A little mole advice needed

So I've caught a few moles, using OOS traps, but they were on established tunnels. This job however, is something I haven't run into in my brief time doing this. There are very few defined tunnels, but just huge upturns of earth. When I investigated them, they pretty well go down at a sharp angle, with no horizontal tunnels connecting them. Where would you all recommend setting in this situation?




Thanks

I would look for the straightest line of mounds with the freshest dirt and set back at least two feet away from the last mound. You will be in between the last mound and next to last mound. They will be deep in most cases. JMO. Good Luck

Probe between the mounds to find the horizontal mole runs you're looking for. Good situation to use Steve Albano's mole traps instead of the OOS. Extreme temps in the summer or winter forces earthworms, larvae, insects deeper in the soil, thus these deeper runs vs. the surface feed runs. Mounds are the result of moles excavating these deeper feeding runs aside from the angled runs you mention leading to their dens.

It takes a lot of work to dig those deep tunnels....so they used them frequently. At least, that is what a mole told me.

Thanks guys. So will they come back up and out of that mound again? Or is that basically only an entry mound? I'll have to check out that Albano trap. Right now I have OOS's, and some No-mol traps. Anyone have any success with the No-mol's? I haven't yet, and I like the quick indication that the Victors have fired. Appreciate the input.

I got my first mole with a No-Mole today, but it was real dry sandy soil. The mole should have not even been using that run. That is why I was using it. For those deep run's Steve traps work great. When it cools down and the food source comes to the top of the ground the moles will be making surface runs. They follow the food source. I find if I leave the OOS in the ground and it rains they are hard for the mole to trip. I have filed the pan edge down so the pan does not have to move very far before it trips.

When they go deep, they need a place to push the dirt out to make room. Have you ever noticed how they backfill the hole to the surface so predators don't find them? The tunnel to the surface is often on a diagonal.

IMO There will be shallow runs. You've just gotta find them...

I use a 3/8" T-bar to find the voids (tunnels).

Like others have said, that mound is basically a vent shaft. Too deep to push the sod up, so they must get the dirt out of their way. When the vent becomes too far from where they're digging, they plug it with dirt and dig a new vent. So then you can use the mounds to connect the dots to determine the direction of travel. Typically the bigger the mound the deeper the run. Often the giant mounds are in dry conditions. You have two options then, dig down to the run, or water to bring the moles back to the surface.

It rained last night. Caught this one on one of the few shallow runs I found yesterday. Had another trap fired with no catch, and discovered some new activity. It's not a huge area, so this may have been the only mole, but I'll give it a few more days.

As was said above, water the soil to bring the food back to the surface. The moles will follow the food.

Nomols are good traps. I use them mostly in sandy soils, but seem to be using them more and more over Steve's traps in other soils too. Steve makes a great trap though! I think the advantage is there isn't a bottom on the trap so it doesn't have to be bedded. I use the back of my trowel to open up the tunnel. With Steve's I use a couple of fingers.

I catch moles often from tunnels around dirt mounds...typically the tunnel is offset from one side of the mound...i use a 2 foot long screwdriver to probe with...skinny and smooth so pushes in easy

I use oos exclusively and have no problem catchin moles a foot or more deep in them

Tons of good advice that is consistent w/ my experience. Another thing to do is kick the toos off and then look for tge freshest mound on the mext time through- find the horizontal connection and set there.

A friend of mine told me the mounds are the result of a male digging a breeding chamber.. but he's also told me some other "tales" that have never proved out.
That said, we've had tones of rain this summer (like 5 inches in one week) but I don't see the tell tale tunnels as I did last year.
Gonna see what I can do with the "connect the dots" method. I caught 8 of the little demons last year and still have 3 or 4 creating havoc around here.

Thanks for the tips!

I picked up one more mole a couple days ago in the exact same location as the first one, so I guess that was a main travel tunnel. All new activity has ceased since then, so I pulled all the traps today. Never did connect on the deep runs, but it was still good experience. Thanks for all the advice!

Definitely not on the breeding chamber thing...mounds are created when digging deeper horizontal tunnels...they have to put the dirt somewhere

lol !!!!!!!!!!! Does your friend drink a bit ? Answer is: What TRapper said. Displaced dirt from deep runs

Correct, dirt from the deep tunneling.

I also always use my finger to push down through the top of small mounds as sometimes the tunnel is right underneath of the mound...did that yesterday and pulled a mole up with it

Have noticed you guys talk quite a bit about different soil. Most of my place is clay. Have recently started getting tons of moles and am looking to pick up a few traps. Any recomendations for a newby in this type of soil? Have tons of new surface tunnels popping up. Thanks!

I would go with Trap line Products traps, Steve Albiono (spelling?) they are on line.

Since this thread is still alive, I'll post additional questions here. I set up another mole job today. This one is going to be more difficult than the last, as I could find zero shallow runs. But the mole hills were enormous! Runs were going downward at a steep angle as the job before, but this time I tried digging down to find where they leveled out, which ended up being around 14-18" down. Then I set OOS traps over these runs. My question is, can you not spook a mole by doing that much excavation? I still need to get some moleinator traps (Albano's) but TRapper said he uses OOS's exclusively, so I figured I would give it a shot. My work looks much worse than the mole hills though, lol. I'm sure the homeowner was concerned...

I know trapper uses OOS exclusively, I just don't know why. Easier to find and he's comfortable with them I guess. Much prefer steves, especially in deep runs, but I have only caught a few dozen. Sometimes you got to set where you can, just let the homeowner know that grass is like hair, it will grow back. But first, kill the moles

Don't worry, you won''t spook the mole. IMO try some Talpex traps. False fire them in clay, then there's nothing to stop you.
Those deep runs will have been there a good while probably, but in the warmer weather this is where the mole will travel the most.
I did 5 jobs yesterday, one of them was in a garden. Soil wasn't nice, a mix of orange and and clay. I could tell that there was only one mole, but i put three talpex in. The home owner had been trying to catch the mole for 3 months!Two hours after I had set the trap they rang to say that the trap had moved....yep, thats there mole gone to heaven. Another satisfied customer and they'll recommend me for sure...

Roe - unfortunately, true Talpex mole traps are not available in the USA. Just like you guys in the UK, if I'm not mistaken, cannot directly buy Trapline Mole traps from Steve Albano. I've recently bought some true Talpex traps from Fourteenacre and some Talpex-type traps from Flatpack in the UK but the postage and handling fees (carriage?) are exhorbitant unless you're buying in large quantities!

Like a lot of mole catchers over here, I use mostly the upgraded Out-of-Sight and the Trapline Mole traps. I resort to the Talpex along house foundations, fences, driveways, sidewalks, etc. or anywhere I think Mr. Mole will dig under my sandy soils.

Aggie, your moles look a little smaller than ours. Would this be correct?

Roe, yes. The same common Eastern Mole found in my area is even smaller than the same subspecies found in other parts of the USA. I'm in the deep southern part of the USA. It's very hot and dry in South Texas!!! Of course, this makes it somewhat easier for me as moles are attracted to irrigated, landscaped and mulched yards and homesites rich in organic matter and insects. Perfect habitat for moles and gophers!

Do you have a problem with animals digging up your traps? I see you have cables on them.
Ev.

Getting There - Adding the tethers to these traps was probably overkill on my part. I only recall one instance where a critter absconded with my mole in a Steve Albano trap set. On my recent purchase of Talpex traps, I did not add the tether cables.

A mole's main diet of earthworms plus secretions from its scent/musk gland makes for a not so tasty treat for the 4-legged predators. Pulling a trap with a mole always make me look for the natural gas leak around the house. That's what they smell like to me! I'm not too worried about losing my traps as much anymore.

Yeah - that makes sense...

Sweet Pea - Yes - he does consume a fair amount of adult beverages...
No offense to anyone else, but he bought a Ranger Bass Boat to go catfishing with - it was broken down in less than a month - need I say more??

Seriously? I figured moles would be good coyote bait, or that's what I've been saving them for at least. You figured if they love skunks, they wouldn't have a problem with moles...

I mixed some in when I ground my mouse bait, may have screwed up there.

The deep runs are still kicking my tail. Managed to pinch one today when it finally made a shallow run, as we've had a cool front mixed with precipitation the past couple of days. But it's taking too long. I did order a half dozen of Steve's traps a couple days ago, so I'm looking forward to trying them. I still don't exactly see how they wouldn't get prematurely tripped as the mole is pushing dirt up through the deep runs, but maybe it will make sense to me once I actually set one.

I'm imagining a mole cartoon with a bulldozer blade on front. I don't think they push that much ahead of them....

Haha... point taken. But it sure seems like it sometimes when these huge hills just pop up overnight!

Hi, they don't push so much, they generally pull dirt back.

That's interesting, thanks. Well I received my shipment from WCS today and now have some of Albano's traps, so I'm looking forward to trying them out. Today, I set a few No-Mol's in those deep runs.

Thanks for the input everyone.

The hard one for me is the area where a mound was, and the owner keeps running over them with the lawn mower.
If the dirt has been pushed up, there is no need to keep pushing the dirt up but the mole can still be using the tunnel and you never know it. I let the customer know not to push down any runs or mounds once I start setting trap. I also ask them not to cut the grass to close to Steve's traps if they are set in shallow runs, it will jam dirt in the trap and when the mole clean the tunnel it will feel the trap and go under.

Best thing I ever did was get one of LT's mole trapping tools. It isn't good for real deep runs but for surface runs I can put in a set in about 10 seconds !
For carrying mole traps to a set? I clamp them on each other to form a ring and open them at each place. Try it, it's amazing how light it is. No need for a bucket ! LT taught me that trick. A real time saver !
Angela

I still like to bury the trap...guess it is a system i am good at...sure the tool helps lol

Better yet, we now get to see a pic of the secretive, never before seen LT Mole Trapping Tool!!! Thanks Sweet Pea.

I'm obviously missing something, but how do you bury an OOS trap in a shallow run? I started setting the OOS differently after reading the article on mole trapping in the latest issue of WCT magazine. I haven't been opening the tunnel on shallow runs, but just depressing a portion of it with my garden trowel, and then pushing the trap down until the pan is resting on it. If the ground's hard I'll slice between the jaws with a knife. When I read the article, I remember thinking, "This will never work", but I started making more first night catches. Could just be coincidence, and I'm definitely not saying I have it all figured out, lol.

I should say if there's any question on tunnel direction, I still open the tunnel.

I always open shallow tunnels and if necessary i will grab dirt from nearby to cover...i always want to know where that tunnel exactly is...i hear it weekly from customers that my traps were tripped 5 min to 2 hrs after i left

Plus that trap needs to have the top corner of jaws flush with top of the hole of the tunnel....many times it will be missed if tunnel not opened

No need to bury a trap on a surface run. Deep runs, yes, I understand that and have to do it quite often during late July and August, even here in September as it's really dry.

I bury every trap to above the springs....my success rate is hard to argue with