I’ve had gophers eat the bulb on my onions, from underground, and when that was done they pulled the tops in and ate all of that.
I grew a plant commonly referred to as Gopher Purge, the sap of which is supposed to repels gophers. It grew to about 4 feet. It was looking wilted one day and, when I touched it to investigate it fell over. Gophers has eaten the roots
I used the .22 caliber solution for my gopher problem.
My wife used to tell the story of how she was awakened by the sound of a gunshot early one Sunday morning. She opened her eyes to see me in my underwear, standing at the open bedroom window with a rifle, saying “Got him!”
Farmers around here had a much easier time before WWII, dynamite was available at the co-op...