Gopher "Eliminator" Puts Poison Into Tunnels

Gopher "Eliminator" Puts Poison Into Tunnels MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Pest Animals 26-3-27 After Willie Elsing, Rushmore, Minnesota, retired from farming, he began restoring part of his farm to native prairie grasses. "I have developed one of the best wildlife areas in my area," he says. "But along with the prairie plants and wildlife came hordes of pocket gophers." Elsing looked around for a way to control them. "The only thing that really works is poison but I couldn't find an efficient way of applying it that would not pose a threat to other animals," he says. Elsing devised what he calls the æRodent Ridder.' It worked so well he applied for a patent on it. "I can now place the poison directly into the burrows, deep in the soil where only the gophers are affected by it," he says. "I haven't been able to completely rid my prairie of gophers. That's probably not possible. But I have been able to keep the population in check." Elsing, an active 90-year-old, says the Rodent Ridder is easy to use. "It's similar to a soil probe. In fact, you can also take soil samples with it," he adds. Elsing says his tool can also be used to fertilize trees and even to plant walnuts and other nut-type trees. "I had several of these made for me, and have sold about 400 of them over the past two or three years," he says. Included with the Rodent Ridder are instructions on how to identify pocket gopher tunnels and burrows and exactly where to place the rodenticide using the tool. Elsing's Rodent Ridder sells for $46, including shipping and handling. Minnesota residents need to add $2.60 to cover sales tax. Contact: FARM SHOW Magazine, Willie Elsing, 107 Johnsen Road, Rushmore, Minn. 56168 (ph 507 478-4482).

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