers but lacks the range and explosive effect of centrefire rounds. High velocity rifle rounds are considerably safer than rimfire because the frangible bullets disintegrate on impact. They don't ricochet at all. I have shot gophers with all kinds of calibers including 243 and even 308 for longer distance kills.[/QUOTE]

I think you'd guys would be supprized at just how much the bullets travel even if they do fragment.I put a 4'x4' cardboard 20 feet behind a target. The spary was shocking to me atleast. It looked like it was hit with a shotgun.
I'm not saying don't use. 223, just saying that you have to be a little more careful shooting.
 
Strangeday said:
A good day of gopher shooting is a dry july sunny day....you can bag 200 easy
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Or more!!:) To the people who make us gopher shooters out to be bloodthirsty goons, head out to a farm where the gophers have eaten ALL the crop, pasture and anything plant-like, then come back and preach to us. I shot at a farm near Mankota in 2006/7 where I had to ask the farmer what had been in the fields. There were thousands upon thousands of gophers running around.

Maybe you can't "get worms" from handling gophers, but I'm not going to be the one to prove the theory. I have seen gophers' guts literally crawling with worms. Feel free to eat all you want......cp:cp:
 
Yeah, central sask here, hundreds per day the norm if you find a decent patch. That's what the 30rd mags and the fifty rd drums are meant for. Dirty trick: as you move across the pasture, and shoot out an area, if you have a diesel truck, just let it idle. I swear it just calls to them. Between my cousin and her husband, easily 500 a day. It's ridiculous. And yes, especially cattle farmers are excited to have guys come out and shed brass.
 
Makembite said:
Yeah, central sask here, hundreds per day the norm if you find a decent patch. That's what the 30rd mags and the fifty rd drums are meant for. Dirty trick: as you move across the pasture, and shoot out an area, if you have a diesel truck, just let it idle. I swear it just calls to them. Between my cousin and her husband, easily 500 a day. It's ridiculous. And yes, especially cattle farmers are excited to have guys come out and shed brass.
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Haha! I do the same thing. The louder and more rumbly, the better. Tractors are also good. :)

If you can get out in late April on a nice day, try to get the mommas before the babies are born.....Every one you get is worth about 10 but ruins later gopher shoots.LOL

Gophers are far more fun than targets...it's like playing a high veolcity game of whack-a-mole!
 
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