Its about that time of year for the time honoured tradition of bagging some gophers!! I missed most of it last year, but I'm dusting off the 'ol .22 for maybe some sport this weekend.
Anyone have favourite locales around Calgary?? We usually head to a couple ranches out west of Calgary. The owners love us out there as we can usually clean out a wide swath of land in a day.
Its about that time of year for the time honoured tradition of bagging some gophers!! I missed most of it last year, but I'm dusting off the 'ol .22 for maybe some sport this weekend.
Anyone have favourite locales around Calgary?? We usually head to a couple ranches out west of Calgary. The owners love us out there as we can usually clean out a wide swath of land in a day.
Time to go get ready...
I know someone who'd like to go . . . .
Cowperson
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Wicked pic Cowperson!! I've got a 5 1/2 month old choc. lab that'd love to go. She knows how to stalk and is a bloody strong puppy. But just had her "lady bits" removed yesterday so she's a big conehead right now.
I guess I'll be the first one to speak up and say that I hate killing gophers. I have to phrase it that way because I do shoot them. My parents have land outside the city that the gophers will just decimate if you don't keep the population down. There are many animals around that scavenge so we don't like using poison and relocation ... well ... you tell a farmer that you'd like to release 200 gophers on or near his land and see how long it takes you before he's hunting you.
I always feel bad for them. It's not as if they are doing anything to bother me on purpose, they're just being gophers. Still, I'll be out there in a few weeks with the old gun and a whole lot of guilt! I've tried like hell, but I just can't get enjoyment out of ending the life of an animal. I personally don't see the big difference between a gopher, house cat or a dog when it comes to the value of life.
I'm far from a PETA activist ... If I could find a way to eliminate my need for vegetables and replace it with a larger serving a meat I absolutely would. Yes I have guilt over this too, just not enough to stop eating it.
I got nothing against controlling pests, or for that matter killing for food, etc. I know everything dies, and basically everything gets eaten one way or another, even us in the end. In fact, I've often said, if you can't visit a slaughterhouse, or can't hunt your own food, perhaps you should be a vegetarian. There should at least be some knowledge and respect for that which dies for you to live.
But to take so much pleasure in killing something else, to me just seems a little unsavory.
I'm not saying I'm right and you're wrong though, and I can definitely see the arguments. It's just not my style. If I had to kill em, I'd probably feel a lot like Russic. They're only doing what comes natural to them. It's not like we treat our environments any better than they do.
And for me, as a "city slicker" I've got not problem whacking some gophers. Yes they're just doing what comes natural to them, but the same can be said about mosquitos and I'm guessing no one has a problem smacking them. Gophers are just furrier.
And yes BBS the .17HMR is great. I've got a .22 Marlin, but my buddy has a .17HMR...very nice.
Yep, can't wait for the gophers to start coming up around here.
Put it this way......they'll turn your land into crap if you don't kill them, not too mention all those holes they dig? Cows/horses can break their legs in those holes quite easily.
IMO the best way to take care of these pests on your property is to pour a smidgen of kerosene or gasoline down every hole you can find, let the fumes settle for a bit and then drop a match. Flash fried gopher for everyone.
Gopher Hunting
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