Traps and poisoned baits are the most practical methods of control. On small areas where a few animals are involved, trapping or hand baiting is effective. Gopher traps and baits are available at most farm supply or lawn and garden section of your favorite hardware store. When handling gopher traps, be sure to wear gloves for safety reasons and to reduce the presence of human scents. The presence of human scents in a gopher run can lead to an empty trap.
Hand baiting involves dropping poisonous baits into the underground runways.
One pound of bait can treat many acres. On large and heavily infested areas, a tractor-drawn machine called a burrow builder is used to make artificial burrows and automatically drop baits into them. When using a burrow builder, make artificial burrows twenty feet apart across the field at the same depth as the natural burrows. The machines drop poisoned bait mechanically at nine to twelve inch intervals in the artificial burrow. One pound will treat one acre.