Moles-ground getting very hard

Well the ground is like a rock, need rain, anyone else dealing with these conditions?

Our mole season is all but over now here as well.

I am goin strong on moles now...gettin many calls for em...they are excavating deeper tunnels and the mounds get the phone ringing

My average depth i am setting traps at now is 8-10" deep on yards with mounds...the heat drives earthworms deeper so the mole follows em

Our ground gets quite firm except for shade, mulch and lawns with higher moisture along water ways etc. this time of year. We wont get many calls till late fall and early winter typically from this point in the year and into summer.

So right now it is like having a frost in the ground in your area...here it freezes down in winter 12"to 40" deep...but this time of year the ground does get hard and i find myself digging with a shovel instead of a potato rake 4 prong due to harder ground..biggest mound i have seen so far this year was big enough to put a basketball (mens regulation size) inside of it and not see the ball....that run was 15" deep

My mole calls typically increase with dry conditions. As Josh noted, the mounds are now huge due to the amount of soil they must excavate to reach the food source. This lawn had about 20 of these mounds. Previously just a few surface runs, which the folks tolerated as they could still mow the lawn. Can't mow through a foot of dirt.



I am so busy now with bat inspections and preliminary bat-proofing that I don't have much time for mole jobs, but still do a few each week. The garden knife gets used very little for cutting trap beds.... time for the tile spade. Most traps are 8 to 14 inches deep.

Have a customer that just laid down new sod and a couple moles moved thru...i picked up a couple just to look af tunnels underneath...

You see vole runs like those around here under old pieces of sheeting,plastic and plywood that have been there for some time. I find some snakes like those places also.

Those are definitely mole runs...caught a mole in that one once sod was placed back down...was just neat to see what the mole runs look like in a cut out

Have caught over 400 voles so far this season too

Catch moles under patio pavers in runs like that all the time.