Discussions

Over the summer our hay fields have become over run by gophers. With limited options we are looking for recommendations on what types of poisons people have found that works.

mylife said "Over the summer our hay fields have become over run by gophers. With limited options we are looking for recommendations on what types of poisons people have found that works. "

ad I see someone selling gopher dome

If you are talking about pocket gophers (what most people call moles), that do not have open holes, rather a fresh mound of dirt almost daily, they are difficult to deal. They eat legume roots like alfalfa and dandelion. Long, tedious, diligent, hours of trapping is probably best. Good cat food too. The 13 - striped gopher and Richardson’s ground squirrel have open holes and eat young plants, grain and seeds. These you can poison with strychnine. I don’t think you can buy it in Manitoba any more... used to be sold under the name Gopher Cop. Still available in the U.S. and, on very dry years, to farmers in Saskatchewan. Not sure if elsewhere. DO NOT allow your pets to eat gophers killed by strychnine as it may well effectively transfer to the pet.

I would gladly shoot them for you

why not kill them with a trap? I've used a trap and successfully killed a few. Those gophers do not like light in their tunnels. Find a spot near a freshly dug hole of dirt, use a screw driver and find the tunnel their running, make a hole. Set the trap. I used peanut butter on the end if the trap. Within mins it worked.  
 
Other then that, buy yourself a gun and when they making another mound of dirt have fun and shoot the suckers.

rifle and a good scope.

nicemoustache...not just pets. Remember that if you are poisoning gophers in a field, anything that comes across them and eats their bodies will be poisoned too. Coyotes, foxes, ravens, crows, eagles, etc. IMHO, better to find someone to shoot them.

Best gopher poison is available at total farm supply, Co-op feeds and Poulins. It is called Rozol.

curlysister said "nicemoustache...not just pets. Remember that if you are poisoning gophers in a field, anything that comes across them and eats their bodies will be poisoned too. Coyotes, foxes, ravens, crows, eagles, etc. IMHO, better to find someone to shoot them. "

We are still not sure which gopher the OP is talking about. It is not feasible to shoot pocket gophers. Pretty much need to trap them as they will often not take bait. Although there is also a propane fired gopher canon available that kills them in their tunnels via explosion / concussion but it’s costly. For the other 2 above ground gophers, shooting may be a better option. You are absolutely correct, poisoned animals need to be disposed of ASAP so that carnivorous/carrion eaters can not access them.

We have used gopher poison from both Total Farm and Poulins. It works to some extent but takes a lot more and numerous trips over pastures to get the rodent. Sometimes feels like we are feeding them instead of poisoning them.  
 
The old fashion gopher cop you put a teaspoon down the hole once and you got the little buggers. We never saw any dead ones above the ground. (put out 4 gallons one year) Never lost a cat or dog. Wouldn't mind losing the odd coyote as they are a problem here as well.  
 
We had a retired military man come and spent hours out in the pastures to get them under control but even as accurate as he was there were always some left to reproduce.

curlysister said "nicemoustache...not just pets. Remember that if you are poisoning gophers in a field, anything that comes across them and eats their bodies will be poisoned too. Coyotes, foxes, ravens, crows, eagles, etc. IMHO, better to find someone to shoot them. "

Gopher poison is single kill. Meaning it doesn't hurt the animals that eat the dead gopher.  
 
I just got rid of a gopher problem in my yard by using poison. I have the majority of a 20lbs container left. Contact me through my ad and I'll sell it to you. I'll even show you how to use it. It's very easy and effective.