This trap can be very effective; sometimes it's easy to set, other times not. The plastic dibble that comes with it is insufficient for most situations; shallow tunnels are not so difficult if the soil is soft, but firm enough to hold (it may help to water the spot first), but it's hard to get it past about 2" without shoving a lot of soil into your hole, you really need a soil auger; these take some practice to use well, and require a fairly large drill (preferably with side handle), but will pull dirt out rather than pushing it down. Beyond 8", you can't get a grip on the trap to set it. The metal bands that do the actual trapping tend to deform, but can usually be bent back into shape; replacements are available, though a tad priceyIt's worth mentioning that once you've caught a gopher you need to do your best to destroy its tunnel system, or another is likely to inhabit it soon.

This trap WORKS! I have been trying unsuccessfully for months to trap a mole. Two days after using this trap, I got a monster mole! Don’t waste your money on anything else. Easy to use is an added bonus.

For the last 4 years we’ve paid for pest control to set traps to get rid of our mole problem. Living in a rural location with a large garden it was becoming too expensive to keep getting them in.So after god knows how many mole mounds in our front and back garden I read up about the gopher hawk.Seemed like a great option. Had to purchase from the US at a cost of £50. So far no results and I’m beginning to think it’s because I need a few of these traps but at 50 quid a pop it’s just not an option.Would like to see these in the UK at a cheaper price so you can have a number of them set at once.Will report back if I manage to catch a mole.

First time nothing next time within 30 minutes

Un excenlente trampa para las tuzas y muy segura

After years of trapping moles + pocket gophers ( and now needing to trap ground squirrels, which is a whole other subject ) ... and after taking a free lesson from a nursery to do so using the CINCH traps... FINALLY now a nearly PERFECT TRAP for the tunnelers...no lessons needed and more success!1) It's NOT TERRIFYING to set + I can't see any possible way you could crush, break, bruise, cut or otherwise hurt your fingers with this trap! (CINCH was always a tad scary for me + more strength is needed)2) It's unbelievably EASY and FAST to set (once you have estimated the active tunnel location)3) It's unbelievably EASY to know when it's been activated + to remove the vermin4) If you watch some Youtube videos or read about being careful w the straps, you'll be better informed about how to handle it. And the straps are replaceable.5) You don't need much strength to set this.The secret to success (after learning how to NOT damage the straps) is to position it properly in an active tunnel. I believe if you are NOT catching these guys, you are not positioning the trap properly or in the right location. Practice makes perfect. You kinda have to mentally process the positioning...Our vermin seem to have the IQ of a rocket scientist. A pocket gopher actually detoured a new tunnel AROUND the straps. Oops... new hole nearby + unsprung trap! That was okay... I put my gloved fingers into the new hole ( as far as I could, since my vermin now twist + turn their active tunnels... it can be a real challenge, I insert a thin rod sometimes to follow the curve ) And within minutes, we had the bugger.Being in the high desert, we have areas that are sandy, + areas that have great soil. In areas where the ground is very soft and inconsistent, it's more difficult to find the right place + sometimes to keep the trap upright. In sandy soil, when I reach the bottom of the tunnel, I raise the trap ever so slightly to keep the straps free, + sometimes I use a couple of large rocks to hold it upright + to keep it from sinking too much into the ground of the tunnel (I don't want the straps to get "stuck" in the sand, but I don't know if that's even possible,)Additionally, we have the following challenges: vermin invading our bumpy berm that is covered w Wooley Thyme + other delicacies that make it hard to detect runs PLUS vermin that now make turns in their active tunnels, sometimes within a foot or less, and sometimes several times, making it difficult to know where to position the trap.In spite of this challenges, I AM catching them, AND6) This trap causes MUCH LESS DAMAGE TO LANDSCAPING!!! Thanks for such a nearly perfect trap !!!And thank you to AMAZON for your patience regarding a trap that I returned because I lacked the strength to set it, or being too nervous to handle another one safely, or a trap that the ground squirrels avoided like the plague. THANK YOU AMAZONPreviously, we had only been using CINCH very successfully for the last few years, but even those are a little bit scary to set. However now our vermin seem to know how to avoid them. After having caught many, I literally couldn't catch a single one anymore with CINCH, which has also been a great trap for us until it wasn't!

Excellent product. We have over 1 acre of land, in recent times the neighborhood was under siege by Voles. People used solar powered Buzzers, smoke bombs and home made concoctions to pour down the holes with no results. Did my research and bought the GopherHawk and decided to try this product. 5 days, 6 voles removed. Yes a little pricey, but .....Priceless. Tip, follow all manufactures instructions. Lube once in a while with a small dab of cooking oil, use long "Q" tip with device not loaded.

I've been using this trap for three months now and have caught six pocket gophers. It definitely does the job. Here's what I've learned:1. If you live somewhere with heavy soil, it doesn't work quite like the videos. We have a heavy loam, and during dry spells it can get hard as dry clay. If it hasn't rained in weeks (like this June), I just have to give up until it does. Most of the time, I can find the tunnel with the probe, start the hole with a piece of 1/2" aluminum conduit and a hammer, and then finish it with the pointy hole-digger they provide with the trap. It's a five minute job but it's better than digging like you have to do with a jaw trap.2. Similarly, when the trap has sprung, if you have heavy soil, you won't be able to just pull it out. I have found that if I put in a long shovel slightly more than a pocket gopher's length away from the hole, sink the shovel tip below the depth of the tunnel, and then pry from the bottom while lifting from the top, I can extract the gopher. If you get the shovel too close or too shallow, however, you can bend the blades quite easily with this method. Nonetheless, it's the only way I've found to lift a full trap out of heavy soil.3. Usually, the trap kills cleanly and quickly. Five of six were killed with a blow to the base of the skull. One was trapped by the paw, and I had to kill him after digging him out. Since then I've learned to check the trap several times a day to minimize suffering.4. As many people have mentioned, the blades bend. Mine are a little caved in from a time before I learned to use the shovel well, but the trap still works. You have to be very careful with them, though.5. The best place to set the trap is halfway between two fresh mounds. I've tried between two older mounds and on the edge of a mound and have had no luck. If I can get the trap set while the soil is still freshly dug, I have success almost every time.6. After six catches, the bottom of the trap is starting to show signs of wear. I would guess that if I'm careful, I might get 25-50 catches with this trap. I would be very surprised if it's still going at 100.Bottom line: it's cheaper than hiring a trapper, safer than the old style jaw trap my grandmother used to use, and effective. It's not heirloom sturdy--you can't be as careless as you want with it--but it does the job. And the design is ingenious. I've triggered the mechanism above ground to see how it works, and it is fast and powerful. As killing traps go, it's about as humane as they come. I regret that I have to use it, but given that I have to trap or lose fruit trees, I'm glad to have found this trap. It's not for the squeamish, but it's less "medieval" than a jaw trap.

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