Ta da! 2 dead moles!

[Pilot]

I've never had any luck killing moles. 3 Victor Out O'Sight traps, in 24 years, 1 kill, but I admit I wasn't trying all the time. Tried a mound of dirt under the trigger, they just dug around it, under or over it, never thru it. Used a rock under the trigger, no luck. A friend came over with his blaster and a few weeks later the mounds appeared again (maybe new moles, illegal aliens from the neighbors). He also showed me how to gas them by pouring sulfur down the hole and burning it with a weed burner which produced poisonous gas, (don't try this, burning sulfur is listed as very toxic) which had about the same result as the blaster. I tried a "Molecat" a sort of gun that fires .27 caliber blanks used in construction. The dirt the mole was pushing forward and which fired the gun absorbed the blast & I could hear the mole laugh at it. I had just about given up, but I had put in new lawn last year & the the moles invaded in regimental forces.

Then someone told me about Christine. Christine lives half a mile away and someone pointed out that her lawn was like a carpet, zero mole mounds.

Christine came over and gave me a lesson in mole trapping. Showed me how to set the Victor traps, but said they aren't very good--no news to me--and said Trapline traps (Welcome to Trapline Products) are much better. Showed me how to set the Trapline trap and suggested sticking a flag (a plastic flag about 3" X 3" and attached to a wire) thru the loop on the end of the trap to keep a wounded mole from dragging the trap into the tunnel.

Finally went trapping less than a week ago. Set my 2 Victors and my 4 Traplines. Checked the Victors every day or two, but not the Traplines because you can't check them without pulling them partly out of the tunnel, then you have to reset the trap in the tunnel, that you have messed up and that may not work well.

But today, I decided to dig them up and move the traps to a different area, assuming I hadn't caught anything, since I had such bad luck in the past.

Score: Traplines, 2 kills, one probable and one zero. Victors, defeated with a score of zero, as usual. The probable was where I forgot to set the flag and in digging up the hole the trap was gone. Probing the tunnels didn't result in anything, so a wounded mole may have dragged the trap further down the tunnel.

Gonna order more traps & they won't be Victors.

 

[newbury]

I'll tell it again.

My Dad had problems with moles once in northern Vermont. To me he had an elegant solution. He'd buy a bunch of fireworks. Put on his thick soled hunting boots. Go out, drop a lit firework in a recent hole, step on it. Repeat.

I doubt he ever KILLED a mole, but they moved away.

And any excuse to light explosives is a good thing

 

[hawkeye08]

Ours are back with reinforcements, need to be methodical about it and get it done. Dog likes to dig in the holes right now so will have to figure out keeping her safe..

 

[dickfoster]

Ours are back with reinforcements, need to be methodical about it and get it done. Dog likes to dig in the holes right now so will have to figure out keeping her safe..

If you have a lot of grubs in your lawn you need to kill the grubs. The moles are probably there to eat the grubs.

You also might want to try a Macabee trap or two. I think they work for moles as well as gophers.

Macabee is the oldest operating business in Los Gatos, CA (Silicon Valley). A friend of mine is part owner though inheritance. They've been making those things for a hundred years. You'd think that any product that has survived in the marketplace for a hundred years unchanged and yet is still considered the best can't be all bad. The factory is an old victorian house in Los Gatos. I guess their motto is Do what you do well and stick to it.

 

[Boiler74]

You must have a different class of moles than I, OP. I've used Victor Out O'sight traps for about five years now. Kill well over 20 moles a year. I'm over 30 this year. I love that I can set them quickly. Just pick the straight run, push down the mound with my foot, cut two slits for the claws, and set the trigger on the run. Yard is too big for grub treatment and I'm surrounded by woods where they thrive. Glad I don't have your moles that need a fancier trap!

 

[oldballs]

Starting last fall, thru a mild winter, into this spring I trapped 37 moles with the Victor old style plunger traps. Am Mole free so far this summer. Just gotta know how to set 'em.............and take the time to do it. Surely "Man" is smarter than "Moles".:laughing:

 

[dodge man]

I've also had a lot of mole problems over the years. I've never messed with the traps but have tried the poison. We have lived there for 20 years and I've killed maybe 5. I've killed them by digging them up when I see the ground move. They are actually kind of cute until you look at their face. I toss them up in the air and take batting practice. I have spread stuff to kill the grubs but that is very temporary. Like mentioned by a couple of people you have to be pretty vigilant to keep them away from your yard.

 

[TractorGuy]

I don't mess with them. Kitty Cat, on the other hand, leaves us one per week on the front porch. Hmmm, maybe I have to say I mess with them after she kills them. I shovel em off the porch and throw em into the woods.

 

[CountryB]

You can do what I do - get a couple of dogs. Mine catch moles all the time (actually nothing lives on my property). The drawback to my method is that when the dogs dig up the moles, they do 10x the damage as the moles could ever do!

 

[teejk]

I don't mess with them. Kitty Cat, on the other hand, leaves us one per week on the front porch. Hmmm, maybe I have to say I mess with them after she kills them. I shovel em off the porch and throw em into the woods.

You sure your Kitty cat is catching moles or are you talking shrews? A mole is about the size of a guinea pig and they live pretty deep (and are not pretty animals other than that coat). Somebody above posted about grubs...if that is the problem then you might want to look into that (and if you have a skunk problem you will get two birds with one stone). A heavy dose of lime on the lawn cut down on the grubs...unfortunately common lawn weeds LOVE lime also so it now becomes a coin flip...do you want to do lime and deal with the "weed and feed" or not...

 

[MossRoad]

Well, I'm glad they are working for you... but no body, no homicide! :laughing:

I don't like traps that an animal can pull away, or that wounds animals and lets them escape, or kills them slowly. That's why I won't use Nash choker loop traps or Victor spike/pluger type traps. Having killed well over a bazillion moles with Victor Out O Sight traps, I'm pretty sure you aren't setting them correctly. No offense meant. You just aren't setting them correctly.

Got 29 my first year. Stopped counting at 50 the next 4-5 years after that. Then less than 10 every year for the past 10 years. So, over 300 in our 1 acre yard. Very few misses. Several dig/under/arounds, but that can be solved with a piece of sod or a stick lain under the trigger perpendicular to the tunnel.

 

[teejk]

Well, I'm glad they are working for you... but no body, no homicide! :laughing:

I don't like traps that an animal can pull away, or that wounds animals and lets them escape, or kills them slowly. That's why I won't use Nash choker loop traps or Victor spike/pluger type traps. Having killed well over a bazillion moles with Victor Out O Sight traps, I'm pretty sure you aren't setting them correctly. No offense meant. You just aren't setting them correctly.

Got 29 my first year. Stopped counting at 50 the next 4-5 years after that. Then less than 10 every year for the past 10 years. So, over 300 in our 1 acre yard. Very few misses. Several dig/under/arounds, but that can be solved with a piece of sod or a stick lain under the trigger perpendicular to the tunnel.

Knew a guy that was obsessed with eradicating moles...he used the Victor spring traps but always took a shovel and a garden fork with him when the trap sprung. Never released the trap but rather got under it and lifted a big chunk of sod/dirt. I think they are blind animals so once lifted to daylight they are easy to kill.

 

[MossRoad]

They aren't blind. They just have EDBD eyes.

 

[TractorGuy]

You sure your Kitty cat is catching moles or are you talking shrews? A mole is about the size of a guinea pig and they live pretty deep (and are not pretty animals other than that coat).

I stand corrected. I guess I don't have any moles to worry about then.

 

[k0ua]

I don't mess with them. Kitty Cat, on the other hand, leaves us one per week on the front porch. Hmmm, maybe I have to say I mess with them after she kills them. I shovel em off the porch and throw em into the woods.

We had one or two for a while, but Stanly our little outdoor kitty, closed in on em, and they are gone.

 

[CADplans]

Moles can be F U N !! :thumbsup:

 

[davesl708]

Great news about dead moles. That is one animal that can go extinct.
I fought them for years with gas, spike traps and shovels.
Finally bought a Wire Tek Mole Eliminator 2000. 12 dead at last count. Now mole free for the first time in years.
I even trapped the ones in the neighbors yards for a preemptive strike.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Moles can be F U N !! :thumbsup:

While not as much fun as blowing them up, I think just pumping the hole full of propane or acetylene would do the job. A few sniffs of that and they would die without all the dirt blowing up and destroying the lawn. Since propane is heavier than air, it would stay in the mole tunnel and the mole would either have to exit or die.

 

[the old grind]

I've had good results with Trapline's 'std' and 'large', setting them in opposing pairs with lanyards to nail them from either direction of travel and with a stake for each set. (have caught 'doubles' within hours on a hot run, blk tape tag on 'large')

btw, limber wrists are a big help when setting, and newbs will have some sore fingers after the first few tries. (spring snap) I credit most misfires to voles, which I do catch in a mouse trap now and then. (black-oil sunflower seed = ant-proof mouse/red squirrel/chipmunk bait)

Like all traps I use (also Victor and Easy Set) there are dos and don'ts for best results, mostly in setting details or minimizing human scent. ('dirt-up' hands or wear nitrile gloves) As with fishing there's some degree of fooling your prey, mostly disguising the set as though nothing is up.

Killing grubs will just leave moles with more precious earthworms to dine on, unless ... your soil is sandy and arid like mine and the worms stay deep till it rains a bit.

When it's too hot to dig, Tomcat's treated worms (bromethalin) seem to work ok if a body count doesn't matter.

 

[dodge man]

Are cats will bring up VOLES but not Moles.