Gopher Woes...

These furry little creatures are becoming a real problem! Oh, they've always been around. Once in my early married days, I was determined to get one on my yard that always seemed to outsmart me. And one Sunday I was eating dinner after church...and there he was enjoying his freedom and my yard. I was in my Sunday best but I just hurried into my rubber boots and got my gun and .... I got him!

Of course, it may have been a brother or one of the others in his clan because who knows how many are really living on your yard when you think you see the same guy all the time.

But one day, I was driving lunch out to Ladger and as I drove, I would have to describe it as gophers swarming all over the place. It's downright disturbing.

Our federal government decided a few years ago to ban the use of the one poison that most farmers used to keep this varmint under some control. But it never ceases to amaze me that they don't seem to realize that they should have another alternative in place when they decide to do something like that. The result has been that this problem is becoming huge and ridiculously out of control. And farmers have had nothing effective to deal with it. Ladger's dad has spent so many hours every spring and summer shooting thousands of them (averaging 100/day) and it barely is making a dent and this year they are worse than ever.

But now there is an effective poison... environmentally safer. But farmers have to take an all-day course to be able to purchase it. Not a problem except that it was offered when Ladger was so busy getting ready for seeding. He was lucky to find one course that's being offered now - most told him he'd have to wait until fall....huh? Fall is a lot too late to do any good this year.

How bad does it have to get before government decides that this is a problem that needs to be addressed and that there needs to be a way to facilitate farmers in their endeavor to address this problem on their farms? I still wish I could trap a whole bunch of live ones and set them free on Parliament Hill. I think that might get some attention. Don't you?