Pits are great snakes for the right person. I love them, I don't currently have any, but I have had bulls in the past, and we will have a baby northern pine wednesday and another bull pretty soon.
Pits have attitude, there's no denying it. They like to puff up and hiss. Some of them love to bluff you and strike at you without biting. A few will actually bite. I've handled a few that were very cage aggressive but were fine once they were out of the enclosure. But cage aggression is something you can have with other snakes too.
Pits get large and heavy (for a colubrid) and they grow fast. They are extremely strong for their size, a trait you can say for most snakes, but with bull snakes its crazy how strong they can be.
They are eating machines. Their appetites are ravenous. Some will go off feed for a few months in the fall, some won't. Keep in mind that since they are bigger than most colubrids and since they eat so much, that they CAN be messy and will need a lot of clean up.
I can't say much specifically about gophers, sorry about that. Only can share what I've experienced with bulls.
I have recently been told by a few breeders as well as pit owners that bulls generally get heavier and thicker bodied than pines, but pines generally get longer than bulls. I didn't ask about gophers because I wasn't looking for one.
I think its safe to say if you wind up liking pits that you will LOVE them.

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