I've just set my Victor traps for kill #8 this fall, in my quarter-acre back yard. I tried to master the art of gopher traps a few years ago, with not much luck, and then I dabbled in poisons and smoke bombs for a while. They came in with a vengeance this year - killing my young apricot tree - so I buckled down and watched some YouTube videos. Now that I have the hang of it, I am reliably catching the gophers every time I see activity. Here is what works for me. First off: If you have moles, don't bother. These are gopher traps. My tools: Victor traps, with a brightly colored string ~24" long, tied around the trigger end. The string has a loop tied into its far end also. 5/8" flathead screwdriver for locating the tunnel. Hand trowel. Garden staple to pin down the strings once the traps are placed. Peanut butter. Prep: I used to dig right at the mound, but I seldom found the tunnel that way. Now I'm looking for two mounds that are not too far apart so I can easily identify the direction of the run, I probe with the screwdriver about 6-12" away from one mound, in the general direction of the second mound. Sometimes they don't go in a straight line, so I move in an arc until I've got it. Put the spade in next to the screwdriver and lever it a little to make sure I've really found a tunnel before I dig further. Open up a 4" hole so I can get my hand inside, probe around to see if I can set the traps in 2 directions, and then (before setting the trap) scrape out enough additional dirt that I can easily push the trap into the tunnel, beyond the opening I've made. (Once the clamp arms are set, this becomes harder). All of the above is just a bit easier if the soil is damp. Setting the trap: Find the U-shaped wire lever, pivot the pointed ends upward so that the square end dips under the wire base of the trap. Push down hard on the tip of the solid piece so the jaws come open, and the square end of the wire catches under the wire base. Now hold the jaw end and flip the entire assembly so that the trigger plate (the flappy metal piece at the far end, above the spring) engages over the pointed ends of the U-shaped wire. (If you can't figure this out from the package instructions, go to the Victor website for more details). Now hold the wire base by the spring end. Carefully place a glob of peanut butter on the trigger plate. Still holding trap by the base, insert it -- jaw-end first -- gently into the tunnel. Patience here -- occasionally I bump the jaws against the wall of the tunnel and spring the trap, but that's usually because I haven't created enough maneuvering room for myself, or else I haven't taken the time to understand which direction the tunnel runs. Place a trap facing each direction if you can (but realize that sometimes you'll be at a dead end, so don't worry overly much). I've seen different instructions on what to do next. My father-in-law told me to cover the hole with a plant pot or a board and loosely pile dirt around the edges of the pot. I've seen elsewhere that you should leave a small hole open, to encourage them to come seal it up. If they've been really active in an area, I might set as many as six traps at a time on different tunnel segments. For this reason, I like these twin-packs. Really, I can't think of any reason to buy one gopher trap at a time. I usually leave the traps set for at least a day and a half, just to be sure. Then I uncover each hole I've made (easy to find because of the pots, and/or the colored string) and tug gently. The one with the "kill" is easy to identify because I usually have to pull hard to get the critter out. I don't seem to have the wherewithal to empty and reuse the traps, I just discard the gopher and trap all at once. Occasionally they get stuck so I leave the whole mess down there. I've learned this fall that I'm likely to have another gopher show up in the same part of the yard, a few weeks after the first kill, so I walk my entire yard every few days, looking for evidence of new activity. They seem to be most active in fall where I live, in the high mountain semi-desert. A little less so in spring.
