Steve, Can you post any step by step photos of how you set up a run,(both shallow and deep) with your new traps?.......that's what we're all dyin' to see!

I'll get some pics and a blow by blow commentary up tonight, LT. Sent you some traps the other day.

Hi Steve

Could you please send me some samples of the new mole trap, so I can try it.

Thanks

Art

Steve, I received some traps today.....The package had been opened...and appeared to have never been taped... Two traps inside though..(Right?)

It took me a bit to figure it out...but after a few tries, I fianally got it set right and sacraficed a #2 pencil into it's waiting jaws......SNAP!

Is this a big enough trap for Eastern moles? I know Bob is trying some out and I'm not sure which species you have in Cali, although, they look like ours on film. What keeps the mole from pushing the trap, once he feels it? Does he just disregard it as a root perhaps, and move on through?

In any event, thank you for sending me these and they will be in the ground tomorrow.

Here are some pictures from some setups from yesterday and today...

This first photo shows some superficial feeding tunnels in a lawn area. These tunnels are the reason the client called, but probably aren't the best place to set the traps. You could set them here, but best to check around and see what else you can find first.

Same yard as first photo, about 10 feet away from lawn, there is a very shady and damp area with a long wall running the length of the front of the property. There's about a 99% chance that there's going to be a somewhat deeper travel tunnel along the base of that wall. No signs of activity on the surface, because the tunnel has been in constant use for a long time, and all surface signs washed away long ago. This is a great place for a set up.



OK, here's the basic set with my traps. Just dig out a 4 or five inch segment of the tunnel, and place set traps both directions in the exposed tunnels. Push the traps into the tunnels at least far enough that the trigger pan is inside the tunnel. If you keep a finger against the back of the trigger pan, you can prevent the traps from firing as you push them in. Usually I can get them far enough in that the spring on the back of the trap is half way or all the way into the tunnel. Bed the trap into the soil a bit by pushing down on the spring or the spring catch on the back of the trap. Finally, block off the exposed end of the tunnel behind the trap with a dirt clod or compacted mud ball, and filter loose soil over set to exclude light.



Another good setup location. These are brand new tunnels in a flower bed that had just been worked and watered in preparation for some new plantings. The moles moved right in. There were obvious fresh signs on the surface, unlike the deeper travel tunnel shown next to wall in above photos. But I like setting on straight tunnels along walkways or other obstacles.

And what's that green thing at the top of the picture?



Oh, run for your lives, moles, the evil molechaser is going to get you. I catch moles right next to these things all the time.

LT, yes, just the two I sent. I don't know why your box was opened, but those priority mail boxes aren't supposed to be taped. They just close up with some a adhesive glue strip built into the box.

I'm pretty sure the trap is big enough for eastern moles, though I'd like to get feedback on that. The space between the front tines is actually a tad larger than the space between the uprights on a no-mol, so I think the size should be OK. But if it seems small to you, let me know.

Art, sure, I'll get a couple of samples to you soon.

Steve, Set the traps this morning. I tried to "snug it up" inside the tunnel, as much as possible. I am interested in how you know they're fired. Do you just dig them up everytime you check? When I've used the No-Mols, that's what I always had to do. I would assume it's probably the same.

The point you made about "the tunnel being 99% deeper along the wall" is a great tip for newcomers, if they payed attention. That tip will make you some money and "save face" chasing these sometimes elusive moles, especially when it's just one that has been there some time and has a network of tunnels.

I've found that a key ring and 1/16th cale will make an excellent tie off, if used with an 1/4" rod.

yes you need to cross stake those traps.HA! You gotta be kidding me LT Grey.MMMMMMm maybe use a drag on a few too.:)

Whatever! Just post us how you're using those tools you had in the post with the saddleback shrew! (I always caught a lot of shrews in the No-Mols too.... They eat the dead moles think)!

Steve, I received 2 traps Thursday and set them Friday. Set them back to back as you suggested and followed the written instructions that you sent me (like above). These were set in deep tunnels in Missouri clay. Today I checked them. The traps were both sprung and the eastern mole filled them full of clay. I didn't see any signs of tunneling around the traps, it just looked like the mole was trying to push them out of the ground. Any suggestions?

Tonight is a great night to bring this thread over onto a conference call call with Steve Albano

Thanks for the link Robb. I could finally listen to the program. I couldn't figure out how to listen without registering. Very informative. Great Show!

Can't have "The Mighty Mole Trapper's Thread " without this :

http://whacamole.com/

Enjoy !

Interesting! Thanks Cragar

If I ever get a vendor booth at one of the annual association meetings, I think the old whack-a-mole could really pull in the foot traffic!

what would happen if you opened up a mole tunnel and place a set mouse trap with extra large pan in the way with no bait? Just kind of blind set it. Would it work?

I think an adult mole could pull out of it...They work on shrews and meadow voles though!

Maynard Stanley, "Stan5858" made this video on how to use the new Albano Mole Trap and I hope this thread is a good place to share it. http://thewildlifepro.com/albano_mole_trap.html


Find more videos like this on WWW.WILDLIFEPRO.NET

Barkstone is awlful quite.....He must be slammin' the moles...Hey Barkstone fill us in..... I wanta know how The Barkstone rolls..........

I saw something today that I thought my fellow molers could help me with. When I got to a client's location today, I discovered a maze of very shallow runs in mulch. They resembled vole runs after snowmelt. Upon closer inspection, I spotted 2 juvenile moles resting in the runs, and dispatched them. There was no weed barrier, and this was in the hot sun. What gives?

I'm pretty sure the trap is big enough for eastern moles, though I'd like to get feedback on th

Are they big enough for Our Tonwsend moles?

Dayn, probably not big enough for Townsend's mole. I would go with an out-0-sight, which isn't so dependent on the size of the mole. An inside the tunnel trap has to fit just right for moles.

Dayn, probably not big enough for Townsend's mole. I would go with an out-0-sight, which isn't so dependent on the size of the mole. An inside the tunnel trap has to fit just right for moles.


Well steve, send Me a couple and I'll try em out...Ive caught the townsends with the duffus half barrel and I swore they would never fit in those.

Let Me know... dayn_1@juno.com

I'd like to see a picture of a Townsend mole.

BadgerGirl,

Here ya go, Townsend's Mole pictures

This photo shows the difference in size between the more widely spread Pacific Coast Mole, and Townsend's;



Krusty

Thanks Krusty!

Ok.............I was talking t the Mole Ranger and He worried about Scent on the mole Traps.....Used gloves ect ect.......Opinions??????? he uses the Half barrel traps

I pay no attention to scent on mole or gopher traps at all. I don't think it makes any difference.

Vinke, see my PM I sent you.


I agree with Steve....... BTW how come I never got any of your traps?

The other day I was over a new customers house. I was going to sell her some traps and teach her husband how to use them, this was a large piece of property that had never been trappoed.
A gopher showed his face while we were talking. I set a cinch trap and within 5 minutes the gopher was trapped. She bought 3 new cinch traps from me. I set them in the new activity for her as a favor to get her started, her husband was not there and I was going to come back and teach him.
The trap that had just trapped the [female]gopher was put back into another fresh spot. Within a few minutes the trap was sprung, nothing, I set it again, sprung, no catch.

My thoughts are the gopher that was springing my traps, smelled the the other [killed] gopher and would not enter the trap.

This kind of situation happened once before, a year ago. were I was having trouble with 2 gophers and sprung traps. I washed the traps in a sink with hot water, I came back the next day and found I had trapped them .

I can remember my first job of the 2008 season, One job I was trapping, I trapped 6 gophers in one small yard on the first setting, I had one miss that I reset and trapped it when I returned in the afternoon.

It was very slow in the Dec and jan and my traps were not being used, also I had started using some unused new traps, so my traps were free of any scent.

My second job of the season same thing, only I trappped 12 gophers in another small size lot [5 babies]

I would like to think smell made no difference. I am still not sure. Maybe human scent has no effect, but what about gopher scent.
I have read studies on line were some suggested it did.

Recently, I have tried brushing my gopher cinch traps with used motor oil, that was suggested by a ingvalsone in another thread. In my last 4 jobs I have had a 100% kill rate on the first trapping using the used oil. [Small jobs with one gopher] I don't use rusty traps, I tried using the oil for scent reasons only. I do leave the holes open on the cinch.
Could it be that the gophers can smell other gophers on used traps and the oil covers up the scent?
------------

I have not noticed human scent made any difference on the mole traps.
-------------
Like I have said before, I love using Steve's new mole traps! I am very satisfied with them, setting them is a lot less work for me. I have trapped a number of moles under concrete pads with them, which I could not do with my other mole traps.
I use them exactly like he suggests.

Like any trap, you have to start with the basics, and then develope your own technique. Ive been hearing nothing but good stuff about Steves mole traps!

My question is once you have set up a mole job, how long do you wait before coming back and checking the traps, 24 hours?
If a mole is trapped do you reset the trap and leave the rest of the traps in another day or two or do you consider the job in that area of the yard done?

I have read moles are solidary but lately, on two mole jobs, after thinking I was done, I quickly got new reinvestation or there was more than one mole in that area. I had to come back and reset the job.
I would like to know what other mole trappers generally do?

thanks for the help and suggestions.

row, the moles are really pouring out of wooded areas into landscapes this time of year, because the natural areas are getting too dry for them, and the landscapes are the wettest habitat available to them. This time of year, you can catch a couple of moles in a yard, and have more come back within days. If your customers have the money to do it, you really ought to consider offering some long term mole control plan at least for Spring and Summer.

When you start up a gopher job in a yard, you can pretty much look at it and figure out how many gophers you're going to get. You can pretty much catch them all, and be done with it. Sure they might get unlucky, and get another one back in later, but chances are they'll be OK for awhile. But that's not true with moles.

In the fall, you can think about moles more or less the same way you think about gophers. You catch the one or two that are in the yard, and you're done. This time of year though, you really got to expect moles to re-invade almost constantly. Especially if the property borders wooded areas where moles tend to live.

And I did get your traps sent off to you yesterday, and thanks for the order.

I'm a big fan of the loop trap so I thought I would show a few steps in my trap set up.

The first shot shows the ground preped for the trap. Notice the indentation in the center for the trip lever. Look between the two cuts.



The second photo shows the trap in the bed. Notice the trip lever is fits the indentation exactly and is flat on the ground.



This is the end result.

Very impressive. Thanks for sharing.

Here in some parts of Ohio, the 17 year cicada's are hatching. Seems that mole populations tend to cycle on these,at least that's my experience.

I am not a mole trapper but have been noticing a "explosion" of hill in yards in the last week..........You will see 15+ new hills in a day+ then 5 so on..........
There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it...........because they do not seem to return, but create new area continually.......How do you combat a yard in this situation?????

It has been wet lately

Great post so far.... Vinke I do not think there is ever any rhyme or reason for where a mole moseys around to or why they do what they do other then region wide predictions based on weather. Ie when it is hot and dry or frosty and frozen you will tend to see more of what you are mentioning then when it is wet. How I handle those situations is to find the deep tunnels that they are using and set them, you'll have to probe and dig to get em bu they are like gold once you find them.


Yes LT I have been busy and have been hammering moles. Someone asked about pricing and plans. I have 2 a premium and a standard. The standard is simple, a set up fee and a per mole charge with a service contract valid until the end of the year. The set up fee is the same throughout the year, but I do give each customer the option to pro rate the contract through the next year, which works out really well. With the standard contract I check the yards weekly throught out the year as long as there is any activity. When there is no longer any activity I pull the traps and go away when new activity occurs the customer calls and I return the trap until there is no longer any activity again. The premium is based on the standard, and really the only difference is that I visit the yard every day for the first 10 days and charge nothing for any moles caught within that time period. At the end of the 10 days the contract becomes the same as the standard for the duration of the time remaining unless the customer wants to pay for another 10 day no charge stint.

These plans are working really well for me and my customers love the pro rating option.


In other news I just finished setting up my largest mole trapping contract todate. I currently have 111 mole traps set out and have already caught 30 moles. Certainly my largest to date contract, which I only had a chance at because the first trapper contacted did not carry insurance. So far the set up fee and the per mole charge more then covers my annual insurance cost of 1000000/500000. Nice how that worked out.

where i live clay soil is the standard, so the ground is fairly hard. i need mole traps that i can set and tell from above if they've been fired. i don't like having to check my mole traps by having to dig them up. i've used victors spear trap but they are bulky. what do you suggest? thanks, greyscat

greyscat-
Soil conditions can vary dramatically from one yard to the next around here. I find very few moles in heavily clay type soil. It doesn't support much insect/grub/worm activity in this area. No food, no moles. I guess they just go to where food is more plentiful. It may take more than one type of trap to be productive in various soil types. It may take some experimentation to come up with the best trap for each soil type. It can sometimes be a PITA to have to dig up the traps to check them. But, sometimes that is what is required.

If you will conduct a 2 year SEARCH on the ADC Forum for mole, you will find many suggestions that have been made previously.