Anyone have a solution to eradicating moles ??

[MossRoad]

thank you everyone, esp moss rd for your detailed explanations and links to mole info...

I am pretty sure i have grubs, but I also have a lot of earthworms too.

The biggest challenge I have is I am not at the ranch for more than 24-36 hrs at a time. I know setting traps and managing them is timing consuming and a requirement. So, getting the upper hand on a consistent trapping regiment will be difficult.

As far as NC declaring moles a protected animal, I would have to change that law...

Has anymore every used the nomol mole traps? Here's a video on them:

thanks aga1 in for everyone's help and experience !!!

Hahahahaha!

"Our experience is that the average yard contains 1 to 3 moles. We've had as much as 7."

Hahahahaah!

The first year I started trapping in August and got 29.
The second year, I started at first sign in the spring and stopped counting at 50.
Did the same thing for 5-6 more years, always stopping at 50.
Some days I'd get 3-4 in one day.

"Moles are solitary"

I've pulled 2 out of one hole within an hour of each other.

I realize I had an extreme experience, but I still have to laugh.

As for those traps, they may work well. However, they look pretty weak, as you can set them with your hand. The reason I went to Victor Out O Sight is that it seems to be the one that kills the fastest, rarely misses, and you can tell of it's tripped without having to dig it up. The guy in the video said he checks them every 3 days, so who knows how long it takes to kill the animal?

I tried the spike traps, they'd trigger, but when I pulled them out, there was no mole, just a dirt cavity under the trap. So I'm thinking the mole probably got stuck, then dug its way out, and crawled off to die. I don't like that idea.

I also tried the Nash Choker Loop traps. While they had a catch ratio similar to the Out O Sight, they rarely killed the mole. They just held it there with the mole flailing around for hours and hours. In fact, on several occasions, I came to find the trap gone! I'd search the yard and find the mole had pulled it out of the ground and dragged it across the yard. That's unacceptable to me. Then I'd have to dispatch the mole by hand. I'd put it's head on a brick and whack it in the head very, very hard with a metal trowel to end it's suffering.

The Out O Sight rarely missed. Twice out of the 300+, I had 2 where it pinched the mole by the loose skin and just held it there. Never found any others alive in that style trap. Always dead.

But as I mentioned, there's reports that it is no longer as strong as it used to be and consumers are not happy. They are reporting that it's no longer strong enough to cut through soil, and doesn't kill the animal quickly.

The step-on scissors type trap might still be strong enough. I only used those a few times because my father in-law bought them for himself. He had a lot of trouble setting them across the tunnels, but I managed to make them work OK. And, with those, you can see if it's been triggered or not.

The ones in the video you linked to require you to pull the sod back to check them.

Depending on price, though, they look effective. You'd have to try them out. And you need 2, one facing in each direction.

 

[MossRoad]

I use a pull behind spike aerator (not plug) it kills the moles food source and hopefully a few moles plus it aerates the lawn lol have done it this way for 5 years.

I don't know how a spike aerator would kill earthworms.

 

[MossRoad]

The key to using the traps is learning where to place the traps. After a while you learn where they are more likely active, kind of a main run so to speak. Sometimes I put a trap out and have doubts and other times I can tell it’s likely to get one. Once you put them out there isn’t much to do.

Yes. Finding the main highways is the best place to trap. Longer straighter runs seem to be the best.

Also, for some reason, they like to tunnel directly under fence lines, the length of the fence. Maybe it has something to do with rain hitting the fence and making a drip line that makes the soil softer for the worms, and/or there's no soil compaction from lawn tractors and foot traffic under a fence.

Also, look along concrete sidewalks, driveways, patios, etc. They like to tunnel along those edges.

 

[MossRoad]

Thanks for the pic Jeff..

Dave, MossRd posted a mole info sheet. It showed a pic of main-like tunnel, w various smaller looking tunnels branching off the "main" one. I believe the main tunnel is the active area that I need to find. Just like fishing; you can be the best fisherman in the world, but if there's no fish around, guess what? It's key finding the moles...I will indeed be a learning process.

Thanks

Oh heck, try ice fishing with a fish finder. You can see the fish there, and they still won't bite!

 

[MossRoad]

The concerns I have with poisons are:
- you never know for sure if it works because you never find a body. You may observe less mole activity, so that may be an indication that is is working.
- you never know when a poisoned animal will be consumed by another animal that you don't want to poison. (your dog or cat or other wildlife).
- I don't like the time it takes for a poison to work. I want a quick death for the animal.
- poisons aren't species specific.

 

[oldballs]

As in post number #2, I use the Victor Spike model......Only I set 12 of them at a time as a rule until the population thins out. The other suggestions as to placement are also my experience. \\But I have never figured out why there are a plague of moles some years and hardly any in other years

Even if your soil is sandy loam, I'd think that flattening the tunnel with your boot...where you set the trap, would take care of that.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[deserteagle71]

I used to have problems with moles, some years ago. Then several of these bad boys moved in. "Gopher" snakes or bull snakes is what people call them around here. No more mole problem.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Since owning and operating ranch for last 30 yrs, the moles have really taken-off around the 2-acre house area. I use cinch traps for gophers and have caught 100's of them and have them under control; the moles I do not.

Looking for solutions that one person can implement to start knocking out these pests. I know they are moles, not voles or gophers...I really would appreciate your help and suggestions on any means you have been able to successfully eradicate them. Thank you very much !!

Oxy-Propane and an ignitor. *Whomp!*

alternatively, if your a mechanic with a smoke generator, then you can find the exit strategy and then oxy-propane and an ignitor *Whomp!*

 

[jwmorris]

We use poisoned maze in a plow that drops a half dozen kernels of them into the tunnel it creates, every ~3ft. They find the tunnel, then come across the bait and that’s the end of them. Can do very large areas quickly. That knocks them out but they will come back over time and you can get them one at a time by getting them as soon as they start or wait until they are bad again and knock them all out.

Gopher plow

For years my father has been killing gophers with a modified pry bar and cups of poison, baiting tunnels a few hours at a time as he felt like it. We just finished a machine that baited the problem spots over 32 acres in under two hours. I had the 3 point hook up leftover from another project...

www.tractorbynet.com

 

[tstex]

Hahahahaha!

"Our experience is that the average yard contains 1 to 3 moles. We've had as much as 7."

Hahahahaah!

The first year I started trapping in August and got 29.
The second year, I started at first sign in the spring and stopped counting at 50.
Did the same thing for 5-6 more years, always stopping at 50.
Some days I'd get 3-4 in one day.

"Moles are solitary"

I've pulled 2 out of one hole within an hour of each other.

I realize I had an extreme experience, but I still have to laugh.

As for those traps, they may work well. However, they look pretty weak, as you can set them with your hand. The reason I went to Victor Out O Sight is that it seems to be the one that kills the fastest, rarely misses, and you can tell of it's tripped without having to dig it up. The guy in the video said he checks them every 3 days, so who knows how long it takes to kill the animal?

I tried the spike traps, they'd trigger, but when I pulled them out, there was no mole, just a dirt cavity under the trap. So I'm thinking the mole probably got stuck, then dug its way out, and crawled off to die. I don't like that idea.

I also tried the Nash Choker Loop traps. While they had a catch ratio similar to the Out O Sight, they rarely killed the mole. They just held it there with the mole flailing around for hours and hours. In fact, on several occasions, I came to find the trap gone! I'd search the yard and find the mole had pulled it out of the ground and dragged it across the yard. That's unacceptable to me. Then I'd have to dispatch the mole by hand. I'd put it's head on a brick and whack it in the head very, very hard with a metal trowel to end it's suffering.

The Out O Sight rarely missed. Twice out of the 300+, I had 2 where it pinched the mole by the loose skin and just held it there. Never found any others alive in that style trap. Always dead.

But as I mentioned, there's reports that it is no longer as strong as it used to be and consumers are not happy. They are reporting that it's no longer strong enough to cut through soil, and doesn't kill the animal quickly.

The step-on scissors type trap might still be strong enough. I only used those a few times because my father in-law bought them for himself. He had a lot of trouble setting them across the tunnels, but I managed to make them work OK. And, with those, you can see if it's been triggered or not.

The ones in the video you linked to require you to pull the sod back to check them.

Depending on price, though, they look effective. You'd have to try them out. And you need 2, one facing in each direction.

Quote from Moss Rd:

"I'd have to dispatch the mole by hand. I'd put it's head on a brick and whack it in the head very, very hard with a metal trowel..."

Can we get a PETA executive to Moss Rd's house...LOL I would let you whack every mole at my house, all day [and night] long.

I too read where the older OUT OF SIGHT traps worked and the news ones do not. How can a manufacturer make such a critical and myopic business decision to render their traps as useless? Let me guess, the more powerful springs hurt someone and sued, then they let the atty's dictate the design. Pitiful.

Leaving tomorrow late morning and returning Friday aftn. I am going to set 3-4 diff type of traps and will post back w any positive results. I do not need these moles building bigger and broader colonies. My cattle partner and I have caught well over 1500 gophers w Cinch traps over the last 4-5 yrs.

Thanks for all !!!