Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Gopher control

permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: permaculture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Rick Valley <bamboogrove@cmug.com>
  • To: <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Gopher control
  • Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 00:13:06 -0700

I actually use a BIG propane torch and burn smokehouse sulfur down their
holes. You don't often find the bodies, but they don't seem to relish a
sulfur-filled hole and at the least, move on. (My theory being if you keep
'em moving they'll be more vulnerable to predators) This sulfur dioxide
treatment is easiest in Feb. when it's breeding season and they "leave the
door open"
I've had traps work, but the traps work better if you can de-scent 'em in
between sets. A Yankee friend recommended boiling the trap with black willow
bark.
I've often wished for one of those Gopher-Getter rigs that puts a mix of
propane and Oxy down the tunnel and sparks it off with a diesel glow plug on
a stick. Supposedly the concussion kills within a 20 ft. sphere; 95%
effective in one pass over 20 acres, I read. But that means tanks, a
battery, and a way to maneuver all this around a farm; you'd have to hire
out to pay for it all.

I've made a main part of my living for 15 years growing bamboo- and gophers
LOVE bamboo!

Killing for veggies! Yet every farmer I know has to do it.

In Belize the locals showed us how to make a trap with sticks, bark and a
bit of wire that will pull the little bugger right out of his tunnel and
garrot him in the air, so's you can come along and take him home for dinner.
The in-hole version is simpler, but you'll not get the dinner then- some
other critter will.

I have war stories of rats and nutria too.

with wretched karma,
-Rick







Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page