Young pocket gophers usually begin dispersing from the natal burrow in June when about one-third grown. Pocket gophers are consumed by owls, hawks, badgers, coyotes, foxes, bobcats, skunks, weasels, bullsnakes and rattlesnakes. Damage and Control Pocket gophers reduce the productivity of alfalfa fields and native grasslands on which they are found by 20 to 50 percent. If gophers are present on 10 percent of a field, they may reduce overall forage productivity of the field by 2 to 5 percent. Gopher mounds dull and plug sickle bars when harvesting hay or alfalfa.
Gophers sometimes damage trees by girdling or clipping stems and by pruning roots.
Gophers may, at times, destroy underground utility cables and irrigation pipes. In retrospect, gophers are beneficial in several ways. Their burrowing activities increase soil fertility by adding organic matter in the form of plant materials and feces. Their burrowing increases soil aeration, increases water infiltration, reduces compaction, and increases the rate of soil formation by bringing up subsoil subjecting it to weatherization. Gophers are not protected by state or federal laws.