How I got rid of gophers

In the first several months of 2015, I have had a problem with gophers digging up my backyard. I tried many ways of getting rid of them, however only one way actually worked. Let's talk about those ways.

AMDRO Mole & Gopher Bait

Wrigley's Juicy Fruit

GONZO Dead End Gopher Trap

The basic premise of all these is to figure out where the gophers have been most recently, then put/bury the item in one of the recent tunnels that they have built.

Amdro Gopher Gasser

The first way I tried was to use Amdro Gopher Gasser. Basically you light it and put it in a recent tunnel. After that you check for new holes for the next couple of days. If you find any, you repeat. Unfortunately, this didn't seem to work because although we used about 6 gassers, we still had holes appearing in our yard.

Amdro Mole & Gopher Bait

The next way I tried was the use Amdro Mole & Gopher Bait. You drop some poison pellets in one of the recent tunnels. After a few days, you are supposed to check for new gopher activity. If you find any, you do more baiting. Once again, this didn't work for me. I continued to get more and more holes in our yard.

Sweeney Gopher Spike

The next thing I tried was a Sweeney Gopher Spike. This one doesn't necessarily need to be in a recent tunnel. It just needs to be within a few feet of the area. They work by emitting a sound which is supposed to be highly irritating to gophers. They didn't seem to drive away the gophers that I already had. However, I left it in the ground after I got rid of the gophers and none have come back yet.

Wrigley's Juicy Fruit

OK, I'll admit. I read this on the internet. Apparently, if a gopher eats juicy fruit gum, it kill them because it gets stuck inside of their intestines. I put this gum in a tunnel and covered up the hole. So I don't know if it would actually work, but I did keep getting holes in my yard.

Gonzo Dead End Gopher Trap

The last way I tried and the way that actually worked was to use a Gonzo Dead End Gopher Trap. Once again, you figure out where the gopher has been most recently. Then you dig out one of the tunnels that connects to that hole and you put the gopher trap in line with the tunnel. Then you cover it up making sure no light can shine through. Then you wait until you see the trap sprung.

My steps

So here is what I actually did. The night before, I covered up all the holes. The next morning, I got up and found which holes had been uncovered. This told me where the gopher was recently. Then I went to Lowe's and bought the trap. I dug up a tunnel that was connected to a hole. I set the trap put it in line with the tunnel. Then I covered up all the spots where light could shine through. This was around 10:30. I left the trap alone while I did other things. By 16:30, it had trapped the gopher. I retrieved and disposed of the gopher and waited several days. Fortunately, I didn't find any more holes so I proclaimed victory.