quote:

Originally posted by barndg00:
Thanks everyone, couple Wire-Tek traps inbound, and letting the Scottish Terrier roam the area a bit.

The Wire-Teks have been my most successful weapon after many years of mole war. Kinda pricey and I see a lot of "copies" I can't vouch for, they should work.

It's an acquired art to setting them, use a cane or stick to support yourself while doing so. A slope can add a whole new challenge. Once set, I slightly back them off, just a bit so the soil underneath is a little less compacted.

I've only had one Wire-Tek trip and not get the mole. The jaws are really powerful and seem as humane as possible, dispatching the little bastards in a devastating instant.

Good hunting!

You already picked the Lawn Care Nut's favorite trap. In this video, there are also good tips in here on where to place your traps:

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Feed each of them a different set of false information, then wait and see which set of information percolates to root out a mole.

Yeah, but if there is a gopher that has been doubled, this can backfire.

As a kid our yard was getting decimated by moles.

We then got an American Eskimo Dog. Little female. This thing was a fur heat seeking missile for moles. RIP our yard afterwards. Cause she basically dug it up. But I remember her catching the moles. Then prancing around tossing them 10-15 feet in the air. Watching them smack the ground so she could pounce on them again. Rinse and repeat.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
A gas engine and exhaust hose. gas them out. Use at your own desecration.

I assume you have personal experience with this method. Moles are different than gophers or ground squirrels in the way the tunnel. Established mole colonies have a complex tunnel system. They can quickly close out a tunnel if it presents a threat.

Me and my dad killed hundreds of ground squirrels using this hose method to get them out of our garden. Dad would man the hose and I stud by with my .22. They would rise form 2 or three escape tunnels a few yards away and I'd shoot the bastards. Never got this to work with moles in the lawn.

Barndg - If the traps you have on order do not work as planned you might want to consider the VICTOR Mole Trap.

https://www.victorpest.com/victor-mole-trap-b0645-3

I have used these for 30+ years with 100% success….I set up either two three units when I see signs of a mole(s). Last month when I went to pull up a sprung trap (ground was soft and wet from a recent rain) I had an adult mole still in the spikes.

Good luck on your hunt - I hate moles - I take my riding mover and flatten their tunnels and then watch for their new tunnels or re-running thru the old tunnels and then I set my traps…..

Normally, I trap as soon as I see signs. Last year one was all over my years and my neighbors. I admitted defeat and contacted a professional.
While setting the traps I got a real education.
1. Use a thin prob to find a tunnel junction. Don’t chase the openings.
2. He had old snap traps and traveled to estate sales to but them. The new snap traps are junk as I broke on setting it. Worse, they are too weak to really kill.
3. Put a plastic pot over the trap seal opening with duct tape and use tent stakes to hold it in place.
4. Use as many traps as you can. He had 6 set.
5. The hard part. Walk away for 5 days. Don’t chase. At the end of 5 days he’d gotten it.

My daughter had a corgi that she trained for nuisance wild life. One day I watched him alert, do a polar bear jump, dirt flew and he came up with a mole! Next you hear the neck snapped. Little guy went on calls and made more then she did.

quote:

Moles will eat insects and grubs but they especially love to eat earth worms. This
whole internet info that moles only eat grubs is a pipe dream.

Not saying they only eat the Grubs, but if you have a yard that has plenty of Grubs they will hang around and continue to wreck havoc.

Getting rid of the grubs and other insects in the yard reduces the total food source available, so unless you have a worm farm, it helps drive them away.

quote:

Originally posted by myrottiety:

But I remember her catching the moles. Then prancing around tossing them 10-15 feet in the air. Watching them smack the ground so she could pounce on them again. Rinse and repeat.

My semi-feral cat Patrick used to catch moles/mice, hold them carefully in his jaws so as not to injure the little bugger, then he'd spin in a circle like a discus thrower and when sufficient rotational velocity was reached, he'd let the mole or mouse fly.

They'd fly 15-25 feet and would crash into the lawn, whereupon Patrick would dash over, pick the mole up gently, spin, release, repeat.

The funny part was you could hear the mole or mouse scream as it flew through the air "EEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeee" THUD! Complete with Doppler effect. It was hilarious, though I doubt the mole or mouse was amused.

The really crazy part is most of the little rodents lived! I rescued one after it was tossed about 10 times. Zero holes, zero blood, no broken bones. I let it rest, gave it water with some sugar in it and it was right was rain.

And Patrick then ate the damned thing.

Well, he was feral when he moved in, but came to be less of a murderer than my spouse's cat Kelsey.

Kelsey was an eight-week old kitten, raised indoors her entire life until we moved to the current house in 1993. Kelsey became "mother's little axe murderer." She caught and killed everything. Mice, moles, snakes made no difference.

I battled these varmints for years and tried all kinds of poisons and traps, the vertical spike type worked sometimes but not reliably for me. The wire tek 1001 has been great, I wouldn't buy anything else. It kills the shit out of them. Be very careful with the handling, you wouldn't want to get your finger in the wrong place.



If you have any problems with gophers, the cinch trap works great, I know they make one for moles but I have not used it.



No matter which method you use it takes persistence and knowing your enemy.

I just got one of these and it scared the moles away the first day. I was amazed!

https://homeshielders.com/prod...bwIM4Uh1G_tvVPnQ1aWw

Barndg00 - Did the Wire-Tek traps you ordered work?

This girl did in a month, when she turned one year old, what I had tried and failed to do for three years.

Haven't seen a mole in 4 years...

quote:

Originally posted by sigarmsp226:
Barndg00 - Did the Wire-Tek traps you ordered work?

Yes, they did, took a couple days, but killed one. Reset in different spots over the next week, no others caught and no other sprung traps, however, the extension of the mole tunnels has also stopped. So, either it was just one mole (doubtful), or the rest appear to have moved on for now. Either way it’s a success!

Thanks for responding - We have been so dry here in Central MS I am having to use a small sledge hammer to get my spike units in the ground far enough to work so with your reply I just ordered a two pack of the Wire-Tek units based on the recommendations provided here because I have a mole(s) again in the small amount of my good grass I have in my yard.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by hberttmank:
I battled these varmints for years and tried all kinds of poisons and traps, the vertical spike type worked sometimes but not reliably for me. The wire tek 1001 has been great, I wouldn't buy anything else. It kills the shit out of them. Be very careful with the handling, you wouldn't want to get your finger in the wrong place.





Quick MOLE update from Central MS. I listened to the recommendation from hberttmank and several others here and ordered two of the traps show in the photo above and in the past two weeks I have trapped and killed three moles using this style trap. So far if the trap has been sprung, there has been a mole in it. Three for three as I type this update. Caught the third on today just three hours after setting the trap. Thanks again SigForum experts….

I have a Victor Plunger mole trap that was handed down to me by my father.
It's worked well for me.

https://www.victorpest.com/victor-mole-traps-c0645