The War on Gophers in My Garden Continues

The gophers seemed to have found my garden again.

The critters in my garden appear to be one of the species of pocket gophers, possibly the Central Texas Pocket Gopher ( Geomys texensis). I find their mounds all over the pasture at my place.

They live almost entirely underground, rarely breaching the surface where predators can easily pick them off. Normally, they feed on the roots of plants, especially fleshy roots and bulbs. In my garden, the mounds often appear around young plants. Lately, they’ve been attacking my kale plants. They munch on the roots and slowly pull the entire plant underground. They’re also fond of potatoes and carrots.

In the pasture, my dogs often hunt them by watching for new mounds. My big dog, Sadie, an Anatolian Shepherdhound dog mix, will stare at the mounds until she notices some dirt moving. Then she’ll pounce on it. She likes to show off by leaving dead gophers next to the steps of our front porch.

She also likes to dig in my garden. I have to keep her out with an electric fence. But this gives the gophers a refuge.

Last week I noticed some fresh mounds amongst my plants. After that, I deployed my secret weapon: the Gopher Hawk. I turned three of them into buzzard feed between Saturday and Wednesday.

The Gopher Hawk is a spring-loaded trap that you set in a gopher tunnel. If you buy the kit, it comes with a probe and a wedge tool. When you find a mound, you use the probe to poke around the mound and find the tunnel. These traps hardly ever work if you set them in the mound itself. You need to find the tunnel connected to the mound. Then use the wedge tool to create a hole on the surface that reaches the tunnel. Finally, set the trap in the hole and pack dirt around it so no light seeps through.

The trap is a tube with a set of spring-loaded metal straps that come out the end. These straps, which resemble a cage, are activated by a swivel trigger. When a gopher encounters the trap and tries to pass through it, the trigger releases the spring, which violently traps the gopher, usually killing it instantly.

Every once in a while the trap catches them by the front feet and they’re still alive. When that happens, I use the probe tool to dispatch them.

Gophers normally live a solitary lifestyle, with each gopher inhabiting their own system of tunnels. They breed during the cooler months of the year. Males and females take up residence with each other for a few months. The gophers at my place appear to be paired up right now. I caught two big adults (I assume a female and a male), along with one juvenile, out of the same tunnel this week.

I’ve tried using poisons in the past, but I’ve never had much luck. And you never really know if poison works when the gophers die underground. Plus, that’s probably an awful way to die if you’re a gopher. The Gopher Hawk almost always kills them quickly and humanely.

Besides, I don’t like the idea of spreading poisons in the vegetable garden that feeds my family.

La Grange Farm and Ranch sells Gopher Hawk traps. If it’s your first time using one, buy the kit, which comes with the probe and the wedge tool. Otherwise you’ll need to fashion your own probe and digging device. They also sell the traps individually. I own two of them. Sometimes it helps to set multiple traps.