I've never seen a gopher do this before

[Lone Hunter]

I’ve shot groundhogs off of stumps, fence posts, trees, and brush piles. I’m about at the point in my life that I really enjoy hunting varmints more than I do deer. Don’t get me wrong, I love deer hunting but you get more opportunities with the varmints. Not only in shooting them but also getting to hunt land for varmints where they will not let you hunt deer on.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

We called them gophers in Montana too. Thats a perfect target lol.

 

[LarryDScott]

I have seen ground hogs on fence posts and up in trees. LDS

 

[243winxb]

Seen a Pennsylvania ground hog climb my apple tree. It sat up there eating an apple.

 

[Webster]

I have seen ground hogs on fence posts and up in trees. LDS

Surprised they can climb. Their claws are not sharp.

 

[AckleymanII]

I saw a Rock Chuck climb a tree up in the Mountains in Utah, near Brian Head Ski resort.

 

[Midger]

Here in Orygun we have a sub-species of ground squirrel that has learned to fly....albeit with a bit of 'ballistic assistence', hence his moniker "Skippy the Flying Squirrel".









Nothng like a real crowd pleaser in the rat patch to liven up the day!

When we launch them like that there's always the expression, "To the moon Alice,to the moon"
From the Honeymooners sitcom.

 

[Albany Mountain]

I've see them on fence posts. Most of the time on top of sagebrush.

 

[jxb]

Well that's a ground squirrel not a gopher, and yes that's very common behavior. At Least in Oregon and Idaho where I've been around them. Both are pests and IMO fair game when in the crosshairs.

 

[Lefty2506]

No fence posts or firearms involved, but many years ago a buddy of mine came back to campus after an evening of bow hunting here in Indiana. He had a ground squirrel (13 strip) run up a limb and stop and look him in the face at a distance of less than 2 feet. He couldn't resist the urge so he shouted BOO at it. He swears to this day that it fell over dead. Of course our response was something along the lines of "Man, I knew you were ugly, but THAT is pretty impressive!"

 

[Benchrest Braxton]

Surprised they can climb. Their claws are not sharp.

seem sharp enough to me, but agreed, surprised the fat bastards can climb lol

 

[Jr solocam]

Appears to be some confusion on the nomenclature of "gophers". What is commonly referred as a gopher in the Midwest and West is either a Richardson, Franklin or 13 lined ground squirrel. Prairie dogs are also a ground squirrel albeit a different family.

Technically the only gophers are "pocket gophers" which rarely come above ground, and are ugly as hell. Our 2 yo male cat has somehow figured out how to kill them so I have seen many on my deck this summer...