I'm sure you guys will quickly recognize what's wrong with this catch. Not sure if I remember how to post a picture.

I have never used those traps but the direction the gopher is traveling looks backwards, not sure how the dog works on those traps.

wws

You win the prize you are absolutely correct. It got him going the opposite direction really weird

Wouldn’t That push the trigger into the dog more?? Very confused how he got caught

The way gophers spin around in the tunnel is crazy. They are a fast little animal from what I have seen. I’m guessing it spun around and backed into the trigger.

wws

I have caught many young/juvenile gophers, not mortally asphyxiated/killed by the Gophinator pinchers, either turned around or attempting to turn around in the trap set tunnel. The Macabee trap you’re using has shorter and sharpened catch tines and maybe barely belly caught the gopher giving it the opportunity to turn around. Did you put 2 similar traps in the trap set, one in each direction? If so, just wondering out loud why it didn’t get caught in the opposite tunnel.

Also, is this the Macabee trap you mention and used to attempt to catch a mole in a recent post? This is primarily a gopher trap. I know it will NOT catch the smaller Eastern Mole I chase. The trip plate to catch tines distance is too great and will miss my moles almost every time. The Gophinator trap for gophers and the smaller mole trap sold by your fellow Californian, Steve Albano at Trapline Products is worth considering. Best of Luck.

I should have said “it didn’t seem that they were asphyxiated/killed immediately.” In other words, it seemed like they had time to twist and turn or try to in the tunnel if they were belly caught.