Good for you. Dead roses mean war!

Congratulations Hoovb!

I no longer have guilt or shame over killing gophers. They have killed several of my lilac bushes and countless trees. They ruined one of my neighbors sprinkler systems and, they chewed through another neighbors plumbing pipes. They had a horrible sewage mess in their yard as, you can imagine. I wouldn't bother them if they didn't bother me, but they do. So good riddance!

Way to go Hoovb,
Kitty

When it comes to rodents I'm all in favor of asserting our status as the universal predator.

I am lucky, we have a very effective mouser yard-cat... that cat is GOOD. We are always find "parts" around the yard. And best of all, he is way too lazy to try to get birds. He only does rodents...

You must not let the rascals win!
kay

You sure did Hoovb! lol

rootygirl: That's my solution also. You've go to love those striped cats. Good picture by both you and Hoov of a job well done.

WOW Rootygirl! That's a cat with attitude.

Great pic.

Just before I sat down to this forum I had to pick a dead chipmunk off the kitchen floor. My gang is hard at work.

Congrats Hoov! And Rootygirl that is a fine little hunter you have there. I don't find those images icky at all. More power to you.

I have a geriatric kitty who is a big observer of our resident gopher. At the age of 14 he is only interested in observation:) Fortunately we have a teenage kitty across the street who has become very interested in the subterranean movements in our yard. So hopefully that interest will lead to gopher/mole extermination.

Kate

That is 1 good cat there rootygirl! A keeper!

Here is a link that might be useful: blog post with more disgusting pictures of gopher

That looks like 1 big gopher! Those roses are very nice, the gopher had to go.
The kitty is sooo proud.

What great pictures Hoovb and Rootygirl! My stray cat was bringing some moles to the back steps last year but this year she might just be hiding them, she is getting old too, she probably forgot where she put them....LOL.

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

My cat Chubs has closed eyes because he was purring!

By the way hoovb, that is the most beautiful photo of Abe I have ever seen. I told myself "no more "Austins" because I want to try other roses, but it will be hard to resist Abraham D.

not nice. not nice at all. we do NOT have dominion over everything else so please stop gloating.

Go Get'em. It's not gophers here in the Flint Hills, it's Pack Rats, but the principle is still the same.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Musings

YAY! Good for you. That mean old gopher had it a comin!! I am dealing with voles for the first time and good grief those things multiply. I haven't had a cat for a few years now but I think I need to get more.

Rootygirl your sweet kitty looks very proud as should be.

If that gopher was big and fat it is because he was full of rose roots! Grrrrr.

Campanula, if they did not kill plants, I would not kill them. They don't just damage the roses, they kill them.

Well may he rest in peace.

Actually not, something came in the night and ate him.

At first I was pleased that my cat was a "hunter" ... at least until this week. So far, he has brought me a baby rattler (TRUE !), a huge lizard, a mongster black spider and some kind of rodent that I can't identify. (That one he brought into the house !)

Gophers, moles and voles don't have a chance in my glacier slurry, but it seems that Scamp can find enough creepy critters to make me wish he was not a huntin' cat.

Smiles,
Lyn

Woman the Hunter.
A nice fat one. Must weigh, oh, eight pounds. Yep. Not as big as the nine-pounder I caught this week, but close.

Are you gonna mount the skull above your mantle or on your car hood? I have mine in my study.

Renee

Pocket gophers are called vermin for a reason: they are NOT harmless. Those who do not garden within the range of the Pocket Gopher need not worry themselves about the survival of these vermin. I personally supply them with 15 acres of prime habitat. They can leave three quarters of an acre to my garden. They ruin lawns, they eat roots of many plants, not just ornamentals, they chew and girdle trees and shrubs, they chew holes in irrigation pipe, their tunnel systems destabilize hillsides, dams and dikes, their burrows can lame or cause fatal injuries to horses, they destroy young trees planted for reforestation of areas destroyed by wildfire, and they harbor ticks that carry Lyme Disease. They have their place, as they process enormous quantities of soil when they tunnel and they feed raptors and predators. Too bad they don't tunnel in rocky soil. They show up after the soil has been improved. One of the serious problem they cause is secondary poisoning. Gardeners and farmers suffering losses from pocket gophers often turn to poisons that, if the dead gopher is ingested by domestic pets or wild raptors, cause death.

The predation of my dogs on pocket gophers is a substitute for the predation of native predators excluded by my fencing. Long live the ratter.

Ouch, all these "Yays" and "good riddance" comments are a little disturbing. I've had to kill mice that got into the house, and once a woodpecker which over a period of several weeks was persistently drilling large holes in our old log home, but it always saddens me and I'm so sorry for it. Surely as humans we feel some kind of remorse. Do what you feel you must, but be respectful of the life lost.

Berndoodle, not arguing your post. I understand and appreciate it -- just disturbed by the general attitude of joy in the killing that others are showing.

If it were "joy in the killing" for killing, I agree that would be disturbing. This is, however, joy over the removal of a pest. I've never been upset when I stepped on a roach, caught a rat in a trap, or pulled a weed.

just disturbed by the general attitude of joy in the killing that others are showing

I am joyful that my garden which was being destroyed is not being destroyed now. Guilty of that! Is that the same as taking joy in killing? I truly do not think so.

How do you keep those cats from killing the wild birds in your yard? Good mouser = good birder.

My cat bought himself a ticket out when he proudly brought a cardinal to the door. It broke my heart to find piles of feathers all over the yard.

Greybird,

That's a cats natural instinct, then they want praise from those they love, so, they bring you the animal/insect to show you.
Our cats like to bring me grasshopers, moths, voles, mice, etc.
Only 1 bird in 8 years.

I had an expert mouser years ago, when I didn't live in town. She also would bring all of the carnage to the front door, but rarely (I think twice, maybe?) did she kill birds. Most likely, only injured birds that can't fly fall prey to cats....unless my Pickles had sported wings & was flying around the backyard unbeknownst to me.