I have those varmits also.My weapon of choice is my 4-10

 

Ya, Im overrun also. Tobad there hole is right between me, and the house next door.

 

I bought a good pellet gun at Walmart .. well as good as Wamart sells to shoot squirrels and groundhogs.. But its darn near as loud as a .22
I bought it in hopes to keep the noise down .. which did not work. You may want to consider that saskman, they will scare your Lamas too

 

Saskman, I though you guys could still get a rifle without much ado - was handguns they outlawed.

Ken in NJ is correct about the noise of an air rifle. I have one that is capable of 1200 FPS, but it is loud and the pellet may not have the mass necessary to take a gopher out unless you are close and a very good shot.

Back when I lived in Colorado, I found that my .300 Win Magnum did quite nicely at 200 yards on prairie dogs.

 

benjamin is a good pellet rifle, but you pay for the name

 

I have an old one that's probably 35-40 years old. Somehow it ended up in my closet, not sure where it came from. Saw a bunch of ground squirrels last spring messing around their burrow, about 50 ft from my bedroom sliding doors. I gave the old girl 3-4 pumps (it's a 10 pump max, I seem to remember), and tried to look thru the scope to no avail. So, I just shot in the general direction. It's a .177 caliber, so nothing special. Well, let me tell you, it doesn't take much to take out a ground squirrel.

Of course, then I felt bad about it...

 

Murderer !!! :sidelaugh :sidelaugh

 

I've had the same experience with pellet rifles in the 80 - 100 dollar range. Besides being nearly as loud as a .22 short the target needed to be about wash tub size. For consistent accuracy one may have to get into the competition category. But 25 years ago a K-mart, probably Benjiman, seemed to be a good average one and my kids got a lot of good shootin from it.

Your gophers look more like close cousins to our prairie dog than our gophers.

Pictured is a trap designed for our gophers. Since they don't like their tunnel to be open because of snakes they always close it after excess soil is mounded on the surface from tunnel renovation. This trap is designed to be tripped by dirt he/she is pushing to close the opening and usually catches them around the rib cage area. But even though your gophers have different burrow habits I see no reason this style of trap couldn't be modified to trap your gophers.

 

The Crossman 760 pump gun shoots BB's or .177 cal. pellets,one of those pumped up 10 times rivals a .22's muzzle velocity..Walmart sells them for about 35-40 bucks ,last time I looked..

Might try .22 BB caps or "shorts",they aren't too loud,and will be strong enough at close range..they sell .22 shot shells too..if you want a silent way to snuff them,maybe wire up some carrots to an extention cord's bare wires..!..
BBZZZZZZAAPPP..!! ++
"

 

12 gauge buckshot, just give the Llamas some hearing protection :ROF I would think that a good pump pellet gun should do the trick, I have a Benjamin pump pistol and I bet it could take out a gopher from quite a distance.

 

Maybar,
How does your trap work? Is it a snare?


Saskman,
.22 bolt action rifle can fire target loads which dont break the sound barrier and this will eliminate the sonic crack when the bullet leaves the muzzle over 1100fps. You could also use 'shorts' or 'CB;s' which make less noise than a pellet gun. Whatever you choose, you will need enough bullet energy to kill rather than maim.


Best wishes,
Bob

 

Maybar,
How does your trap work? Is it a snare?





Best wishes,
Bob

------------------------------------------------------------------
The jaws (far right in pic) lay in close proximity to the tunnel walls. The critter travels into them and the trap is tripped when light pressure is applied to the thin V shaped metal piece since it is just barley caught on that wire rod end that runs parallel to the trap length.

 

I gotta try the shorts, or CB caps. I want to do some traget pratice, but the LR's are just to darn loud for my yard out of my 6" pistol barrel.

 

I do not want to get a .22 as I don't have a fire arms lisc and don't have time to take the crse etc and also don't want to scare our Llamas so I am leaning toward a .22 cal pellet rifle with a scope.
Thanks

How many of you read the part where he doesn't want a firearm? That includes 4-10s, .22 shorts and birdshot . I second the Crosman 760. It doesn't make that much noise and is readily available.

 

You are wasting your time and money....

Get rid of their food, and they will either starve to death, or move to the neighbors place... Get something that will safely kill the grubs they eat in your yard.

Uncle Greg

 

You are wasting your time and money....

Get rid of their food, and they will either starve to death, or move to the neighbors place... Get something that will safely kill the grubs they eat in your yard.

Uncle Greg

Waste of time or not they have to be dealt with. They are bad enough the provincial gov't legalized high dose strichnine insted of just the strichnine laced grain for use due to the problems. They have destroyed huge amts of land and caused untold damage to cattle herds etc from broken legs in the holes here in Sask over the last couple years. It's war I tell ya. BTW these guys eat grass etc so getting rid of their diet is a bit more complex than that.

http://www.agriculture.gov.sk.ca/Control_Ground_Squirrels

 

Thanks for all the input, hopefully something will turn up to get them..

 

saskman,

By "waste of time" I meant, all the guns and traps are a waste. Until you get rid of their food, you are just irritating the population. :fing20:

I was thinking your home yard/property had the problem.

Good Luck

Greg

 

saskman,

By "waste of time" I meant, all the guns and traps are a waste. Until you get rid of their food, you are just irritating the population. :fing20:

I was thinking your home yard/property had the problem.

Good Luck

Greg

Guess I could just take and spray the whole yard with roundup.. That'll get rid of the food.:sidelaugh

 

I also own a 760 pump air rifle. Unless you are less than 25 yards away it may get them, but any further and it will probably just wound them. Now a 22 caliber air rifle with a break barrel, that would do good out to probably 70 yards with a scope. You need that pellet to weigh as much as possible to transfer as much energy as possible to that critter. And dont use BB's, they dont transfer as much energy as a lead pellet, the bb's just penetrate better.

 

I got rid of 3 groundhogs yesterday........I ran a hose from my garden tractor exhaust into one of their holes, sealed the holes up and let the tractor run for about 1/2 hr.........I haven't seen them since....I think they are taking a nap....the "Big dirt nap".................

 

these have some very nice power

http://www.pyramydair.com/cgi-bin/model.pl?model_id=343

cheaper one

http://www.pyramydair.com/p/RWS-34-Panther-Striker-Combo.shtml

paired with some of these that are 3x the weight of a normal .177 pellet

http://www.pyramydair.com/s/p/Beeman_Kodiak_Double_Gold_22_Cal_21_14_Grains_Domed_250ct/618

 

Those pellets on that site would mess a gopher up for sure. Its about half the weight of a .22LR bullet, but still plenty for a ground squirrel.

 

:sidelaugh

 

Any pellet gun over 500 fps needs an FAC in Canada

 

Are you allowed to use sling shots or bow and arrows?

If so, use steel ball bearings they sell for sling shots or take apart some old bearing cages for the bearings in them.

If you use a bow and you want to increase hits, use the blunt head pest arrow tip with metal springs around the tip which are designed to stand the arrow up instead of burrowing into surrounding grass.

If you are new to bow shooting, a bow sight will make hitting your target a lot easier and use a light weight 30 lb. or lighter draw weight bow as you will be doing a lot of shooting and a heavier weight bow will wear you out quicker.

Good luck.

Bountyhunter

 

I have a Gamo air rifle, hit bottles at around 150 feet with a scope. It's quite accurate, easy to pump (just "break" the barrel once, insert pellet, close barrel, and shoot). Up to 1200 FPS. They also have a "quiet" version that has a silencer.
Go to Gamousa.com. For quiet, go to the Whisper section.
Good hunting!

 

Here in Pa our hogs love bubble gum... If they eat they die...

 

Now there's a visual - a hog blowing bubbles out both ends :ROF :ROF :ROF

 

Ok, here's a little "secret" with an air-gun

Find yourself one of the Crossman ones that takes 10 pumps to make full power..cheap, fairly accurate.

In front of the trigger on the plastic, you will notice a little red "dot" of filler, dig this out. In this hole you can fit a tiny allen key. What this is, is the release valve adjustment for air pressure. Turn it closed, counting the turns until it stops, and then back a little (don't want it TOO sealed)

Now pump away. Before the valve would "squeek" at about 10 pumps. I have had 17 in mine now without problem (very hard to pump) but this will damage gun if you pump too much. Don't expect to be able to will this to your children, you are over stressing everything, but I have gone a couple of boxes of pellets so far with no problem...keep it well oiled to seal good

Before, this former 500 fps .177 gun would stick a pellet into plywood, almost the full depth..NOW it will shoot through 1/2" plywood like a .22, peeling open the back side... and VERY accurate now with a scope.

all for less than a couple cases of beer.

 

Ok, here's a little "secret" with an air-gun

Find yourself one of the Crossman ones that takes 10 pumps to make full power..cheap, fairly accurate.

In front of the trigger on the plastic, you will notice a little red "dot" of filler, dig this out. In this hole you can fit a tiny allen key. What this is, is the release valve adjustment for air pressure. Turn it closed, counting the turns until it stops, and then back a little (don't want it TOO sealed)

Now pump away. Before the valve would "squeek" at about 10 pumps. I have had 17 in mine now without problem (very hard to pump) but this will damage gun if you pump too much. Don't expect to be able to will this to your children, you are over stressing everything, but I have gone a couple of boxes of pellets so far with no problem...keep it well oiled to seal good

Before, this former 500 fps .177 gun would stick a pellet into plywood, almost the full depth..NOW it will shoot through 1/2" plywood like a .22, peeling open the back side... and VERY accurate now with a scope.

all for less than a couple cases of beer.

Thanks :trink39: