I have a big problem with gophers all over my 2.5 acre lot. Most of this acreage is wild. I have not obsessed about them until lately, as they have been slowly advancing toward a landscaped turf area around my home. The mounds are now only a few feet way from the turf. I bought traps recently and tried to follow the instructions in placing them. However, the tunnels don't seem to be wide enough to fit the traps inside. I tried hollowing out enough so that I could force them in, but the narrow tunnel size makes this a very tight squeeze. Anyway, I covered the excavation with a board and waited. After a few days in the ground I uncovered them to find the entire area I had excavated buried in dirt that the varmits had pushed up into it, and the traps were unsprung. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance.