Gophers

[GreyDot]

Originally Posted by kellidahorsegirl

Greydot....get a silencer for the rifle and distract folks with food HAHAHAHAHAHAHa

Oh, NOW I get it..... THAAAAT's what the BBQ is for

Talked to BO today about the Gopher Getter - she's looking into getting one. This morning, there was a hole right by the barn.

[lovemyTB]

we don't have a problem at our stable. we have a barn cat that is amazing. he can catch anything. Everyday you see him go out to another pasture and back he comes with a gopher or two. Yesterday he caught a wild duck, i guess everything is fair game for charlie the cat..

[kellidahorsegirl]

ya know....bbq sounds good!
Just make sure they have the meat ready BEFORE you go gopher hunting...I can't imagine those things taste good,,,even WITH bbq sauce.

I found half a gopher on our lawn the other day.....one of the kitties is having fun yay!

[ToveroMom]

Have you guys thought about building nest boxes for owls? Those rodents HATE raptors.
We had some screech owls move into[actually] an abandoned rodent burrow. As the amount of screech owls grew the little fuzzy earthmovers declined.
Well that was before all these regs but maybe you could contact a local Raptor group and have them come out and practice with their birds on your tasty rodents.
Trying to think outside the box...since no one seems to be wanting my insane pupper dog anyway

[rm185western]

It looks like 3 evenings of dedicated shooting is making an impression on our population, at last. Visually a lot less, and a lot quieter out there.

I really want to move the horses into that paddock, but not sure if they will be OK with so many gopher holes about

I think I'm going to have to get the boys to cultivate and put new grass in there. If worse come to worse, we hope to be cutting hat next week, so I could put them in the little paddock and hay them.

[Akita it Girl]

Originally Posted by GreyDot

I've recommended the peppermint oil to our BO, so she'll see about getting some. We now have a new invader - MUSHROOMS. They're sprouting everywhere. Maybe they're poisonous, and the gophers will eat them...

The barn BBQ sounds good - and it's not like there's a shortage of targets! But what do you do with all those dead gophers?

What color are your mushrooms? *Grabs hat and sash* Wilderness Survival thingy thought me al about mushrooms ( plus I'm obessed with them ) Gophers usually don't eat mushrooms, but some horses might...be careful.

[GreyDot]

Originally Posted by ToveroMom

Have you guys thought about building nest boxes for owls? Those rodents HATE raptors.
We had some screech owls move into[actually] an abandoned rodent burrow. As the amount of screech owls grew the little fuzzy earthmovers declined.
Well that was before all these regs but maybe you could contact a local Raptor group and have them come out and practice with their birds on your tasty rodents.
Trying to think outside the box...since no one seems to be wanting my insane pupper dog anyway

That's actually a really good idea, about the owl boxes! There were owls living at another barn where we boarded, and although we were still over-run with gophers, at least the owls took some of them. And owls are really cool

Awwww, TMom, I'd LOVE to have your dog come and inflict some damage over here... but I don't think it would enjoy the 110F heat! But that is a VERY sweet and generous offer

[ToveroMom]

Ha did you forget where my dog and i live? He would love the big change in the humidity.
Maybe you can talk to someone at a county extention office about natural raptor control.

[GreyDot]

Originally Posted by Akita it Girl

What color are your mushrooms? *Grabs hat and sash* Wilderness Survival thingy thought me al about mushrooms ( plus I'm obessed with them ) Gophers usually don't eat mushrooms, but some horses might...be careful.

They're white, with a white stem and brownish/dark pinkish gills, pouch around lower stem. Smooth velvety cap, very slightly ragged edges from where it was closed. No discoloration other than natural brownish darkening when broken, and no milky juice. I think they're just regular ol' white field mushrooms, the kind you can buy in a store. I had a careful look at them, because we grew up eating wild mushrooms that we would go pick in the woods - so I automatically looked at them as a potential food source (AND dragged out my Audubon mushroom book, too, just to be on the safe side ). I'll get some pictures, though, and post them, because of course a second ID would be better - maybe you'll see something I didn't notice. Still, our horses have so much hay in front of them, all the time, anyway, that there isn't even the temptation to touch anything else, fortunately! And, also fortunately, we don't have any 'pathological' eaters, so I'm not too worried. The really cool part about the mushrooms, though, is just how tough they are when they are growing. I think the bloody gophers must have brought in spores from somewhere, because I can't imagine the mycelium would appear by itself in the middle of the AZ desert. They sometimes sprout in the arena - where we have a 10" base cusion and another foot of mixed quarter-minus footing on top of that. And sometimes, they sprout in the barn, which looks really cool. We though it was gophers tunneling up, because the solid packed ground was heaving, but as the BO and I messed around with the toes of our boots, brushing away the loose dirt on top of the little 'heave mound', here comes this mushroom! Amazing that they can work through dirt that we need a PICK to dig. Whenever we've seen them, though, we've been careful to rip them right out, damaging as much of the mycelium as possible and leaving the dirt open. With the fruiting body gone, if the mycelium net is damaged enough, they'll just die out.

[GreyDot]

Originally Posted by ToveroMom

Ha did you forget where my dog and i live? He would love the big change in the humidity.
Maybe you can talk to someone at a county extention office about natural raptor control.

Oh yeah, you're in Texas... LOL can't really complain to you about humidity, can I...

LOL County??? Raptor control??? Oh, yeah, that would be rich... these are people whose version of paving is throwing down some gravel, then pouring oil on top, and letting the sun make it into asphalt... I don't think they'd know what the word 'raptor' means. However, we do have a raptor rescue here, and also there is one of those falconer groups that hunt with birds of prey, who occasionally go out to the airport to take care of pigeons and such. Maybe they could come out. I'll look into that, thanks!

Has anyone ever used falconers to control rodent populations at their place?

[ToveroMom]

At Edwards AFB they used to bring falcons out to get the pigeons which like to nest in the big hangers. That was years ago.

[GreyDot]

Oh yeah, it does work. At the Toronto airport, they control gulls, pigeons and Canada geese that way, because the havoc a gull can wreak when sucked into an engine or a goose, if hit by a plane, is quite spectacular. One of the falconers who participated in that gave a demo at my old university in Ontario - it was pretty amazing.

[rm185western]

It's official, one woman on a mission CAN get a gopher population explosion under control

I've been going out 2 or 3 times a week with the old .22, cracked wooden stock, open sights, and got it so you don't see a gopher to often. The menfolk were so impressed that they went and bought me a present, a brand new .22, lightweight and with telescopic sight. It's a lovely gun, but it really feels like it's cheating, I can be accurate to a huge range now.

[GreyDot]

WOW, I'm VERY impressed! Tell you what, you and your new gun come on down our way, and I'll find the two of you LOTS of work. Heck, I'll even make you chocolate chip cookies

A gopher practically ran under Dot's feet when we were hacking a couple days ago. The little stinkers have BRASS!

[Ferronsgranny]

Do you want a few hawks? The Game and Wildlife trapped 5 from my place and relocated them. I don't know if they have come back or new ones have moved in but I now have 3 hawks that sit in my dead trees in the pasture.

[rm185western]

Originally Posted by GreyDot

WOW, I'm VERY impressed! Tell you what, you and your new gun come on down our way, and I'll find the two of you LOTS of work. Heck, I'll even make you chocolate chip cookies

A gopher practically ran under Dot's feet when we were hacking a couple days ago. The little stinkers have BRASS!

Hell there's an offer that's difficult to refuse

Originally Posted by Ferronsgranny

Do you want a few hawks? The Game and Wildlife trapped 5 from my place and relocated them. I don't know if they have come back or new ones have moved in but I now have 3 hawks that sit in my dead trees in the pasture.

I think the birds of prey think our place is a take away now, we seemed to have gained some around the ex gopher field

[Horselessnomore]

rm185western -- you've just made the first gopher take out for the birds I am sure they appreciate the ready made meals without having to hunt for them!! Greydot -- sounds like you have some good advice here and let us know how it works out. They can be the most obnoxious little pests and are difficult to get rid of. Of course, they keep reproducing and you get more & more. We don't have a lot of them here in the City but some of the fields by the highway are full of them . AND the little stinkers have to come out on the road -- not sure for what, there's no food on the road, but they are stupid, stupid, stupid and there's more that get ran over which leads to the problem of the bigger birds wanting a snack and landing on the road and then they get hit or the coyotes who come out during the day to hunt and kill the little critters . . . . . .

[GreyDot]

Originally Posted by Horselessnomore

AND the little stinkers have to come out on the road -- not sure for what, there's no food on the road, but they are stupid, stupid, stupid and there's more that get ran over which leads to the problem of the bigger birds wanting a snack and landing on the road and then they get hit or the coyotes who come out during the day to hunt and kill the little critters . . . . . .

rm185western, they're GOOD cookies... I'd let ya have the whole Tupperware box The nasty little buggers have started making holes in one of the pastures now. Fortunately, that whole area got completely flooded during irrigation, so maybe that'll help a bit.

Yup, stupid, stupid, stupid critters - I think God made them as the natural equivalent of the PopTart - not much there, but gets a body through the early morning. Now, if I could just stuff all of them into one VERY giant toaster! I very much wish I could take everyone up on their very kind offers of loans of dogs, ferrets, hawks and new guns. I think we could have one heck of a Gopher Gettin' party. Our B/O has ordered the Gopher Getter - and will use it when it arrives. I'll let everyone know how things go.

Meanwhile, I'm counting down the weeks and days to the time when we move this gopher-ridden, scorpion-infested, rattlesnake-teeming desert and move to lovely, green Tennessee. Please tell me there are no gophers in Tennessee...?