I have a gopher, how do I kill it?

when I moved into my house last year the intire front yard looked like that show Merkier Mannor but with gophers
I killed 7 in about 20 min.

stick a garden hose down a fresh hole they usually dig early in the morning after about 5 min. start pulling the hose back out have a shovel ready when he comes up for air, shovel him out and smack him or in my case I had a cat near by
I've also been told to buy a gopher snake they are harmless to humans but my wife wasn't going for it