Gopher Conservation

[Rookie Recurve]

Here is a thougth. I live in North Eastern Alberta, which has some farmland and some muskeg. Problem is the Redneck to Gopher ratio is out of balance up here and we seem to have a bit of shortage of the critters. I was thinkin maybe we could transplant some good breeding stock from you Southern guys. Once we did that then we could set up a conservation program to maintain enough of a population to always have enough for a good Sunday afternoon gopher shoot. That is unless you guys down south know of some good spots with public access? Either that or its off to visit the kin folk over in Saskabush!

[varmitr]

i know of population of melanistic pure black gophers (opposite of albinos), if you would like some gophers-of- color.
i have 4 of them getting lifesized for a scene with big badger.
no gophers huh, id haveta see a therapist.
that is unacceptable
well come on over to zone 222, i know of a couple of thousand acres that need thinning

[gunner 83]

rookie, if they are not there it is because of a reason. introducing a population into a new area is usually not a good idea because of to reasons

A) That species just doesn't survive in that habitat

B) The new species upsets the areas natural balance


there are more gophers in alberta and saskatchewan than you could know what to do with. i know for a fact that even not that far south, around lloydminster, there are HUGE populations of the critters. i probably shot 1500 of them one summer up there

[Suka]

I can attest to that, where we live the gov. introduced red foxes and wolves. Net result: pheasants and gophers are mostly a memory.

[jrs]

Suka,

That would be due to the foxes. Wolves will actually benefit game birds/ waterfowl etc as they will thin out meso predators such as red foxes, raccoons, skunks, coyotes etc. Even coyotes are better than any of those other little critters if your a pheasant or duck egg. Just to clear up some mis-conceptions.
jrs

[WCTHEMI]

well come on over to zone 222, i know of a couple of thousand acres that need thinning

Is that an open invitation?:hat 8)

[Rookie Recurve]

Yeah we got gophers here, but like I said, to many rednecks and not enough habitat! I am not wanting to introduce gophers to the area, just to repopulate and then decimate! I guess that sounds bad, I think its the spring fever making me delirious!

We still have 3 feet of snow here so it could be a while yet for them little buggers. Anywhere south of Bonnyville and the population seems to increase rapidly. Guess I am just gonna have to head south this summer. I do have family in Black Diamond come to think of it.

The Doc says that my 'spring fever' is a result of my 'itchy' trigger finger!

[varmitr]

wcthemi
in 2002 i shot close to 2500 of off one quarter section alone, the farmers bought me bullets and supplied me with homemade cookies and coffee.
if your coming by, id be glad to take you out and blastify

[WCTHEMI]

Hmmm, that could be a plan, wherabouts in 222 are you? Is there camping available close? Used to shot gophers every weekend when I was a kid, now I am missing it.

[7 REM MAG]

hey varmitr we were down there yesterday and prolly shoot around 30 of them suckers. i love gopher hunting in the snow.
wes houd get together sometime and take part in population control lol

[Ken aka Savage]

We have no Gophers up here either, too cold for too long is my best bet as to why. I sold my last K10/22 last fall, I have been thinking of another .22 rifle lately, the one I have my eye on is the T/C R-55 Benchmate. With no local Gophers I don't get to play as much as I would like to. A cousin lives west of Cremona in gopher heaven, so every two years we have a family reunion @ Rick's place, I always take a .22rf & the .22-250 south for some exercise.
I doubt your transplant efforts would work because of the cold, and further to that you would likely land up in a world of ****e with local farmers & ranchers if it did work.:(
--Ken

[Rookie Recurve]

Guess I will just have to transplant myself somewhere closer to 222. Livining in 500 just ain't conducive to good gopher huntin. And btw the gopher repopulation thing is a gag, I just miss going 200ft from the house and blastin away!

[7 REM MAG]

i wouldnt be too quick to move to 222, 500 holds lotsa big white tails and even a few monster mulies to boot

[PipelineMan7010]

:sign0176: I just bought a beautiful Ruger 10-22 stainless with a gray laminate stock. I'm looking to 'season' it and was wondering... I live in Drayton Valley and was curious what some of the closest places i could expect to find considerable gopher population would be. I have heard they are thick around Sundre but ideally i want to travel a little less and hopefully help out a happy farmer with pest control.

I am a very responsible shooter and have been known to school my friends on gun safety. They don't come shooting with me unless they're serious about using respect. Help a brother out please!

Thank you everyone

[shooter55]

pack the cooler and head east to Saskatchewan, young man..you can hear the whistles as you cross the border!
Bring lots of ammo, though! Places around Shaunavon are cheap to stay and cheap to eat....and a mecca of gopher shooting.

[Grizzly Adams]

rookie, if they are not there it is because of a reason. introducing a population into a new area is usually not a good idea because of to reasons

A) That species just doesn't survive in that habitat

B) The new species upsets the areas natural balance


there are more gophers in alberta and saskatchewan than you could know what to do with. i know for a fact that even not that far south, around lloydminster, there are HUGE populations of the critters. i probably shot 1500 of them one summer up there

We actually had some guy move in, west of Bergen, who missed the gophers from his last abode, so he imported a bunch.:lol: Don't think they are doing too well and the neighours are not very happy.

Grizz

[duffy4]

Suka,

That would be due to the foxes. Wolves will actually benefit game birds/ waterfowl etc as they will thin out meso predators such as red foxes, raccoons, skunks, coyotes etc. Even coyotes are better than any of those other little critters if your a pheasant or duck egg. Just to clear up some mis-conceptions.
jrs

And what about his mis-conception that the gov. had "introduced" red fox and wolves?

[IR_mike]

And what about his mis-conception that the gov. had "introduced" red fox and wolves?

Don't forget cougars duffy......that rumor refuses to die as well.

Every person that has claimed to have a "map" given to them of cat drop off sites by SRD cant ever seem to find it when I ask to see it.:rolleye2::rolleye2:

[Trav]

if anyone wants to come shoot some gophers let me know I have tons of them south of LLoyd

Send me a pm if you want to shoot some

[tippycanoe12]

I AM INTRESTED IN COMING OUT TO SHOOT GOPHERS I AM VERY CAREFULL, I USED TO FARM. I AM 60 YEARS, ME AND MY SONS LOVE SHOOTING GOPHERS WE LIVE AT BONNYVILLE COULD YOU PLESAE GET BACK TO ME ,MY EMAIL IS embizzlement@hotmail.com my name is RENE LESSARD PH-780-826-0487 THKS RENE:):sHa_shakeshout:

[Randy.g]

Looking for some gophers/starlings/magpies and pigeons to shoot in the Edmonton and surrounding area. Will be using pellet guns so no noise problems. Will be careful and responsible.

[Randy.g]

Bump.....still looking to help thin out the gopher population. Will use air rifles to keep things very quite still plenty of fpe for a clean painless kill.

[Okotokian]

nevermind. edited

[Jamie Black R/T]

R.I.P. Ken

damn this thread is old! LOL