Gopher-ology

[STS]

Gopher-ology. The study of gophers. One of the characteristics of our gophers is that they are not nearly as smart as prairie dogs or rock chucks. They have a bad habit of running from one hole to another when the pickup is really close. So close that if you want the distance to be a double digit number you need to go with feet rather than yards. The problem with that is sometimes you end up with some “fallout” on the hood or windshield. Shooting downwind helps avoid this. Knocked off 285 rounds today and left a nice buffet for the coyotes, magpies, hawks and eagles.

 

[snert]

So where does one find (generally) such gophers? Asking as an easterner who is not educated on various rodenti

 

[STS]

They are all over western and southern Montana. I've seen them around a hole between the sidewalk and street on 19th street in Bozeman. These are Columbia ground squirrels and are about 2/3 the size of a prairie dog. They dig up through the snow in early March, and by late July or early August they go underground again until next spring. I've been working on one small calving pasture that is about 30 acres and I think todays efforts brings the 3 day total to just under 500. The weather has been terrible and I haven't been able to drive the pasture because of the wet ground or snow. If the weather would have been better I would guess there would have been another 400 or 500 victims.
I didn't realize how much "fallout" had blown back on the pickup until I got out to open the gate out of the pasture. It looked like I had run over a deer. Had to make a stop at the carwash on the way home.

 

[snert]

Gosh that looks like a blast. I have a SIL in Buffalo Wyoming. He never mentioned such a critter. Wonder if they have them too.

Photos are always welcome. Good stuff

 

[STS]

I've shot lots of P-dogs around Buffalo and don't remember seeing the Columbia squirrels there. They have some of the small 13 stripe ground squirrels, but they are not in abundance there as far as I know. These Columbia squirrels are found in parts of northwest Wyoming near Jackson, and are in parts of Yellowstone. They are also found in eastern Idaho. I've shot quite a few in the Island Park area just west of the park. I shot 132 rounds of .17 Mach IV today and the rest were a .20 cal wildcat thing that I use. The .20 sends them into low earth orbit which is how the wind gets hold of the parts and deposits the remnants on the vehicle.

 

[boltfluter]

Looks like a great adventure to me!
Paul

 

[B23]

I'm not sure if they're all related somehow or not but there's so many different variations of ground squirrels out here in the west. To me, they all kind of look related. Whether one is a little bigger than the other or one has a bigger bushier tale than another. Some, like the Columbian ground squirrels seem to have more red in their coloring while the Belding's and Richardson's don't have as much. I think the most common ground squirrels out here in the western states are the Belding's, Columbian, and Richardson's. There's three or four other variants, maybe more I'm not sure, but those three seem to be what there's the most of.

The one common variable they all seem to share is you usually find them in larger concentrations in geographical areas that have a bit of elevation. I've found Belding's ground squirrels or as we call them, sage rats, in small pockets of central Washington which is fairly low in elevation but nothing like they have in other states like Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Montana and Wyoming. I think parts of Utah and Colorado have a fair amount of PD's but I don't know if they have many ground squirrels. Parts of Alberta Canada have quite a few ground squirrels too.

 

[STS]

I think you are right about the color of the Columbia squirrels. Some of the mature males are very close in color to rock chucks. One thing they all have in common is that they are all red inside.

 

[STS]

Some of you guys that are frequent shooters of ground squirrels may already know this trick, but in case some newbs or old timers have missed it I’ll throw it out there. They can be called back out of their hole if they dive in before you can get them shot. The call on the right is something I came up with that works quite well. It’s nothing more than the metal voice out of a dog squeaky toy that I put in a piece of pvc tubing. Give them a series of 4 or 5 squeaks and up they come to see who’s talking to them. I think it cost me 99 cents so you should expect to have to pay about $12 for one now.

 

[wbm]

Don't know about gophers other than where I am in New Mexico. Gophers that are out and about in daylight here last for a day or two if they are lucky. Lot's of predators saying "please oh please come out today".