Yard Butler No-Dig Mole and Gopher Killer Bait Applicator, Standard – Precision Underground Tool – Safe for Pets and Kids – Professional Grade Durable Steel Garden Tool

It arrived quickly and is very easy to use. I have had a big gopher problem in my yard and did not want to dig up my lawn and flower beds to set traps. We did not have any success with the Gopher Hawk and my yard was getting destroyed. You have to be patient and persistent in locating the tunnel and a good spot to apply the bait. For me it was a lot of trial and error but YouTube videos were helpful for this. I have used both Bonide gopher tox and Monterey Go Die gopher bait separately to treat different areas. The Monterey seems to be working better but is pricy for what you get.

Works as advertised, Easy to use. Gophers are gone.

This thing is built solidly. That having been said, it is difficult to use in areas that aren't soft soil. It really takes a lot of force to push this thing into the ground if the earth isn't moist or soft. Since gopher tunnels can be anywhere, and since you'll discover as many or more old, unused tunnels as recent ones, that means this will tire you out without much return for your effort. Moreover, you should know that the disclaimer that comes with it says that loaded bait pellets should be no larger than grains of wheat. That rules out a lot of the pellets I've used in the past. Fortunately, I bought this with some traps and a big bucket of Kaput-D, which appears to be poisoned grain. That fit perfectly and dispenses easily. Now, back to the old tunnels/recent tunnels issue. If you want to get maximum bang for your buck, you want to know approximately where to drive this thing into the ground and where to pump pellets into the tunnel. Of course there's no way to do that because there's no guarantee the entrances are near the dens ... unless you've got a small game hunting dog. I noticed after an hour of poking holes in the property and cranking the little pellet door open and closed that my russelschnitzel -- that would be a Dachshund/Jack Russel mix, more rudely known as a jackweenie -- really very badly wanted to help. I'd kept him locked up away from the effort just in case stray pellets dropped, but the little door is reliable, and if you turn the crank over into the locking notch, the door is closed and stays closed. So I let the dog follow me around the yard as I poked holes. Once I pulled the applicator out, he'd either sniff once, lose interest, and move on or start digging like mad. It was pretty clear that was his way of alerting on the new hole. So... if we started going in direction in which he wasn't interested, we went off in another direction. In the next hour we covered three times as much ground as I had alone, and I only bothered pumping pellets into the holes on which the dog alerted, and I pumped lots of pellets into those. Since the gophers prefer softer soil, having the dog provide guidance meant we skipped a lot of areas where the earth was likely hard, and were able to stick to areas that were mostly soft. End result: there are no repairs to all the tunnels I filled and smoothed in more than a week, and no new entrances at all. Since the nasty little burrowing tunnel rats almost always start repairing flooded or backfilled tunnels within a day, I am quite happily but cautiously optimistic.

Works great, but you have to be patient and "spear" until you find the area where there is a void. Once in a void you rotate the door of the tool open, jiggle, close, open, jiggle, closed. There is an arch that I rotate thru to deposit in the tunnel. I wish it was easier to tell when more bait needed in the box, but it is ok. I often smear the dirt after I have baited, and the only indication that it worked is that the piles of excavation cease. I wish have to figure out how to "fill in"

This is the only thing that works for me controlling gophers. Absolutely worth the price. Must use the poisoned grain that comes with it. Easy application of poison and fast elimination of the gophers. Will NOT work on moles since they are not grain eaters.

I had a missing cover. Amazon and the seller were quick to resolve and refund the purchase amount/

This was my second purchase of a yard Butler bait applicator. My first one was stolen off my front porch. The Gophers moved in and I ordered a beautiful stainless steel bait applicator. When it arrived I was impressed with the beautiful craftsmanship but when I went to use it I found that it was way too short and two large and diameter. I was not able to force it into the lawn except with very great effort. I returned that one and was careful to order another yard Butler version. This unit is so much easier to use that it's almost fun. I've enclosed pictures of this unit and the beautiful, but useless (for me) stainless steel unit that I returned so you can see the difference in length and shaft diameter. The butler surpasses the stainless steel version and every regard except, perhaps beauty. But this is a gardening tool not a beauty contest. Even the capacity of the bait holder appears to be larger.

OH YOU GUYS. I was literally loosing my mind and sleep over this gopher issue we were having in our yard. This is the firs time I've ever had to deal with them. I was trying to play nice, but they are waaaay too smart and I lost my patience every time a huge mound would appear. I tried gassing them, flooding them, then put down some traps, and was completely unsuccessful. A bigger mound kept appearing every time I tried SOMETHING. It was almost like they were were saying, "TRY ME AGAIN LADY!". So, I bought this mechanism with the "Amdro Mole & Gopher Bait". I agree with others that filling the bait was a bit tricky. I wore gloves the entire time, and carefully deposited the bait into the mechanism, and have to maneuver my way onto get the lid bad one, without opening the doorway and allow bait to fall out in the garage. We have pets so I laid down a tarp to capture any fall out (and there were definitely some). The first time I dropped some bait down, and followed the instructions with turning the lever twice. But we saw a mound the following morning, though it was much smaller. Then I just dropped about 5-6 punctures along a "hallway", if you will, along their tunnel and instead of turning the lever twice, I probably disposed a good load down there (this was my last shot!!!) And remained patient... the next morning.. NO MORE MOUND. YOU GUYS WORKED!!!! It was well worth the money. I kinda wanted to meet the sucker eye to eye, but am just overjoyed that it's gone!!!! My peace has been restored! Try me again, gophers!!!

Dose what it was needed for

Very strong, dependable, easily penetrates the ground, easy to tell when you've hit a burrow or nest. Takes a bit of time to learn where to poke to find the underground nests. Highly recommended.

Simple, effective. Services our 15 acres... so far so good.

Haven't used it yet, but is strong and will make setting bait much safer for my animals.

Got tired of trying to keep up with the traps for the miserable pocket gophers at the lake. I don't like to use surface poison because it kills everything. This unit puts the poison where it needs to be.....underground. Doesn't always work. Sometimes the vermin miss it and dig around it but still way easier then excavating a ton of dirt to set 20 traps. My only complaint is the little wire handle that agitates the seed and rotates the drop mechanism....it's a little flimsy. Otherwise I'd have given it 5 stars.