Part of St. Patrick’s fame came from driving the snakes out of Ireland. Frank Zdril and Julian Oleksuik have come by the same fame driving away pocket gophers.
Pocket gophers, or moles as people often mistakenly call them, can pose problems for farmers, whose fields become infested with the pests. The animals build up large mounds of dirt that can damage farm equipment when driven over the hills.
“If you wait too long to get rid of the moles and those hills, you’ll have to rework the land completely in a couple of years,” Zdril said.
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The “mole patrol,” as their neighbors teasingly refer to them, have been working to eliminate the pests in fields around Meath Park, Sask., northeast of Prince Albert. Both are retired farmers who have spent their lives in the area.
Zdril started trapping pocket gophers about five years ago at the request of his nephew Garry Tenaschuk, who was having trouble with them in his alfalfa fields.
“They were getting to be a bloody nuisance,” said Zdril.
He caught more than 5,700 in his first year, and now regularly cleans 10 quarters of land for Tenaschuk and his neighbors. Besides making troublesome holes, the pocket gophers eat alfalfa roots.
Zdril said Tenaschuk has had an easier time in the field since the control effort began.
“Now he can move along and cut that hay as fast as he wants,” Zdril said.
Oleksuik has been a pocket gopher hunter since 1997, and spends his time keeping more than 20 quarters of land pest-free. He began trapping as a hobby, because he knows the annoyance the gophers can bring.
“It’s a good job for retired people,” Oleksuik said.
Added Zdril: “Yep, you get out of your wife’s hair and get out in the field.”
The two work in the fields from the time the snow melts until the ground freezes. They locate a gopher tunnel, insert a trap and cover it. They use three types of traps, but all operate along similar principles. Once the animal enters and steps on the trigger, it’s all over. Farmers usually pay Oleksuik and Zdril $1 per gopher.
Oleksuik and Zdril experimented with poison, but found it expensive and ineffective.
Zdril said the poisoned grain they used was only successful about 30 percent of the time.
Thousands per quarter
Between them, Zdril and Oleksuik own about 150 round, square and leg-hold traps. The pair estimates that between 1,000 and 1,500 pocket gophers can be found per quarter of land in the region, although there have been times when they have found more than 3,000.
Zdril estimates he has caught about 10,000 gophers since he started trapping, and Oleksuik keeps a detailed diary of how many he catches each year. This year, he has trapped 2,036 so far, compared to 2,606 in 1998 and 2,209 in 1997.
It is nearly impossible to clear a field, because if a neighbor isn’t trapping them, the gophers will move to surrounding fields.
“If you get about 50 percent of them, you’re doing well,” Oleksuik said.
Added Zdril: “You set your traps and you think you’ve got ’em all, but no sir, they come back.”
What do the men do with their thousands of pocket gophers? Oleksuik said he usually tosses them in the field, but Zdril has found another use for them.
“Cats love ’em.”
Enough said.
After winter sets in, the Mole Patrol will get a rest.
Oleksuik said he will be back out as soon as the ground thaws in spring, but Zdril is thinking about stopping.
“Then again,” he said, “I’ve been saying I’m going to quit for years.”
