Live Traps For Gophers

Live Traps For Gophers MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Pest Animals 34-3-42 Catching pocket gophers live is not for the faint-hearted. They may be small, but they have a ferocious attitude and sharp teeth and claws. Still, Ron Weatherly has discovered there's a market for live trapping among people who'd rather relocate the pesky critters than kill them. After making a few traps to sell, it didn't take Weatherly long to realize he could make more money trapping problem gophers for neighbors and businesses around Cartwright, Okla. Weatherly makes his live traps out of old downspouts, cut about 1 ft. long. He cuts slits on three sides with a grinder to let in the smell of the earth around the trap. He puts an end cap on one end after slipping in bits of carrot or celery or some other bait. The other end has a hinged door that Weatherly bends out of galvanized tin and holds in place with a wire. The trap is set perpendicular to the gopher tunnel and completely covered with dirt. The roof overhang of the trap stops dirt from falling into the tunnel. The idea is that the gopher is traveling along, smells the bait, stops and turns into the trap. Once he's in, he can't get out. Weatherly attaches a zip tie to the food and extends the end of it up above the dirt. He knows there has been some activity when the zip tie has been pulled down. Weatherly also uses death traps. His live traps have about a 60 percent success ratio compared to a 90 percent success rate with death traps, which consist of a rat trap inside a downspout. Weatherly is willing to share his plans with others interested in making the live or death trap versions. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ron Weatherly, 233 Vernon, Cartwright, Okla. 74731 (Run2iam@hotmail.com).

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