Features:

  • Gopher trapping made clean and easy, from above ground all without a shovel.
  • With no bait, poison, or chemicals used, gopherhawk organic and safe.
  • Includes everything needed in one box, Gopher trap, Wedge, and probe.
  • The combination Wedge and probe tool is used in place of a shovel for locating and opening a Gopher run.
  • Never touch the Gopher or the dirt. Not shovel, no digging, no mess.
A gopher trap for a reasonable price that works and is easy to place in the ground

We have a large lawn. When our 13 year old Rottie recently passed away the gopher from the movie Caddie Shack moved in. Every morning it moved 4 feet closer to the house. I used the hose to flood it twice. I used smoke bombs 10 times (two packs). I used the poison dispenser every day for a week (this had worked in the past). In spite of the damage it was causing my wife thought it was funny. I didn't want to dig trenches, place back to back metal traps attached to cables, cover with boards and seal off the light with dirt which worked well when I was younger. I was looking for a much easier way and I found it. There are systems that mix propane and oxygen to blow them up but they start at $1,000. Then I came across the Gopherhawk and ordered it on Amazon. The gopher was now just 3 feet from our patio. The first night was a failure. The gopher just packed it with dirt but didn't set off the trap. I emailed the company and they responded immediately. "Rinse in soapy water and move the trap". The next day exactly at dusk...whack! When sprung, a section at the top is bright yellow and you know you have success. A clean and humane kill. No signs of gophers for a week now. One gopher and 18 mounds to fix! Recommendations: view their videos online at their website first. Pay close attention on how to set it properly. Learn how to spring the trap if you have to move it (hold onto the spring end and whack the black part gently against your other hand. Keep your fingers or anything else away from the tip. The "trigger" is supposed to flop around so don't think it is broken. UPDATE: Since gophers are territorial, killing the one gopher solved the problem for a year. But when another showed up recently I dragged the trap out of retirement but found that it had completely rusted on the working end and was useless. I called the company and they answered immediately and cheerfully told me to send it back with $5 and they would send me a new stainless steel model. It took 4 days and moving the trap twice but this morning, one less gopher. It really works.

Success!

Got 'em! I waited to review the product because I had high hopes as this was our last resort. The first setting in our cherry orchard provided no results. I probed and found the 'void' but I'm pretty sure the expansion probe didn't go deep enough so after 2 days I gave up on that hole. There was another in our yard. I was able to run water into the void first. Once I finally found the gopher thoroughfare, GopherHawk went to work. Just like the predatory bird, the trap took its time waiting for it's prey. I was starting to become discouraged when after 8 hours I hadn't seen results. I noticed dirt had been pushed up the hole around the trap shaft (even though it wasn't sprung). I ran a little more water to clear it out, then left it alone (actually forgot about it) The next day the telltale yellow handle was sprung. When I tugged on the trap handle, there was no way that thing was coming out of the ground. I used the probe to loosen up the soil around the hole and with a stronger tug, there was that big fella. It was also wonderful that I didn't have to get my hands close to the rodent to release the trap. A simple half cock of the handle and he fell to the ground. I also used it to pick him up by pinching his tail into the rim of the trap and NEVER had to touch him! Now I need to go find another hole to accurately test efficiency. Pros: Easy enough to compress the spring to 'set' the trap. Yellow 'sprung' indicator lets you know you've either caught one or it's sprung. Didn't misfire (for me anyway) when gopher pushed dirt back up the hole. Quick Delivery (without prime) Cons: Success was only when the thoroughfare was definitely exposed by water. (but we have really sandy soil) Update: I've caught 2 more HUMONGOUS gophers...At night seems to be their active time! Probe worked to find the tunnel...obviously! Very happy farmer! Update: added 'kill notches'. Having more fun than I ought to! 5 in less than a month and unit it holding up beautifully. Bought 2 more, gave one to my neighbor and use another at my mom's place!

This is the best designed and easiest to use gopher trap I have ...

OK after using this trap I just had to write a review. First of all a big THANKS to the designer! Very, very clever design. I am an engineer and appreciate things that are well thought out, thinking outside the box and work! This is the best designed and easiest to use gopher trap I have ever used. I have been after one gopher for over a month with no success until I used the Gopherhawk. I my case the gopher had become trap and bait shy. I would dig a hole large enough to allow me access to their tunnel then set 2 old fashion traps one in each direction with bait (carrot or peanut butter) between the traps. Then cover the opening with a cover and seal the edges with dirt to avoid light from entering the area. I made all possible attempts to keep the human smell off the traps. I would clean the traps each time I used them. This one particular gopher got around the traps, managed to trip one of the traps, ate the bait and escaped to do it again and again. Once he figured out what I was doing he would back fill the tunnels and seldom return to that area. After I received the Gopherhawk I instantly installed it as per the instructions. within an hour I saw it had been tripped. I was so excited to see what I had caught. I carefully dug around the trap so I could pull the trap and the gopher out at the same time. Enlarging the hole is necessary so you do not pull the gopher apart when trying to pull the dead gopher through the small hole the trap was originally in. I had read other reviews where when the trap was removed all that was found was the legs. I believe the gopher may have been pulled apart because the hole was too small. Anyway back to my first catch. I had installed the trap in an area that I had tried to trap before. I did not clean the trap prior to installation. When I pulled it up all I found was a trap full of dirt. I move the trap to another location. When I found the trap had been tripped I checked it and again, no gopher just a trap full of dirt. Oh yeah, no gopher but one earthworm. At this point I decided to go back to the basics. 1. I completely cleaned the trap with rubbing alcohol. the shaft, the trigger, the snare and the inside of the shaft. I did not set the trap while cleaning simply held it open without engaging the trigger. Trying to clean the trapped while set could cost you a finger. This was not too hard and I think it paid off 2. I coated the lower part of the shaft both inside and out, the trigger and the snare with olive oil. AGAIN WITHOUT SETTING THE TRAP! I read gopher love olive oil and carrots. Not sure if it is true or not but thought it might help mask any lingering human odors. I am now convinced you must clean any/all traps completely before using for the first time and each time after if you want success. 3. I coated a baby carrot with olive oil being careful not to tough it with my bare hands. 4. Found the tunnel using the poker, enlarge the hole using the supplied wedge. 5. I dropped the olive oil coated baby carrot down the hole and placed the trap directly over the carrot. 6. I set the trap as instructed, a little tricky at first but easy once you get the hang of it. I also packed dirt around the shaft to help block out the light. Over night I had trapped a big fat gopher. If you are thinking of buying this trap, do so, you will love it! If you bought one and have not had success try my method list above. I am so happy with my success I may even purchase another one. Should I encounter any problems I will update my review. I am not associated with the company in anyway. This is a totally independent review. I borrowed the score keeping idea from another review. Perhaps the company could print a gopher on the hole enlarging tool for this purpose . I love the idea of keeping score. ~Bill

This trap is amazing. When I first saw it on Amazon

This trap is amazing. When I first saw it on Amazon, I was a little skeptical that it only had 16 reviews. I did A LOT of research on gophers and the best way to get rid of them. After seeing this trap, and reading the reviews, I felt like it was the best one for the job. Some of the other traps that are available seem to require some kind of digging to get to a tunnel and then set the trap, and this tool skips all that. Plus setting the trap is just ridiculously easy. This morning our "friend" had made 3 fresh mounds of dirt in an area where I'm trying to grow some grass. The gopherhawk just couldn't come fast enough. I watched all the instructional videos, and read all the instructions and tips on the website, so when the Gopherhawk arrived around noon today, I was READY. I had the trap set in less than 10 minutes, which was nice because I had to run to pick up my son from school. After picking my son up from school, and getting some lunch, I couldn't wait to get home to check on the trusty "yellow" indicator that the trap had been activated. As I drove up, sure enough, there was yellow. Pulled the trap out, and BINGO. Less than two hours! I don't think I have another gopher roaming around, but I did set it in a different area of the yard where there had been some activity in the past, just to see what happens. Now I'm confident, and won't mind too much if I see a fresh dirt mound around, because my Gopherhawk is HUNGRY. Great job and congrats to the inventor of this fine tool. I know some of the other traps have been around for like 100 years, but this thing is a BEAST. UPDATE #1: So it turns out I only had one gopher destroying my yard, and now everything appears peaceful. However, my gopherhawk was HUNGRY, so when my father-in-law told me he had been battling a gopher in his yard for months, I let him borrow the gopherhawk. He didn't get his gopher as fast as I did, but he did get him within 3 days. He's telling me there's more around so he's putting the gopherhawk to work again.

A slight learning curve and then great success

It took me awhile to learn how to use this, but now that I have figured it out, I am sold on it. My garden was invaded by moles this past summer and fall, and I was at wits end trying to get rid of them. I spent a lot of money on smoke bombs and all it did was encourage them to dig up another part of our yard. This trap got rid of them for good. After I got the hang of setting it, I was surprised to also catch a few monster gophers! We live on acreage, so now I am fixing to go on a major murder spree... Setting it is not difficult, but you have to think about what you are doing - for example, my husband is used to using brute strength when faced with resistance, and a different approach is called for here. If you place the column into a tunnel and push down on the top, you will bend the trapping mechanism as it comes out of the column and meets resistance with the soil. If you locate the tunnel, insert the column into it, place a flat hand on the top of the trap and THEN pull the lower section up, you will uncover the trapping mechanism without damaging it. A light cover of soil is all that's needed; sometimes I prop it up with a stone if I'm setting it on a slope. I prefer this to more traditional traps as I am much less worried about my cats or other animals digging it up and getting a paw caught. Also. it is much less disruptive to the plants and soil around the tunnel, as it requires less digging to gain access to tunnels.

Better than the old pinch traps!

My neighbors on all sides do nothing to prevent gophers and as such have allowed their yards to turn into breeding grounds. I used to trap gophers using the little metal pincher type traps. That required digging a big hole to expose the run, digging out the run so that I could get the traps deep enough that the gophers didnt just bury them, and widening the run enough that the trap would operate without interference from the surrounding dirt. This of course had to be done on both sides since I have no way of knowing which direction the gophers would come from. A big hassle and only moderately effective. After a couple gophers got smart and always managed to bury my best set traps I called an exterminator who does regular work for my company. He told me they use these gopherhawks and poison pellets and recommended I give the trap a try. I ordered one off amazon and got it setup the day it arrived. The probe is nice and necessary. The tip is a little larger than the shaft which causes the probe to suddenly drop when it breaches a run making them easy to locate. After the run is located the spike is used to open a hole wide enough for the trap to fit down and deploy. It took a little fiddling around with the spike to get the hang of it but I found that steady pressure and a circular motion gets it to work well. Caught the sneaky gopher that dodged several of my pincher traps within a couple hours of getting the gopherhawk setup. Caught another one who was working his way in from my neighbors yard the next day. I love this trap! Its cleaner, faster, and easier to use than the old pinchers and even more effective!

The VERY BEST gopher trap! Easy, humane, effective

My body count so far is 25. I had no luck with other traps including classics like Victor. Many were too stiff/difficult for me to set...I'm a 65 yr old woman, not the greatest arm strength...and even when they were set the gophers eluded them. Several traps required digging & further damaging my garden or grass; GopherHawk just leaves a small diameter hole, easily filled in. The probe is easy to use - you can really feel when you've found a tunnel and which direction/how deep it's going; the trap is easy to pull into set position and instantly lethal when it snaps. You can see from a distance when you've got one, the yellow band shows when it's sprung; just pull the GopherHawk straight up, ease the spring to open the snare and shake the gopher loose - no need to touch it. We are surrounded by forest and open fields so the gopher onslaught on our acre of open garden/pasture is RELENTLESS (like a zombie apocalypse, they just keep coming!) I leave my kills in the woods for local wildlife to enjoy. I have 2 traps, buying 2 more today. Be sure to buy the kit with the probe & trap together first, then add on additional single traps as needed. Gopherhawk's website has good instructional videos, too. Without my GopherHawk arsenal, I'd have to give up and let them overrun the place like so many of our neighbors have done. Works best in dampish/firm soil; when it's too dry/powdery, it's hard to get a clean set without too much fine dirt spilling into the probe hole...but that's a problem with any trap that requires a clear opening to work in.

It works great and very cost effective and easy to use.

Awesome. Got it watched the video on YouTube. I got two traps. It doubles your chances. Husband set the trap first day in an active gopher run. Killed the first gopher within an hour and half. Two days later another active gopher set another trap He moved the trap and got another gopher. Very easy to do and dispose of the dead gopher. We had previously hired an gopher trapper and cost over two hundred dollars with nothing to show for it. Really like this effective trap. No poison and it’s really great. The next great thing is my husband is so happy with me. One of the best gifts I have ever gotten him. He works so hard on our lawn and for something to tear it up was really hard to watch.

This one works! Very highly recommended!

A gopher recently decided to wreak havoc on my front lawn and ripped it up good and I mean real good. First tried the gas bombs and in spite of reading reviews that they don't work I tried it anyway. Guess what: they don't work, don't even waste your time! New mounds come up and you're left with a mess of spent fuses that further destroys our environment when disposed. So some quick research here on Amazon (sort by feedback, hey I'm lazy) led me to this trap and I'm here to tell you the 5 star reviews are true. The GopherHawk is a godsend. Now mind you, I love all living beings and would prefer to trap and release the little guy (or gal) back into the wild but by releasing it I'm only creating problems for someone else. And sending gas down a hole seems a slow painful way to die, the rare times they do work. Unfortunately these destructive little beasts are not smart enough to stay away from areas where humans obviously populate so I decided to become judge jury and executioner and kill this pest or face a very expensive time consuming lawn repair. In the battle of man versus beast, man wins this one big time thanks to this very clever device. Negative reviewers are likely not following the rather easy to follow instructions. Do not, and I repeat, do not make the hole and insert a fully extended set trap into the hole. You will damage the device (and possibly injure yourself), rendering it useless. You want to gently insert the retracted GH into the hole, then pull up on the loading lever like you're cocking back a rifle. Walk away--that's it. Later, when you see the yellow warning band on the GH appear then you've made your catch. A feeling of relief and joy washes over you as you pull up the whole device and quickly release the carcass into the receptacle of your choice without ever touching the nasty little bugger. This thing is just so cleverly engineered! One major piece of advice: don't use the poker tool to find a tunnel between mounds and make an extra hole in your lawn to insert the GH. This just creates more mess (and damage) and I could never get a clean cut into my heavy clay soil. Simply go to the freshest mound, find the opening on the side (not the top) and GENTLY brush the dirt with poker until the entryway becomes obvious. Use your hole enlarger thing (very useful) and very lightly widen the hole. Insert the GH at this entry angle and walk away. You're done and so is the little varmint. Be careful and don't ever put your finger near a set trap, this thing has a vicious snap and will take your finger clean off. When handled properly it's a safe tool. I used marine grease and lightly coated the retracted metal blades to prevent rust while in storage. The GH is always at the ready if one of these vicious beasts dares to enter my lawn again! If this review is glowing is because I'm writing it immediately after finally catching the gopher tonight and can finally relax. I cannot recommend a product more highly than this one. Bravo GopherHawk!!

SIMPLY GREAT, but Essential to place it in an ACTIVE Gopher hole/location

******Another update to my original review --I want to rate it 20 stars! ****** 1. OVERVIEW: Maybe the BEST Gopher trap possible! -- little digging, -- easy to set and place in ground -- easy to see if the trap has sprung (no need to dig to check -just look at the bar!) -- no need to tie the trap down -- sturdy: we've set it about 10 times with no results, and then (when we learned how to really use it) we also caught four gophers quickly. The trap is durable and still working like new. -- good price --and better price if you already have the probe/hole digging tool. -- very very effective if placed in the right spot. 2. Details: ===== -- Yesterday two more gophers (#2,#3). Today we got gopher #4! ...thank you Gopherhawk! :-) (Just how many gophers can be in our yard!? :-( -- This is so different from the first weeks when we tried it!....It was useless! I put it near holes. . . but nothing. -- Then I researched a bit --and found that it is *SO* important to place it near an "ACTIVE" hole, Active meaining --where you have *just* (same day/last night) seen gopher activity. -- Do that -and the results are amazingly fast. - The last three gophers we caught were all trapped within about an hour or so of placing the GopherHawk in each spot. - We had found the (three different) active holes; and then placed the GopherHawk correctly in the main tunnel-lateral tunnel intersection each time. So, the way it has worked for us is: 1. find the ACTIVE hole - and probe back down that tunnel (it's called a "lateral tunnel") 2. Use the probe to identify where lateral tunnel hits main tunnel (maybe six inches to a foot back, or deep -also maybe a different direction from the lateral hole!) 3. Then used the proble and wedge to (carefully) dig a thin, *vertical* shaft down into that main tunnel at that intersection/spot (lateral-main intersection). (Be careful not to damage the tunnel structure --you want the gopher to move smoothly to/through this part of the tunnel!) 4. Set the GOPHERHAWK into that verticle shaft; cock it, & then cover the seam with dirt to block any light shining into the tunnel from the shaft. 5. Also cover the lateral runway entrance with dirt as well to block daylight. (We left the dead leaves by the plug/door to the tunnel in case they could attract the gopher back) Do that and, if you have really found the active hole, you should get a hit in minutes, or hours; and certainly you will get a hit by the next day! If you DON'T get a hit --and get no results after about 18 hours, then I would pull the GOPHERHAWK out and try to find the "real" active hole/tunnel somewhere else. I am a "novice" gopher hunter, but after eliminating four gophers in less than a week, our garden and flowers are safer; and I know we can work to control these persistent pests 😊 Recommendation: If you have gophers, buy it! :-)

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