Homesteading and Hobby Farm/Ranch

For the people with gopher problems (apologies if this has been brought up before):

Shooting works, but it's time consuming and you're unlikely to get them all. A better method is granulated sulphur + a propane torch to smoke out their runs.

The method is this:

Find where their most recent digging activity is. Often times, they will leave a hole open if they've been working that day but aren't currently working. Use that open hole if so, but if not bring a trowel to open a hole that's at one end of their most recent series of mounds.

Take your trowel and put a scoopful of granulated sulphur into the open hole. If it's a dry time of year, I like to spray down the area around the hole with water first before the next step. A pump sprayer normally used for insecticide works, I'd advise against using one with herbicide in it due to the possibility of residue that will kill the grass you're spraying down. This all is to prevent a grass fire.

The next step is to light your propane torch and apply it into the hole and melt the granulated sulphur and spread the toxic smoke through their runs. Beware, this smoke is NASTY. If you get a good whiff of it you'll know it, but I don't think there's any ill effects of it getting on anything like your clothes other than the smell.

You'll know it's working if you start to see wisps of smoke going throughout the run of mounds. It will trickle out slowly and spread for quite a distance. Sometimes 20-40 feet if you're lucky. If you see smoke billowing out from anywhere, try to plug that hole so the smoke stays underground to do its job.

Once you've applied fire in this manner for a good bit, say 1-2 minutes, turn off the torch and cover the hole. Congrats! Whatever was in that section of gopher mounds and tunnels is now dead. If there are more tunnel runs that need to be hit, lather rinse and repeat.

Check the next day or to to make sure you got them all. If you haven't, there should be more activity. Begin the process again if you need to hit more gopher colonies.


I've found this to be the best process for gophers by far. It's extremely lethal and doesn't take much time, say 30-60 minutes from start to finish. More if you have a lot of runs to hit.
CAVEAT: this doesn't work on moles. They dig too fast and can cover up their tunnels before the smoke gets to them and kills them.

Blazin said:

I've heard of ways to poison them with CO2 as well with a similar method. We are currently under a fire ban but should try at some point. Prior to this spring I thought we had things well in hand, was only a handful still around. They sure did multiply quickly

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Ideally you're not starting a fire with this method, but I'm not sure how draconian your local laws are on that. Typically the fire bans are due to air quality regs, so if you're not making significant amounts of smoke I would think you'd be good. But then again, who knows with Current Year.

Burns said:

Wild fires in Texas and Oklahoma start from grass fires and burn huge swaths of land and houses. Last year seemed especially bad for it and everyone takes it seriously. I would assume there is a good chance that they will spend the resources to trace the fire's starting point, if there are any deaths.

Two of the dumbest wildfires last year were due to a controlled burn getting out of hand. Both ended up burning more than 800 acers and involving 200+ firefighters for each, as well as air support, and all the costs that come along with that.

The worst fire last year, was the Eastland Complex fires which destroyed most of the little town of Carbon, Texas. In total, it burned 86 houses and 54,000 acres. The fire services were extremely stressed, because it was not the only wildfire going on at that time.

Wildfire sentinel during Eastland Complex - AgriLife Today

Spring 2022 was a devastating and challenging time during what would become one of the state’s most notable wildfire years.

agrilifetoday.tamu.edu

P.S. Suffocating them with sulfur is a neat solution to the problem, though. Carbon Monoxide is heavier than air, so I wonder if the ol' garden hose in the tail pipe would work.

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Hence the 'wet down the area around the hole with water' step. Obviously clear any loose or dry grass from the area. Don't do it in high winds. If you do get some ignition, put it out with your foot or the water pump sprayer.

Common sense stuff, I would think. Fire goes in the hole, not the grass.

Burns said:

Sure, but I am paranoid of getting sued, so it's always why take the chance when they specifically say your banned from burning shit. It always feels like there is some small chance that I could roll a 1 and everything goes catastrophically wrong.

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Nothing personal, but I think those regs are around due to all the morons out there who don't take precautions and don't think about things like loose grass or high winds. It's making the competent handicapped by the stupid.

But I'm a red ass on that kind of thing, so *shrug*