Pocket gopher trapping

I started doing it this spring to give myself something to do for the farmers who let me trap in the fall. It's a learning (and humbling) experience to be fooled by a pocket gopher! That being said, I'm getting the hang of catching them with cinch traps but haven't held a thing in any other trap. The gophinators have been disappointing. The death clutch is so-so. Haven't used the easy-sets long enough to have a catch history with yet.

My questions to this esteemed group are these:
1. I can find main tunnels but with cinch traps, I have to have big holes to fit 2 traps (one in each direction). Is this how you do it?
2. I can catch gophers just fine if I can locate a one way tunnel but the main tunnels (with cinch traps) are baffling to me. I'm usually trying to stand the trap on end or at a very steep angle. They get plugged often and I rarely catch with this angle. How do you set a single trap in this situation?
3. With cinch traps, which is what I have, most of the catches are from sets that are near horizontal. Is this the best or are there other set ups I should try?

I've gotten 39 so far. Not a lot, but I'm learning. By trapping season, I hope to have another 20-40, meaning I will have covered the cost of my traps based on the township bounty. By next year, I might even make a buck or two

Somebody's got to have experience with pocket gophers!!!

I have an 8 year catch history and use only one style of trap for gophers - Trapline Products Gophinator. I trap in sandy soils and it's the only trap I will ever use. My trapping method involves probing ~1.5' away, mostly in front of the mound/plug to find the main tunnels. At that point, I will dig a hole around the size of a 3# coffee can down to the base of the tunnel run. The tethered Gophinator traps are inserted, almost always level, into each tunnel (Please note that I insert my traps in the tunnel as far as I can. I left these out for pic purposes). I use a dab of Peanut Butter in the center of my hole, then cover, stake, and flag my trap set. I never trap at the short lateral tunnel which is found at an angle leading from the plug to the main travel feeding tunnels. This is why I probe ~1.5' from the mound! I try to not enlarge the tunnels too much when inserting the traps. I will bed the front end of the traps in the soil somewhat if the tunnels are a little too big. No matter what type of traps you use or how experienced you are, you can always expect gophers to plug in front of your traps in the tunnel or completely fill your trap set hole (pic #2). Just part of the business!

Hopefully I have answered some of your questions but I would strongly recommend that you give the Gophinator traps another shot.

I used to have good success with size 0 longsprings. We never had the gophinator trap growing up, and did well. But I've heard great things about the gophinator.

I bought a 6-pack of gophinators in May. It took weeks to get them. Steve Albano must have been out trapping and not checking his mail! Anyway, I'll bet I used them in several dozen tunnels and I was about to put them on the Trap Shed for sale. Today I caught my first adult pocket gopher in one. Finally!!! So far, my catch ratio for cinch vs gophinators is 40 to 1. But I'll keep trying.

Steve Gappa just did an article in the Trappers Post on pocket gophers. He uses longsprings and since I just got a dozen #1 longsprings from a friend, I'll give them a try too.

I do much like Aggie (but don't use PB) with Death Klutch's and as long as you face one trap each way your catch ratio should be pretty high. I use 3/8" rebar T stakes and clip clothespins above and below the trap eye as necessary to make sure the trap doesn't move. I used to get lots of plugged traps when I was learning, but now do as stated above and, although a few still get plugged, my catch ratio is pretty darn good.

I wonder if there's a certain time of year that is best for trapping pocket gophers

The best time is anytime there's a fresh mound! Seriously, I guess it depends on your location, climate, soil type, etc. Gophers, here, are active throughout the year as we rarely get freezing weather. Thus, vegetation is available year around and they breed at least twice a year (usually April/May and Sep/Oct). If you are talking about a trapping period that would have an impact on the gopher population, the best time would be just prior to the breeding period in your area. These are the only times when I sometimes catch doubles in a trap set for these territorial/solitary critters. This time period also corresponds to our sometimes wet period (Hurricane Harvey's excepted!!!) making it easier for gophers to find new digs or expand their burrows while "chasing each other around the room."

Aggie73, your gophers are half the size of ours! But, getting the traps pushed into the dirt does help get the gophers to push the trigger. Then they get caught by the stomach and are usually alive when I get to the set.

My catch is going up but it's still about 40:1 with cinch vs #1 longs or gophinators. And I still haven't connected with the revenge traps. Time and experience will tell, I guess

The only thing that has worked for pockets (for me) in my area are actually Cinch mole traps (large size) Our pocket gophers are REALLY small, and even a small gopher trap is too large most of the time. They might be tiny, but oh man can they tear things up fast.

'Annie, have you tried Steve Albanos traps? He has three sizes and it sounds as if his mole trap might be just what you need.

No, I haven't heard of those, I'd love to hear more!

Trapline Products- http://www.traplineproducts.com/

I too have small gophers in this area. The trapline products traps work great. I have about half mole traps and half gopher traps. I usually prefer the mole sized traps on our small gophers . I usually just use the one that fits the tunnel size.

Well they can keep on selling those (huge) gopher traps at the big box stores...folks get fed up trying, and then they call me. :-) haha!!

When we bisect a tunnel, we use either two DK, one going each way or we use a Lanesboro. The lanesboro seems to be tailor made for this situation as you can get them from either way. The cincher traps are ideal for the fresh mound tunnels with a single tunnel. Rarely miss with that set up. Will be bringing clothes pins with for stabilization of DK's from now on, great tip! Thanks webfoot

In the area I service I catch close to a thousand moles and gophers a year. I use Albanos regular size mole traps for our moles and as our gophers are also,for the most part, only slightly larger I use his oversize mole traps.

Gophers still coming in. Slow but steady. I’m finding if the gophers in certain fields are getting wise to the activity around their mounds, they seem to forget if you come back 3-weeks later. Albano traps and #1 longs are starting to produce but the revenge traps aren’t working for me yet. Will keep trying but the cinch traps are still out producing everything.

Predators are eating well on my ‘line. Every day I’m losing one or more this way. Whatever is getting my gophers takes them right behind the face. Might be a badger. Anyway, I finally got an adult gopher in a Revenge trap. Set with hair trigger, it caught it at about the waist. It surprises me the badger/canine didn’t get there before I did.

I wonder if a skunk might be a possibility too, Teacher.

Hey Teacher, sometimes coyotes do that around here. They can smell anything! Are they taking the trap as well?

I stake the traps with a 5-ft Fiberglas rod with a flag so I can see them above the grass. As a local gopher trapper told me, he thinks the predators might be keying in on the flags/poles and he might be right. Anyway, the traps are staked and while the gopher may be gone, I still have the trap.

Is there a good book to learn a little on moles and mole trapping? Any recommendations?