Two trapped regular gophers

Over the weekend I had set out my 17 regular gopher traps as I had heard a few gophers whistling warnings when I was out in the pasture. I also found a number of holes I had covered up last year were recently re-opened.

Today I checked the traps and found I had caught two gophers, and one other trap was sprung but no gopher. And a few holes I had just closed with dirt were re-opened yet again.

Of the two gophers I had trapped, one was dead and the other alive (until I got to it). An unpleasant task but a necessary one. Not all gophers will go into a conibear trap so I use a few leg hold traps which tend not to kill them. They may have one leg caught but they have a lot of fight in them and I have to be careful. It is essential to stake the leg hold traps else the gophers will run away with them. As it is I often have to pull the gophers out of their hole as I leave a little slack on the traps when I stake them.

I haven't put the rest of my pocket gopher traps in the hayfield as I plan to drag the harrow over it soon. Of the two traps out there, no activity. I tend to find trapping pocket gophers slower this time of year as they have recently given birth and are not as active.