Dirt mounds overnight, trails winding through the grass when the snow melts, bark chewed off young trees right at the ground. Something is working in your yard. Before anyone can fix it, you need to know which animal it is, because a pocket gopher and a vole each need a different answer.
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Which one do you have?
Pocket gophers push up fan-shaped or horseshoe-shaped mounds of loose dirt, usually with the hole plugged off to one side. They eat roots, bulbs and the underside of your garden, and they are what most people around here mean when they say they have moles.
Voles look like short-tailed, round-faced mice. They don’t make mounds; they make runways, shallow surface trails through the grass about two inches wide, and small open holes with no dirt around them. The damage shows up worst in spring, when the snow melts off the trails they used all winter. They also chew the bark off young trees and shrubs right at the ground.
How we handle it
We start by walking the yard and confirming what is actually there. Then we explain your options before we do anything. Gophers are treated directly in the burrow system. Voles, or “snow mice,” are usually an overwinter pest; the damage they do to dormant lawns shows up when the snow melts, and they are not common after that winter. When they do persist, we trim back the cover they hide in and treat the burrows with products designed to be as safe as possible around kids, pets and livestock.
What it costs
Pocket gopher treatment starts at $125. Vole work is quoted after we look, because a single flower bed and five acres of pasture are very different jobs. These are separate services, not part of a regular plan. See Pricing & Plans.
Keeping them from coming back
Voles want cover: tall grass, heavy mulch piled against trunks, and woodpiles. Keep the grass mowed going into winter, pull mulch a few inches back from trees, and put a wire guard around the base of young trees. Gophers move in from neighboring fields and open ground, so a yard next to pasture or new construction will see new ones; catching them early, when there are one or two mounds, keeps the job small.
Common questions
Will castor oil, spinners or sonic stakes work?
Not reliably. Most of what is sold for this moves the animal a few feet at best. If you have ever lived by train tracks, you know the noise is a major issue at first, but over time you forget it is even there. The same is true with the “annoy them till they leave” products: they adapt, and they always come back. The fastest fix is knowing which animal it is and treating that one.
Is it safe for my dog?
We place everything below ground or in tamper-resistant stations, and we ask about your pets and animals before we start.
Do you do farms and pasture?
Yes. We are licensed for livestock pest control, and pasture gophers are a common call. Mounds break mower blades and holes turn ankles, yours and your animals’.
Or call 208-889-9222. Related: Wildlife Control · Mice & Rats. Family-owned since 2016.