Gopher hunting in Montana highlights

People in MT are a little different. They call ground squirrels gophers. When I first moved to MT people would ask if I wanted to go shoot gophers. I thought they were crazy until I found out it was ground squirrels not gophers. I was picturing people standing in a field all day waiting for a pocket gopher to back fill a hole and give them a quick chance at a shot.
Ohhhhhhh ok. I couldn't quite figure out why the video was entitled "Gopher Hunting..." I legit came to see how to hunt gophers because they are a problem here. Now it makes more sense.
 
When I first moved up to kalispell area and heard them talking about gophers, I thought the same thing😂 the species is a Richardsons ground squirrel, to anyone wondering they are not a prarie dog or any version of a "squeak" or "whistlepig" like the ones just west in Idaho. Ton of fun walking the woods popping them, just gotta remember your in grizz country at the same time😁View attachment 423156great video OP! You got a new subscriber.
Thanks! Yeah the gopher term was new to me too when I moved here. But they are a lot of fun to go and pop. Looking like a really pretty scenery there in Kalispell. Grizz country for sure and you gotta be carefull.
 
Nice shooting! Especially impressed with the one at 3:07. Private land? I've never hunted dogs with an air rifle, I'll bet you can get pretty close. Those damn centerfires makes 'em run for cover.
Thanks! Yeah I did the filming on a private ranch. The ranch owner had a problem and I volunteered to help. They did some of their own pesting with centerfires but they only get one shot here and there because they scadadle to their holes. You can get around 3 shots off to the gophers before they realise something too fishy is going on and go to their holes. So usually you can shoot a couple and then move to another spot.

Another thing I notised that the gophers tend to come back from their holes faster with the airgun. It seems centerfires scare them and they just want to lay low for a longer time.