I'm not a trapper. Just trying to keep the wife happy. In the last 10 days I have trapped 6 gophers out of one hole in her flower garden. Is that number unusual? Thanks

Not to meaning to sound snide here. But are you meaning actual Pocket gophers or Ground squirrels? True gophers, at least the variety I have here I would say that was very odd(unless a nest?). Of our Grounds squirrels I wouldn't be too surprised. Though I have only dealt with those on a limited basis.

If you are pulling that many pocket gophers from one hole would expect you just had a breeding session and you are capturing offspring from a female who has that territory.

Though ADC is correct, always important since depending on region, some folks do use slang terms and things for other critters and it would be more likely to get a gob of ground squirrels or some other small rodent.

I'd imagine your weather is like ours in NM except even a bit nicer this time of year!

The most pocket gophers you will usually get per area is much higher just following birth and as they start to disperse. Since they are territorial in their own right (even if we are talking 20-30 square feet per gopher), you will only get large increases at one small site when the young are moving out.

My .02 anyway....

Thanks for the replies. Yes, they are pocket gophers. The first two were much larger than the rest although all were good sized. It was probably a family. Hope I got all of them.

How about during breeding season Justin? Do you get a large influx of males when a female is in heat?

Vinke,

Thats a good question, I could see the neighboring males coming in from several sides, conceptually if we look at one breeding female in her 20 sq. foot area in a residential yard here, and we say each of her neighbors are males on each side (not sure if thats true, but for sake of argument), you may get lets say 4 males (1 from each side) coming in, so you could be catching her, plus the hopeful males that are seeking a breeding partner.

Pocket gophers are an interesting and unique critter like many with such specialized habitats and diet. I met a student last year who worked on a project where they put tracking chips in a large sample of p. gophers in OK I believe. He told me all about what they found at a booth we had at a bat conference last year. Very interesting info, but I didn't retain all of it.

Steve Albano might have more info on this aspect of taking a number of them from one hole.

In my limited experience (I don't do a ton of this), it has been smaller p. gophers caught at the same site, though easy enough to sex them when your catching them to see if you have males/females and sizes.

Would love a burrow came to explore all over inside those runs! Would be fascinating to see!