144 



The Pocket Gopher. 



STEEL TRAP TESTS. 



In all cases the light No. steel traps were used. They were 

 placed horizontally in the runways and were not baited. The 

 per cent, catch is based on the number of traps disturbed, in- 

 cluding those that caught and held the gopher. The tests were 

 made mainly in the spring and fall months. 



SPECIAL TRAP TESTS. 



in October and November. At those seasons the gophers are 

 especially active in extending their burrows or storing up food. 

 It will generally pay to run the traps twice a day in the 

 morning and as late as practicable in the evening. Experience 

 has proven that one may sometimes catch a second gopher by 

 resetting at the same opening where one has already been 

 trapped, but is scarcely worth while to make the attempt un- 

 less one notices after trapping the first animal that the opening 

 into the burrow has been filled again from the inside. 



Shooting and Trap Guns. If. one has the time and inclina- 

 tion to do a little shooting, he can kill quite a few gophers with 

 the shotgun. The best time for shooting is early in the morn- 

 ing or late in the evening, when the animals are pushing out 

 their loads of earth. Open holes can then usually be found, but 

 if not one can easily open a few burrows and keep watch of 

 those which are being filled up again. It requires quick work 

 on the part of the sportsman to bag his game, for all that can 

 usually be seen is a little spurt of earth and perhaps a nose. In 

 a f ew cases that came under my notice a bag of ten or a dozen 

 gophers was made in a single evening or morning. 



