Voles vs. Pocket Gophers: Reading Your Yard

Every spring, somebody looks out at a lawn that's been under snow for a few weeks and finds it covered in trails or dirt piles. Usually it's one of two animals: voles or pocket gophers. They do different damage and need different fixes.

Here's how CSU Extension and its PlantTalk program tell them apart, and what they recommend.

Signs of voles

Voles live on the surface. You'll see narrow runways through matted grass, small open holes and soil that feels spongy. They chew bark low on shrubs and young trees, leaving narrow, irregular gnaw marks. Sometimes they go all the way around a trunk, which can kill the plant.

CSU says most vole damage happens in winter, when they travel through grass runways under the snow, and the worst years tend to be heavy-snow years. Their numbers also swing, often peaking every three to five years.

Signs of pocket gophers

Pocket gophers stay underground and rarely come up. Their mounds are fan-shaped or round, with the hole plugged. In spring, as snow melts, you may find solid tubes of soil on the lawn where they tunneled under the snow. Plants that suddenly wilt may have lost their roots. CSU puts their tunnels at about 2.5 to 3.5 inches wide and 4 to 18 inches deep.

Quick comparison

If you only remember one thing, remember the holes:

Open holes, surface runways: voles
Plugged mounds, no open hole: pocket gophers
Bark gnawed near the ground: voles
Soil tubes on the lawn at snowmelt: pocket gophers

What helps with voles

CSU's vole advice starts with cover. Mow closely and often, and clear vegetation about two feet back from tree trunks. Wrap young trees and shrubs with quarter-inch hardware cloth, about 18 inches above ground and 3 to 6 inches below. Snap traps can handle a small lawn population set in the fall, but CSU says trapping isn't practical for large areas or big populations. Repellents exist, but CSU notes there's little data on how well they work.

What helps with gophers

Gophers mean tunnel trapping. A provider will find active tunnels, set traps in them and check them. Tell them about pets and kids, and ask what they plan to use. Vole and gopher control covers the service side.

Questions people ask

Are these the same as moles?

No. This line handles rodents, and voles and pocket gophers are rodents. Moles are a different animal.