Lots of damage, the front "yard" is nothing but a patchwork of mushy green and dead grass. The backyard has damage and old mounds that I have flattened over the last two days with no change today. The mulch beds looked the most promising, but nothing in the trap and no new tunnels.

For the life of me, I cannot find fresh tunnels -- or any tunnels -- to set traps. In the front, every spot I dug that looked or felt like a tunnel was not. Large spaces under the turf, but no holes that I could locate. I walked heel to toe over the property and found mushy spots, but that's all they were.

Granted, I'm fairly new to mole trapping, I usually stick to trapping beaver/muskrats, but surely I can't possibly be this incompetent!

What am I missing?

The first thing I would ask is: Are there any straight lines in the property?

Borders, paths, fences?

Yes. the mulch beds and the sidewalks next to the grass. The front "yard" is 4-5' x 50' divided by a walkway to the porch, the side yard that is affected is maybe 20 x 100 (yard is around 100 x 100).

I checked along all edges, the mulch bed was only area I found a straight tunnel in. Plus the old damage parallel and 10' away from that.

Start vole trapping.

I thought of that, but there are no surface trails in the grass to set traps.

No mols will catch voles under ground. you need to find a travel route though.

If there are mounds prod between them. The runs maybe real deep. I would put water on a section and see if that bring the mole to that area. Has it been dry and hot, if so they are deep. Sounds like most of the damage was done when it was cooler and moist. Look in the shade also. JMO

That would make the most sense. Lots of old damage and it has been warm and dry, the recent rains weren't much. I would say almost all of the grass is in the sun, there are no trees. When I was there today, nothing was in the shade.

When I set the trap in the mulch, I saw a few worms so thought that was a fairly good spot. It was reasonably moist, easy to make a bridge with the dirt.

Water a section and come back the next day? Or wait on site for a while?

I do believe they just now got around to calling for mole control given how bad a lot of it is. Wasn't done overnight.

Thanks for the tips!

Water the section that you have the trap set in. You have to look for the smallest change in the ground/run. It may not be much. In some cases, the old damage is deeper, you can see the run, but it is deep and does not brake the surface much or not at all. Open a few run and feel the inside and see if it is smooth inside or has grass roots growing in side. Smooth runs are the most active. JMO.

Go to corners in the mulch like corner of the building and dig down about a foot at the corner and out toward end of mulch until u hit a tunnel that feels open on each side

Otherwise...just because mounds are flat doesnt mean the moles arent active in the tunnels below....mounds are just a by product of a deeper tunnel....once they are created they are no longer used

IMO if there's a mole there he will be using the walkway. Underneath the walkway I mean! Under there the ground will be a bit moister and cooler. Probe along it to find a run. OR lift a flag to see if there's a run there.

And, last of all. make sure it is a mole and that you're not wasting your time...

Thanks everyone for the advice. I'll try all of it and let you know what happens.