Moles and sandy soil

Using Steve A. traps. In my area the soil is very sandy, when it gets dry it is like sugar. The sand want to run in the hole the trap is in, some times you can not get the trap much past the winding spring. Do you think this effects the action of the trap.

Too dry and worms won't be in the area. The trap only has to be in so the trigger is in the hole.

I like nomol for sandy conditions.

Because of my mostly dry and sometimes "sugar "sand conditions, I use the Modified OOS trap. Even if the sandy soil is moist and holds up, moles have a tendency to "dig under" using Steve's traps. I continue to use Steve's traps tho, upside down, in situations where I can't use the OOS. When pushing this trap in the mole tunnel, I always cover the opening by hand-sifting/backfilling the back end (winding spring end). Some of the soil inadvertantly gets on/covers the spring. The spring is strong enough to still catch moles IMO.

Most of my mole customers irrigate their lawns. I have asked a few to water the mole runs for those that don't normally irrigate. Someone else here on the forum also suggested carrying a spray bottle for watering runs. A 1-2 gallon Spray doc-type sprayer might even be better.

Get some duffus types.

Steve says his OoS traps are better than his in sandy soil. I still have better luck with his. At times it it tough to get traps in sand without the tunnel collapsing, so moving is at times called for. As Aggie mentioned, digging under is a problem with Steve's in sand. In those instances I've worked at bedding the trap better, then when that didn't work, I placed the traps in the tunnels upside down. Typically the mole will dig under just far enough to go under the trap, which puts it inline with the pan. Typically it's not the best way to set them, but it can be just enough of a curve to get the one that consistently goes under every trap.