"Doug White" wrote

A coworker of mine in silicon valley had a ranch up in the Santa Cruz
mountains. He thought gophers were "cute" until one year they had heavy
rains. An entire hillside detached from the mountain & made a hell of a
mess. It was sort of like "tear on dotted line", the hill had sheared
along a surface passing neatly through a large network of gopher tunnels.

He suddenly started pumping me for info on .22 rifles, scopes, ammo, etc.

Doug White

I think there's a misconception here. I have never seen a gopher. They do
all their things below ground. A prairie dog, or a ground squirrel spends a
lot of time on top of the ground, so one can get a shot at them. Maybe I
don't know the proper stakeout for a gopher, but it doesn't sound like
anything I have the patience for or capacity for that much beer before the
first one shows up. I'd probably hit the house.

Steve