longlong drive, to gopher Mecca.....lol

Faststeel · #1 05-10-2018, 02:40 AM

well lads, right place at the right time.
Get a phone call from buddy who is working down south of Lethbridge with some agricultural products and happen to ask about shooting gophers. Bingo bango bongo, some ones knows some one with a huge problem, music to my ears.Load up the truck with a fine assortment of CZ rim and center fire rifles and head for Milk River, then drive for an hour north east from there, close to 750kms from home.... to get to 2 section of pasture infested with targets. farmer was great and any caliber we wanted to shoot was just fine with him, he even offered up some rimfire to shoot, great guy.
all day saturday, all day sunday andit was soo good I went back for a few hours on monday morning, nice that all 3 days with on a light breeze. Did pick up a sweet deal on a BRNO number 5 from P&D about 3 months ago. this rifle was shot more times in 3 days than the previous 50 years since manufacture, fabulous accuracy.
Very interesting to see all the new huge ponds formed from the melted snow way down south, could make for nasty mosquito activity

Begs the question. How far is too far to go to a gopher gold mine. I dxraw the line at the sask. Manitoba border myself.....FS

4extreme · #2 05-10-2018, 04:38 AM

I drive 3.5 hours from edmonton. But i know there are gophers and i have permission. What was your gopher count?

Norwest Alta · #3 05-10-2018, 06:55 AM

Just got back from Claresholm on Saturday. We had a great time and I would like to thank Lee for organizing our gopher safari. It was a great trip and well worth the drive. Lots of laughs and well worth the 800km drive. The biggest disappointment was bass pro and my truck breaking down.

We probably only shot 400 over two days which was lots for us but we were told that there was only about 10% of what there normal should be.

Thanks again Lee for your gopher guiding experience.

pitw · #4 05-10-2018, 07:16 AM

I figure at least 1/2 a mile to maybe 5 miles is plenty far enough. Only have about 12 cases of ammo for this year though.

marlin1 · #5 05-10-2018, 08:23 AM

an hour and a half tops

Groundhogger · #6 05-10-2018, 08:41 AM

Well...I'll be out there in a few weeks, and my nephew and I are flying over 2,700 kms, Toronto-Calgary. Hoping we get into some numbers for all the planning/expense involved. Love it out there though...so bound to be a good time regardless.

If anyone has any tips/ideas for properties SW or NE of Calgary..I'm all ears..and won't share online or elsewhere. Not like we can go back every week...or even every year.

We're both licensed hunters here in Ontario, non-smokers, etc.

Mhunter51 · #7 05-10-2018, 09:02 AM

Gophers take you where you gotta go. We have quite a few places within 30 minutes of home BUT a buddy and I are taking an " safari " across the border for known spots for Prairie Dogs this year 8 1/2 hours from home and across the US border.LOTS of dogs and got several places with permission from some great land owners. Got all permits to take the guns and ammo and for mine it took only five days to get the permit back. Should be good. Long drive but whatever.

Faststeel · #8 05-10-2018, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mhunter51

Gophers take you where you gotta go. We have quite a few places within 30 minutes of home BUT a buddy and I are taking an " safari " across the border for known spots for Prairie Dogs this year 8 1/2 hours from home and across the US border.LOTS of dogs and got several places with permission from some great land owners. Got all permits to take the guns and ammo and for mine it took only five days to get the permit back. Should be good. Long drive but whatever.

Prairie dogs, wow good for you. I have a friend In Montana that threatens to take me to a Dog town....FS

6.5 shooter · #9 05-10-2018, 01:31 PM

2-3 hours for prairie gophers.... Mountain gophers 4 plus hours
8-10 hrs. easy for PD.....to bad the border is a pain or would do them more often.

teledogs · #10 05-10-2018, 05:47 PM

I have done close to 4 hrs drive and I am sure I would drive further if I knew they were there.

coyoteman · #11 05-11-2018, 02:32 PM

I drove to Cadilac sask, one year, fair run from calgary, but wall to wall gophers, estmate 800-900 one day.
I have a shooter that drives from Ont every year, and we shoot 7 days straight.
Comes down to how much time,money, you want to spend.

southernman · #12 05-11-2018, 09:29 PM

Well I've got 900km on the Chevy for three gophers, scouting/ exploring out on the Alberta/Saskatchewan boarder, came down from Fort Mac, found plenty of spots, finding farmers at home during seeding, is proving much harder,

South of provost today, really like the country down here, seen lots of game, birds life is amazing, even a few pronghorn.
Wish I had the big Camera and 300mm lens.
How far is two far ? 300km per squirrel is a bit much, hopefully the km/ gopher count will drop a bit.
Cracker spring day.

Newview01 · #13 05-11-2018, 09:35 PM

I'm letting the small gopher population on my acreage grow to a sustainable number and then I will implement a draw / tag system for myself to ensure enjoyment for future generations.

YoteStopper · #14 05-14-2018, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Newview01

I'm letting the small gopher population on my acreage grow to a sustainable number and then I will implement a draw / tag system for myself to ensure enjoyment for future generations.

Let me know when your gopher farm opens...lol.