Getting rid of Moles/Voles

[Hiltz]

When we were kids every couple of years 2 or 3 moles would show up in our back yard. My mother would walk out with a shovel to the end of one of the mole runs and stand quietly for a few minutes. After the mole was sure the danger was gone and he started digging again my mom, seeing the movement in the soil, would simply insert the shovel about 6 inches behind him and pop him out. Simple and effective.

We always had a neat show and tell at grammer school. Poor moles got passed around school by moms 4 kids.

 

[GreatWhitehunter]

This is the method I've employed with success but I substitute the shovel with a pitch fork. I'm not about to glamourize those little buggers.
It seems the moles in my yard are most active at dusk.

Matt

 

[davesl708]

Nailed another mole today. Traps work.

 

[California]

I was okay with the tunnels, even the occasional mound of dirt, but last night while mowing I see where they have began to develop a condo!

Yeah. Here in the orchard the Gopher Palaces (I call them) are found wherever I backhoe out the stump of a tree that died. They must feel safe there because the discing never went over that spot when there was a tree on it.

It's normal to find up to a cubic foot of soft fine grasses in these cavities. I figure they must be birthing nests. And as I pursue roots outward from the stump it is obvious that major tunnels converge on these cavities. I dig up and disrupt an area at least the volume of a card table, in hopes they will move their headquarters somewhere away from the new tree I plant at that location.

There's nothing more discouraging than going out to water a new tree and see it fall over, rootless, as its basin fills with water. Second only to that, is when I fill a new-tree basin and suddenly the pool disappears down a gopher hole like I pulled the plug from a bathtub ... then I stomp on the gopher run to seal it, ... and sink into the muddy water, clear over the top of of the knee-high milking boots that I wear when watering. Seems they rebuilt their convention center cave right under the new tree. Bah. :irked:


I've told this story before - the gophers here are so bad that plant geneticist Luther Burbank gave up his experimental plots here and moved elsewhere.
He donated his land to the adjacent cemetery.

 

[davesl708]

Yeah. Here in the orchard the Gopher Palaces (I call them) are found wherever I backhoe out the stump of a tree that died. They must feel safe there because the discing never went over that spot when there was a tree on it.

It's normal to find up to a cubic foot of soft fine grasses in these cavities. I figure they must be birthing nests. And as I pursue roots outward from the stump it is obvious that major tunnels converge on these cavities. I dig up and disrupt an area at least the volume of a card table, in hopes they will move their headquarters somewhere away from the new tree I plant at that location.

There's nothing more discouraging than going out to water a new tree and see it fall over, rootless, as its basin fills with water. Second only to that, is when I fill a new-tree basin and suddenly the pool disappears down a gopher hole like I pulled the plug from a bathtub ... then I stomp on the gopher run to seal it, ... and sink into the muddy water, clear over the top of of the knee-high milking boots that I wear when watering. Seems they rebuilt their convention center cave right under the new tree. Bah. :irked:


I've told this story before - the gophers here are so bad that plant geneticist Luther Burbank gave up his experimental plots here and moved elsewhere.
He donated his land to the adjacent cemetery.

I have lost 4 arborvitae to moles ringing the roots. It has been all out war for 4 years to protect the trees. I am gaining the upper hand. I have started trapping on the neighbors yard to stem the tide.

 

[oldballs]

I have lost 4 arborvitae to moles ringing the roots. It has been all out war for 4 years to protect the trees. I am gaining the upper hand. I have started trapping on the neighbors yard to stem the tide.

I think it is another govermunt intrusion into our privacy. They probably carry listening devices. There you go.....Drones that look like buzzards circling on high, and moles listening in.

 

[davesl708]

I think it is another govermunt intrusion into our privacy. They probably carry listening devices. There you go.....Drones that look like crows and moles listening in.

It must be a government plot Mike. There have been a lot of Seagulls circling overhead the last few weeks. There has to be a drone in there somewhere.

 

[PILOON]

Don't know if I have moles or voles but the standard old wooden mouse trap baited carefully with peanut butter seems to work fine for me.

Peanut butter as bait seems to work for most things.

 

[JerryK]

Back when I had moles, before I gave up and moved, I dreamed of little concrete dome things I could move around the yard. Underneath was a trip device and some C-4 [ plastic explosive ]. I was also working on small nuclear device designs... but my therapist said that I should not really go in that direction. Now, I finally rest better at night, since I moved........ [[[ ]]]

 

[dragoneggs]

Don't know if I have moles or voles but the standard old wooden mouse trap baited carefully with peanut butter seems to work fine for me.

Peanut butter as bait seems to work for most things.

My moles must be bigger than what you have because I doubt the little mouse trap I am thinking of... wouldn't work on them.

 

[PILOON]

My moles must be bigger than what you have because I doubt the little mouse trap I am thinking of... wouldn't work on them.

Then try for the ole fashioned wooden rat traps. (just bigger version of the traditional mouse trap)
I even used them with success on pesky squirrels. Again using peanut butter.

 

[check]

Then try for the ole fashioned wooden rat traps. (just bigger version of the traditional mouse trap) I even used them with success on pesky squirrels. Again using peanut butter.

Tried that. The racoons kept tripping the traps.

 

[dragoneggs]

Then try for the ole fashioned wooden rat traps. (just bigger version of the traditional mouse trap)
I even used them with success on pesky squirrels. Again using peanut butter.

Will do... haven't seen but haven't looked for the bigger ones. Just a shame that my scissor type ones I have, I just learned are illegal now.

 

[jlgurr]

Will do... haven't seen but haven't looked for the bigger ones. Just a shame that my scissor type ones I have, I just learned are illegal now.

Do you fear a game warden happening upon your property and finding the trap?

Sent from my iPhone using TractorByNet

 

[Bill Guenthner]

I have a few mounds on my property still snow covered yet but once the snow goes I want to get started.

Does anyone know how to get rid of these little Varmints??

If you put down a good pesticide that kills the grubs then the moles will go away. Or if they're not causing serious damage save the money and let the moles kill the grubs and aerate the lawn in the process.

 

[PILOON]

"Tried that. The racoons kept tripping the traps."

The food chain. LOL
Guess we need to start at the top and work our way down.

Depending where you live, you might need to start with bears, then wolves all the way down to moles.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Don't know if I have moles or voles but the standard old wooden mouse trap baited carefully with peanut butter seems to work fine for me.

Peanut butter as bait seems to work for most things.

Voles

 

[MossRoad]

I have lost 4 arborvitae to moles ringing the roots. It has been all out war for 4 years to protect the trees. I am gaining the upper hand. I have started trapping on the neighbors yard to stem the tide.

Moles don't eat plants.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Moles disrupt the soil which aerates the roots which kills the trees... It is our big problem, we put in a fruit tree and a week later moles are all over it. Roots untouched (outside of being dug through) Frustrating.

 

[California]

Strange. If I see a newly planted tree looks dead, I can pluck it out of the ground with just fingertip pressure and I find no roots attached to the root main stem. I assumed the moles or gophers (we have both) ate the roots.