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?
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I have not noticed human scent made any difference on the mole traps.
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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.