Gopher fishing in backyard... best way to get rid of gophers! 

I spoon some of my wife’s tuna casserole in the hole. Kills them every time. In fact my wife’s cooking is so bad, the flys got together and fixed the hole in the screen door. Dave Heitman. Semper Fi

Good time to be sittin' out with a .22 and a cold one!! Perfect plinking target!!

After releasing the gopher from the trap place the body back into the tunnel and cover the hole. When the body starts to rot the smell will keep the other gophers away from the area.

I used to trap gophers out of alfalfa fields. I trapped hundreds of them. There are a few techniques that will help you out a lot. In your video, the place you set the trap is at the END of the tunnel. A gopher will OFTEN just shove dirt and spring the trap when you set the trap at the end of the tunnel and leave the tunnel open where he can see daylight. A gopher tunnel tends to have a large mound of dirt mounded up at the ENDS of the tunnel, don't set your trap there. This is not where the gopher is spending a lot of time and is just where the gopher piles up the dirt. Instead, look for the holes that have just a tiny bit of dirt pushed up (barely any dirt coming out of the tunnel). These are the escape routes off of the main tunnel. The reason there is only a little bit of dirt (often just barely enough to fill the hole) is it is a short branch off of the main tunnel. Find one of these holes, with very little dirt, and dig 6" to 12" or so until you find where the tunnel "T"s. This "T" is the main tunnel and the gopher is very active here. Install two traps (the trap you are using), one down each tunnel the way you showed in your video. Then you want to block the light from entering the tunnel, so make a ball out of some of the moist dirt and place it in front of the tunnel, and sprinkle a bit of loose dirt if you need to so light doesn't get into the tunnel. You will get a gopher on a much high percentage of sets with this technique.

I have a cat that caught 4 this year. So I'm keeping the cat. ;-). This is a good back up plan.

After scouring the internet to figure out why people tie strings to their gopher traps, I could not find a satisfactory answer that connected the dots in my brain. This video answered my question. Thank you!

Been there, done that! I found many times after setting the trap and then putting a box or something over the hole to block out any light gives me a higher success rate, not always but it seems to help. Your video gave me an idea, thanks for posting. Looks like ya'll need some rain, hope you get some.

When gophers back fill a hole with the trap in it, it’s often because you’re handling the trap with your bare hands. Best to put on a pair of gloves to eliminate your scent and make them less wary. Used to live in an avocado orchard Central Coast CA, this was recommended by orchard manager.

I didn't have a trap so I tried filling all the holes in my back year with water.... After what it seemed like a 100 gallons of water the holes seemed filled and the gophers started climbing out all wet and slow... and we smacked them in the head with shovels...lol

When I was a kid I knew a guy who had a perfect method of getting rid of moles. He bought several cheap .22 pistols and welded them to a frame with the barrel pointed straight down and a rod that attached to the trigger. At the end of the rod, he brazed a small piece of flat metal and inserted that into the mound of loose soil at the tunnel opening. When the mole came up in the middle of the night for a breath of fresh air, he shot himself in the head. The old guy told me that the surviving moles were so nervous they lost the ability to "fornicate properly". His words, not mine. I was just a kid so I asked my mom what "fornicate" meant. She said that's how I got here, which didn't clear things up at all.

I used to be the “ I can’t kill an animal type” until I got gophers on my property. I will drop a bullet in one without blinking.

Tried 2 traps of that kind you are using and a rat trap for the first time to see which one would be more effective. Damn gopher ditched death twice with the rat trap but the other traps caught 2 of the damn things in less than 5 hrs. Fishing them is awesome. This technique totally helped

I have used a 9mm rimfire shotgun to remove pocket gophers many times and cleared them from all the front yards on my street. My nemesis gophers pop up only in the middle of the night. I never wanted to dig up a yard to use a pair of traps as the instruction show. There is a reason they are only sold in pairs. I like your method. I need to find the pair of traps I have around here somewhere and try this. It won't be as fun as hunting them, but the middle of the night only ones need a different solution. This might be it.

Kool video!I caught 7 gophers in my backyard last year they had tunneled underneath the shed all over the backyard had to replace the floor in the shed wat a critter!

I had a gopher problem once. I just dumped old urine soaked cat litter down the holes. They left and never came back.

I remember setting these exact traps with my grandfather. Good times. 😀🌊🏄

From apartment hunting to watching gopher fishing on youtube.. I don't even know lol

Down in South Central Texas we had a lot of sandy ground. Gophers were everywhere. We would use these traps to catch those pesky gophers. We had a little dog that would sit by the hole and wait for the trap to snap. He would dig the gopher out and eat it ! We lost many gophers like that ! The dog was a happy camper.....

I use the same traps, but my great granddaddy showed me to put a board over the hole and make sure no light gets in. Gophers can actually see the trap at the enf of the tunnel.

I thought that the beginning into was the outro 😂😂😂I thought it was ending!

I prefer a large padded mallet and when they poke their heads up I whack them........I get 10 points each and can trade the tickets in for cool prizes like a spider ring or tootsie rolls.....

Double traps facing both ways in the newest tunnel between two mounds is the way I was taught, and cover the light with a board and dirt. works every time. use a wire, not string.

This works okay but if you ever watch Caddyshack you know that plastic explosives forms of the shape of rabbits and squirrels works really really well for Bill Murray..

I took a look at your website and (as I thought) you are around San Antonio. I noticed the landscape and knew right away (near) where ya'll are. Those darn goffers are everywhere! I have been trapping them in much the same manner as you for some time (with a few minor changes). Good luck keeping them under control, they are everywhere!

Want to get rid of gophers? Get some cloth and cut it up into strips. Tie each strip into a tight knot and soak the knots in ammonia. Toss a knot into each hole then backfill the hole and tamp. The fumes will overcome them before they can escape. A more enjoyable method involves a chair, a six-pack and a .22

I have used the same traps to catch them, the feeling is great after they have tore up your whole yard.

To all the PETA lovers: ask the family in Gilbert AZ their opinion of gophers. Their farmer husband walked to the back of his pickup at the edge of a field and just disappeared down a gopher hole. They found irrigation water running down a gopher tunnel caused a deep man-sized sink hole and when the farmer broke thru the crust he dropped into the mud and drowned.

I did the same thing , it was the ONLY method that worked. My dog and I had an arrangement. When I caught a gopher, I hated getting it out of the trap, so I'd stake it back down and (alive OR freshly dead) the dog would eat it. Licked it clean. I got 5 in one day with a single trap! No muss, no fuss, clean trap, happy dog!

Best video i seen on these traps

I find that it's much more sporting using light tackle like an ice fishing pole......hours of fun when the fish aren't biting maybe the gophers and ground squirrels are.

Thank you for the video, I have a lawn care client who has a ton of gophers and chipmunks.

I don't enjoy killing animals but when gophers are turning your lawn in to a lunar landscape, these traps work great. And it's not like these animals are an endangered species! When I was a kid, I was in charge of gopher-elimination in our back yard. These traps worked about 90% of the time. Gophers can't stand having an opened hole and will obsess about closing it to keep snakes and other predators out of their tunnel system. However, there was one big monster that I never did get. It was on to the trap and would ALWAYS push a large slug of dirt in front of it and in to the trap and trigger it without getting caught.

Nice tricks keep me updated on new videos about gophers.

Dakota Rat (Dakrat/Prarrie Dog) fish'n: 550 cord, a bucket, a kiss call, beer, and a little time. Tie a slip knot at one end, stick it in and around the edge of the hole, cover the cord with a little dirt, walk back around 50-75 feet, put your bucket down, sit on it, crack a brewski, do your kiss call, when the sucker pops his head out, pull the cord. Usually gets him right under his arms. Then reel him in and walk him around like the dog he is. Release him somewhere well away from the area. Must of done this 1000 times back in my Dakota days. ...good times.

Buy a good rat trap like a victor and set it and set it on the ground in the area of gophers. Sprinkle sun flower seeds around the trigger area on the wooden platform. Place a milk crate over it for cover to prevent birds and squirrels from getting into it. This also gives cover to the gopher so they can relax and dance on the trap. They will set it off. Just check them when you have time. set it and forget it. I got 40 gophers one summer using this method at my parents place. Good luck

Hunter Benitez... why did you delete your foul lanhuage and hateful comment? Did you think that someone might click "reported". Btw... click report all you want the video isn't going away. Again, thanks for watching and please share it if you can. Hopefully you will find peace and cheer up a little. Stress and anger makes for an unhappy and short life.

this actually helped i had about 3 and got them all thank's

How the hell did I end up on a video about fishing gophers? I don't even own a yard for christ sake

Love those traps always work for me

I have no idea how I got here. I'm a gaming channel and a gopher fishing video pops up on my recommended feed haha Cool video though very interesting

Those macabee gopher traps are the best, you set the trap in the hole and cover it with leaves. Tie the string to a stick, there will always be a digger in the trap. The key is to open up all the fresh tunnel mounds, they hate the air drafts in the tunnels and then come to back fill the holes at their trap doom. You need to get the trap all the way down into the horizontal burrow tunnel and cover the access hole with leaves or loose grass. I had a hell of a time with them pocket gofers out in the sandy CA soil and the macabee traps had 12 of them gone within a week of diligence. When they come back, you will get the first two before it becomes an infestation of 12 like I had. Cheers!

Gophers have destroyed many of my pines recently caught two of em using traps home depot sells two in a pack they generally always catch em n just reuse the traps over again.

Yes these traps work great dude .

We used 2 things in ND, garden hose to flood the burrow and catch them as they came out, or holding a snare and making the whistle they do...worked faster than flooding and got em most times.

we used to open the tunnel put the trap in and then cover the opening and catch them that way. There was a .25 bounty on them so us kids made money trapping them for people.

Nice lil meal there.

They should make ones that will catch them live then I could put them in a tank like a gopher terrarium people would come for miles to see the gopher exhibit perfect get rich quick scheme

I found this video because I wanted to see why your trap was working, and mine (that's the exact same setup) wasn't. After watching the video, I started reading the comments to see if anyone else was having issues like I was. After reading some of the comments from some of the bleeding-heart vermin lovers, I noticed you responded as I would have. I am now subscribed to your channel!

I thought there was actually going to be a fishing pole involved. If so the video was going to get exciting very quickly.

@BigRedFishDad: I really enjoyed your video. I live in a ground floor apt and have a small garden outside my doorway. Last year I had a chipmunk & got rid of that. This year a mole moved into where the chipmunk was living & I just got rid of that last week. Then today I see a gopher moved in! Sheesh! I'm going to try your way & see if it works. Thank you for sharing!

Dang, you know your stuff. Good vid

when trapping in orchards we attach traps to a small chain here, otherwise the coyotes & foxes will run off with them. cool video!

When I saw the thumbnail and read the title, I knew this was going to be bad for the gophers.

This is very good skill to catch...!

Thanks for the video. I've got pocket gophers too and was trying to avoid using poisons.

Very nice Dad. I will have to give this a try.

Poor gopher, but you gotta do what you gotta do :(

I use a 410 when hole open stand there and wait around sun down early in the morning and skin them out put them and out Building happy hunting, From Oregon

ive been trying this method. lately all the gophers do is backfill the hole and push the trap out

wtf dude, your a lucky guy with a backyard like that. Beautiful

Geez people, HE didn't kill it...the trap did.

thx for publishing this video it really helps

A ways down the comments page, there is talk about why should gophers be killed. (I am judged as bad, because I do kill these rodents.) Well, folks, gophers do a ton of damage to my property! I love to landscape, but those rodents have already killed two locust trees I planted, and also an Autumn Blaze Maple. Furthermore, they chewed out the wiring on my Polaris 4-wheeler. It cost $1200 to get a new wiring harness. I hope I have made my point. I use the Victor traps to kill gophers. Meanwhile, I have begun using "gopher repellents." These have peppermint oil, dried coyote urine, dried blood, etc. So far, it appears that I have stopped the advance of those critters, since 25 new rose bushes have not had their roots eaten, not had their flowers bitten off by deer and pronghorn antelope. FYI, I use products from a company called "Deer Out" to repel them. If the college boy (further down the page) doesn't like my methods, there is nothing he can do about it.

Great tip. Small time on your part; good result. That’s a keeper for me. Thanks.

Yeah... That poor thing is not going to be available to star in the sequel of this video.

Ohh that was satisfying!!! I got one that is messing up my yard 😠😖 I will try this method.

should use some old ice fishing pop ups, that way you know you got one just by looking out the window

WOW you found a gopher nice 👍

My brothers, back in the early 70's, were trying to kill a gopher for weeks. It was eating everything in their garden and pretty much ruined it so they took the water hose and ran water until it popped up and got it with the shovel. Me being a kid just thought it was funny that my brothers got out smarted by such a simple creature.

I had some kind of critter leaving a hole in my front yard. What worked for me was pouring 2 quarts of urine down the hole. I don't know what happened but I haven't seen anymore holes.

bill murray would be proud

That music scared the shit out of me I kept turning my speakers up because i thought the sound was broken hahaha

How in the world did I go from listening to the Beatles to gopher fishing? I need HELP!!

not that i would suggest it for all the dry grass around those holes, but i've heard before that dropping highway flares in the holes works wonders. drop one in every hole you can find and the sulfur drives them out.

Caught one with mechanics gloves on and it bit me....it died half a second later.

I'll try it. I have one of the kinds that spear em from above as they go thru the burrows... Only got one..ONE... Wasted my money. That guy at the Co-op sold me a bill of goods..ha. Great vid!

Comment sections of vids where an animal dies (even if it's a pest like here and needed to be killed) are so filled with super-liberal couch philosophers commenting "what if you were a gopher" and stupid stuff like that XD Why can't people just watch a video and move on with their life? Lol. Keep up the good work man, God Bless :)

Make a PVC pipe with a spring lever trap door. When the critter pushes dirt out of its hole it springs the trap! Then you can travel to an area not populated and let it go? ; )

how did i get from rick astley to this

This episode of "The New Adventures of Gopher Fishing" brought to you in part by The Scooter Store.

The comment section is frickin' hilarious. full of kids who doesnt know what pest controlling is. i think i just came here for the comments lel

I got them Rats In my yard and been using them same traps but the badger I’m trying to catch is way too smart ! You got something else I can try short of TNT

awesome catch

I could understand if it was a nice turfed garden..

I actually got 4 ground squirrels and a rat in one day in my back yard. the Victor Rat trap is an absolute killer.

"Varmit kong.................."

Great way to catch them. I love a confirmed kill!!!!!

For all these animal lovers he killed it quietly if I showed you how to do it put peanut butter on the end of a shotgun waits for an hour at most when it starts to inspect the shotgun make another hole in yer yard

Hey thanks bro I have a gophers in my yard to and your way of getting rid of them work

SOMETIMES YOU'VE JUST GOT TO GOPHER IT.

I have found through extensive backyard testing and research that 1/4 stick of dynamite dropped in one gopher hole eradicates all the gophers that reside there in. don't forget to stick your fingers in your ears after dropping the dynamite. after the first explosion all other gophers get the message and depart the location and your neighbors ask you to move

you should have edited in the caddy shack sound track ...

Aquí en Yucatán es un manjar!!!!

Sir: I'll share with you a solution for underground dwelling pests from my grandad. You take all the holes of the creature and plug them, accept for the farthest hole and the nearest. Then you take a combustion engine, lawn mower, tractor, car etc. and add oil to the fuel until it smokes, I mean really smokes. then take a flex hose, fix one end to the exhaust and shove the other in the near hole. They fall asleep and meet their Lord. Problem solved. God Bless. J. M.

I used to have a cat that would hunt gophers, would sit next to a hole waiting for the little guys. As soon as the gopher poked its head out, she would stick hers down the hole. She caught dozens that way.

put coffey grounds in hole wash it down a lil and they don't come back!!!

Being British I have no clue what kind of crimes gophers commit, we have moles that turf up the lawn and leave the same kind of mounds of soil. I quite enjoy watching them.

I tried that same trap, flares, exhaust off my desel truck, my backhoe grabbed two gophers but the trap that prevailed was a trap that I had to build using a 12 gauge shotgun shell. I spent all summer watching gophers pull up pieces of my septic and it took only ONE SHOT with my 12 gauge trap. Problem solved!

here's a true story,a little lengthy,but it's true and it will make you think . here goes... growing up in the mountains of North Georgia,and in the swamps of middle Georgia, we did alot of hunting,fishing,trapping,snake shooting,etc. so basically,I had no problem whatsoever with killing an animal,especially if we were going to eat it.we hunted n harvested so much game that my parents never bought meat,winter or summer.we kept the freezer loaded. then one day, I gained possession a new gun( used,and in bad shape,rusty,etc.) so I cleaned the gun somewhat while sitting on my front porch. it was fall time,squirrel season, n I saw a squirrel in a tree within shooting distance. this was the only squirrel I had seen the whole time that I was outside, ( for over an hour or so) so,I decided I would check to see if my sights were set correctly on the gun, . I aimed at the squirrels biggest part,is body,and I hit him with that lil.22 rifle. the squirrel was mortally wounded, but not dead.he was hanging onto a branch with one hand, and was doing that barking sound that squirrels make. I didn't want him to suffer so I tried to hurry up n reload, so I could hoot him again,and end his suffering.well,of course that rusty gun jammed. well,after this squirrel started barking,there were 7 squirrels that came from one direction,and 8 from another direction. ( these squirrels were coming from pretty far away too!). and all of these other squirrels were barking at me too. I was finally able to get a bullet into the chamber and finish the squirrel off, but that didn't stop the other squirrels from barking at me, and voicing their complaint at me killing their friend. I'm sure the other squirrels knew that I could have killed them just as easy, but they continued to bark at me,shake limbs above my head making acorns fall,etc.. before this day,I had never given much thought at all to taking the life of a deer, hog,bear,etc... much less a lowly squirrel ,with a brain smaller than a peanut. but after this event took place, it made me do some serious thinking. I thought... IF A SQUIRREL, WHICH HASXA BRAIN THE SIZE OF A SMALL ACORN, HAS THIS MUCH OF A SOCIAL STRUCTURE, AND UNDERSTANDING OF DEATH, HOW MUCH MORESO WOULD A DEER,HOG, BEAR,ETC.HAVE, WITH THEIR MUCH LARGER BRAINS? that was many years ago, and my friends still invite me to go hunting,and sometimes I do go .I even bring a weapon n everything, but I now just let squirrels, rabbits,deer,etc.walk right on by. and I get rewarded for it too. I get to watch them,study them, take pictures,n stuff. I watch the young deer play a game uch like tagg and follow the leader, I watch rabbits outfoxx a fox, or a fox outfoxx the dogs... it's a real study. now , I hope you guys don't think I am some kind softy or wuss. actually, if my family were hungry and I knew that the only way I could feed them is by killing a deer,bear,hogg,etc... I would kill one in a heartbeat. but it's not something that I would enjoy doing. now, I try my best to live with wildlife,and not against it. I now have deer that walk right up to my back porch n let me feed them, and of course every year they just tear my garden to shreds, they eat everything except the tobbacco n the plants on the back porch,but that's okay. we aren't starving... so, if y'all have a choice, try to find a way to live with the animals, and not against them. anyway...there's my mushy story .I hope y'all enjoyed it.it's true..every word..

Thanks for uploading!😇