They work! I bought a case of these smoke bombs a couple of weeks back to combat an increasingly severe infestation of ground squirrels and other burrowing pest. They make holes the size of grapefruit in the yard and kick buckets of dirt out onto the surrounding area. It is unsightly as hell and makes mowing a real hassle. Along with the ground squirrels, in the same area pocket gophers make similar mounds of dirt. Now I am fighting back. I bought gopher traps that work very well, my neighbor and I trapped over 50 last year. I got two yesterday but was busy and didn't remove them from the trap. This morning I discovered that some other hungry critter had done it for me as there was little left to discard.
The ground squirrel problem was much larger though and was the reason I bought a case of Giant Destroyers instead of a handful. I tape the bomb to a small stick, light the fuse and stick it as far down the hole as it will go then quickly seal the hole with dirt. In the little front meadow there were about 8 big holes and every time I shoveled dirt into them they quickly returned. Once the bombs arrived I hit all of them and now over a week later I haven't seen any subsequent activity. This morning I noticed a new hole out at the edge of the meadow and immediately bombed it as well since fresh dirt meant the critter was nearby. I think I am starting to force them away and back into the forest where they will not be such a problem.
There is a bumper crop of other pest this year despite the hard winter. Mouse traps, the air rifle and 12 ga have been kept busy as I just try to maintain a little vermin free space around the house. They can have the other 19 acres but when they start nesting under my decks I draw the line. I think the smoke bombs are killing entire families under ground and that has to suppress the rapid proliferation of these beast. We had moose and elk in the yard last week and they are no problem but those little 1# burrowers sure make a helluva mess.
Where I live I never see them little critters. I now live across the street from a golf course and of course I don't play that game. Maybe it's to cold here or they've been eradicated from this area. I did see a rabbit in the yard the other day. It can eat all the grass it wants to.
There are a lot of gophers ( Richardson Ground Squirrels) in SW MT this year. I've made 4" pvc T's for bait stations but they don't seem all that effective. So now it's blast them with 17HMR's. I usually bag a couple dozen each outing but that is time consuming and a bit expensive after awhile. Conditions need to be just right for the little buggers to show themselves... warm mornings and not a lot of wind. Amazing the amount of dirt the little varmints can move in a short time span. Yup sure makes mowing a lot more difficult. They seem to prefer the front yard and not the back 40 . Think I'll try some of the mentioned smoke bombs.....
The smoke bombs are pretty effective. My wife used them on moles in our yard in Edgewood, WA. They work well at driving them into new places and fortunately we had lots of non-grass area still pretty rich with food source for them to move to. Not sure how they work on RGS's. The ranchers here set-up bait traps and shoot them.
If you kill the grubs they live on, the gophers/moles/voles/other burrowing mammals will leave. In my experience it is easier to put down a focused treatment of insecticide on the impacted areas rather than trying to gas out the little devils. Living in NH I don't have gophers, but do get moles & voles. I try to use as few chemicals as possible on the lawn, but every few years I have to treat a few areas with insecticide. I can't use Milky Spore as the temps below 32 each winter kills the bacteria and nematode treatment is just too expensive.
I used giant destroyers for years with good success. Now I use my hand held map gas torch. I stick the torch down into the hole, half depress the igniter trigger to dispense the gas, count to thirty slowly, then pull the trigger to ignite. Simple, cheap, effective and fun with a touch of danger.
2.5oz Castor Oil +2Tbsp Blue Dawn dish soap to 1 gal water. Shake well. Spray with 1:32 hose sprayer (like the type used for Miracle Grow) on entire area you want protected before a light rain. Voila, no moles, voles, gophers. Redo in spring.
It's not as exciting as using ordnance, but you can sip an ale whilst applying and it won't burn the hair off of your face and arms.
I remember watching old timers on the ranch hook-up a hose contraption to an old beater vehicle then stick the end of the hose into squirrel holes...but that was when vehicles would spew out all kinds of carbon monoxide.
Maybe another option:
Edit: Seems way pricey at $1300, maybe a small gas motor could be modified...
The Richardson Squirrel population seems to be even larger than last season. I'm now using the mentioned smoke bombs in combination with conibear 55 traps around the house. In order to keep my cattle dogs from chomping on the critters and bringing remains to the porch I've made trap covers out of 2x4's topped with screen mesh and kept in place with rebar. The lighter weight conibear 55's most likely wouldn't cause damage to large dogs but small dogs would be a different story. Still use 17HMR's and 22's on squirrels in the back 40, have yet to come up with a reasonable alternative... View attachment 171161
One side of my family is from northern N Dakota. None of my relatives there talked stupid, but I remember long car rides going to visit them, and having to pass thru a gray area where Far Northeast Montana segued into West Dakota, and we were asking, "Are we there, yet?"
Once there, we hunted "gophers" with 22 shorts, using my uncle's single-shot bolt action....about as fun as imaginable for a 10-year old!
Almost forgot to mention...I have a fresh pack of Giant Destroyers ready for deployment, now that I have mapped out the main mole tunnels! I'm taping each smoke bomb to the end of a stick, for easier placement. The only question that remains, is whether or not I will have a reason for existing after/if I eradicate the entire mole clan. Oh well. There won't be much left to do except head to the creek and play games fooling the fishes with fake food...
I will happily send you some of mine so you don't run out of things to do. I have a bumper crop this year...
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