Alan Liere: Gopher Safari

I have hunted in Alberta, Alaska, Africa and Argentina, but this week, the dogs and I had one of our more exhilarating hunts right here in my own back yard.

It began after returning from a long walk on the other side of the creek. Lucy, the Brittany, had checked out the habitat patch along the driveway for quail and then wandered over next to the garden where there was a long-forgotten wooden pallets lying in the weeds. Jill was worrying a deer leg bone she had found in the weeds and had settled in with it on the front yard when she noticed Lucy was on point.

Jill has become very dependent on Lucy. When she sees her on point, she rushes over to flush whatever it is she has found – sometimes a pheasant or quail, sometimes a grasshopper or rabbit. This time, it was a pocket gopher.

I have read that a typical pocket gopher can move approximately a ton of soil to the surface each year, thus aerating the soil. This is okay by me if that soil is in a field somewhere away from my house, but when a mound of excavated soil appears in my lawn, or a fruit tree is killed because its roots have been gnawed off, I become extremely unsympathetic to the ecological benefits of the 6-ounce rodents.

The gopher Lucy was pointing was not in sight, but Lucy had scented it and knew it was right there next to the pallet in a shallow tunnel. Perhaps she had seen the earth or the decaying vegetation moving as the creature used its tunnel to get to its sanctuary under the boards. When Jill bounded over, interrupting the point, both dogs began circling the pallet, stopping here and there to dig frantically in an attempt to get under it.

Before long, a pocket gopher was unearthed, making a dash to exit the area, but Jill was too fast for it. She caught it, threw it in the air, caught it again and swallowed it. Lucy watched with approval. As in bird hunting, once Lucy has located her prey and it has been flushed, she doesn’t care much about it anymore. She didn’t mind that Jill had eaten the first gopher and she soon commenced her digging with a determination that indicated there was another gopher nearby.

Dirt sprayed out behind her and I had to laugh when Jill walked through the line of fire and received a face full of soft earth. Lucy was soon so far into the hole only her rump and wagging tail were in sight and Jill was excavating a similar-sized hole on the other side. That’s when I got into the act.

Obviously, there were more gophers under the decaying pallet, so I pried it out of the soft earth and flipped it over. There was an immediate scramble of rodents trying to find safety. Again, Jill was fast, but not fast enough to get them all. I was whooping with enthusiasm and hopping about, trying to direct Lucy to a gopher that was headed off across the field. When she saw the movement, she pounced, and another fruit tree-killer was added to the bag. It wasn’t as exciting as calling in a big gobbler in April, but for a time when all other hunting is over, it was very satisfactory.