moles and bats are a movin

Did 2 emergency bat grabs tonite and already got almost 50 mole traps set...frost is out of the ground here

We are still a month or more out with our work to open up unless the weather really changes. Still frost in the ground here. We did have a warmer day today but still need more weather like today for a week or more. But this time of year it is back and forth too much. Was 18 degrees over night here but warmed to the fifties by mid day.

Set several mole traps today. Was surprised at how warm and dry the ground felt.

Want to see some frost, come up here, mole's will need a jackhammer. All most skunk time here.

I've been trapping a few moles all winter here in KY. We've had an unusually warm damp winter. Skunks are on the move right now, I'm seeing plenty of them on the road but haven't had any calls yet.

This.... but we've been doing raccoons instead of skunks.

Got 6 moles other day on 4 yards...have several mole traps to check next week as well as set up another 8 yards...was 73 degrees on friday...supposed to be in sixties for next 3-4 days

Got my first mole of the season today.

Going to set a few in my yard shortly. Went out to look around today. Saw some fairly fresh mounds. Got a real warm day today and some areas look workable.

Going to work on beating last years harvest of 164 in my yard. That was off and on trapping when time permitted and when I had spare equipment not needed for work.

Caught 18 moles from one dead end run located just off the corner of my shop last year. The run was coming from some wooded/raspberry patch grown up area. A week when I was working lure formulation all day I was checking that shop corner trap 2-3 times a day. Many days I caught 2 moles a day off and on for a week. Most I have ever caught from one dead end run.

Still amazed bob...i caught 938 moles last season and without the 3 big jobs i have of 40 acres, 236 acres, and 500 acres....the average job was 3-4 moles and damage stopped for weeks to months...i currently have 20 mole stops going right now

Our mole population is quite widespread and endless it seems. I have been trapping my place for 22 years and don't seem to be making a significant dent. They keep progressing and re establishing vacant areas that were just previously occupied.

i know we disagree...so i will agree to disagree on populations of eastern moles and their habits...i really believe you have a different species of the eastern mole...they are not communal here at all. one of us has a sub species. i have noticed on the pics you have posted before that the tails on your moles are much, much longer than moles here. we only have the eastern mole in Iowa

4 moles caught out of a half acre yard, i didn't have to come back for another mole for several months.

one mole did all this damage...caught him and no more activity there until the following year

this is one moles damage

last year on a golf course green...one mole and done

Josh,

Not much to diagree about. LOL, I dont know how communal the Eastern moles are, but I do know there are lots of them in these parts and their numbers are on the rise. Here are a few from the first checks on 4 jobs.

Many properties I have to gang set 30-60 traps or more on some of these jobs to cover all the activity adequately for the 7-10 period I will be there. That is 2 Albano traps per set location. Lots of doubles on the first checks.

Most of our new jobs have never been trapped before. They may have tried poison worms, electronic devices, pellets, juicy fruit gum,moth balls in the runs, gasoline etc. before calling us.

Many of our jobs are so torn up and have such a network of runs it is a bit challenging to decipher a good run from the maze. We will get checks like this for 2-3 trips on some jobs before it slows down.

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Where u are settin 30 traps...15 sets...i am settin 3-4 traps and first check have all the problem moles that are there

Josh you would have full traps every check only setting 3-4 traps and it would take you quite some time to do a good clean out with that method of setting 3-4 traps per job. You don't understand the population and mole tunnel activity we are dealing with here yet.

4-6 moles is a common harvest on the first check. Some of these jobs that were never trapped before we check daily for a few days. Then we go to every other day. If we didn't check frequently we would have a lot of cannibalism on caught animals when we wait 2-3 days to remove catches.

A few jobs a year we get those 1-2 mole catches but they are not very common. The sign during the inspection usually gives you this information many times. But those types of jobs usually have neighboring property that is feeding their lawn so they don't stay mole free long. They are calling us back in a week sometimes or two due to new tunneling activity.

That Drs. job I did last spring I caught 8 on the first check then it was 3-5 a day checking every day for 10 consecutive days. He was located very close to our office so it was convenient. On the first check I knew I had the potential to get a big harvest there. After the 4th day I knew I could possibly hit 50 moles or more before I was done.

I still had some cannibalism with the frequent removal of catches. If I didn't have to pull due to the lawn mowing service pestering me to let them come in to mow, I would have reached my 50 mole goal with a couple more days I am sure. The catch was slowing down but they were still coming 1-2 a check.

That Dr. wanted me to stay a few more days but I had too many other jobs I needed to get too and I needed those 60 or so traps I had set there. I am curious to see how many I get this spring. I will keep you posted if he calls again and I need to go back.

In that same housing plan of that we got a referral from the Drs. wife who was friends with this other woman just a couple of blocks away. She also bought a program. I got 37 moles on her place in 10 days. So you can see the pattern of population that we have in some areas. Great for business....

Bob, you talk about cannibalism on the moles. Is it from other moles or shrews? I get a little, but I think it is shrews.

Jim,I at times will catch shrews in the runs with mole catches and other times I only catch moles. I believe both species are opportunists and will cannibalize if given an opportunity. More times then not I only catch moles in these areas. From the amount of tissue/meat eaten I don't think a shrew can eat that much in a 24 hour period between checks.

Some of these moles are consumed 50-75% when I remove them.

Bob. You got some BA moles over there. Only time I had eating was a shrew

And if I catch five moles there are none left, I would go nuts having to catch that many in yard

They are coming up here now too, so only a matter of time before the calls start

I guess I can also see why a "mole job" would be just a little more in your market than in mine

i get the population you have there...that is why i am 100% convinced your eastern mole and my eastern mole are a different species...more like sub species of the eastern. You have indicated in the past that activity shuts off there later in the year and i am trapping moles here from first thawing of the ground to after frost goes 2-3 inches deep....i am typically trapping moles here end of feb through middle of december. at one time last year i had 115 stops going per week. averaging 3-4 moles per yard.

If our mole and your mole are exactly the same species then wouldn't we both have the same results on moles?

first time i set up a 139 acre field/yard for a client in missouri there was mole damage all over and after 75 moles were caught i was down to just trapping moles on the edge and only catching 3-5 a week...that is One Hundred Thirty Nine Acres. then for each year after i was averaging 50-60 moles for next couple years then went down to about 40 moles per year. This went on for 8 years before i moved back up to Iowa.

There is no way we have the exact same species of eastern moles otherwise our results would be the same given the number of moles we each capture.

i believe nick penna from New York has the same results i have. i have friends in ohio that catch a mole similar to mine but catch them in numbers but they look different in size and tail size so definitely a different species even a sub species. moles here are not communal unless they are "getting it on" or female releases the pups but even then i catch 3-4 moles fast and damage stops. i am catching 1-2 moles right now on damage that is 1/4 to 1/2 of an acre and no more new damage.

Hard to tell from the pic Bob, but are these Hairy Tailed Moles or Eastern Moles? The tails on the one or two I can make out seem different than the tails on the eastern moles I catch in South Texas. It's the only mole sub-species found in my area.

Here is a close up photo of our eastern mole caught in my yard yesterday.



Our moles seems to be a bit more husky then others I have caught. Some are almost too large to fit in Steves Standard size mole traps. Their shoulder/chest area are quite large. I suppose that attribute is due to all their digging activity that pumps them up.

This ole boy could eat 1/2 of another caught mole with no problem just due to its shear size.

Ours are not that big and have no fur on the tails like that one does.

Just a SWAG but the "squirrel-like" tail on your brutes is a dead giveaway that you are trapping Hairy-tailed moles (Parascalops breweri), also known as Brewer's mole. The tails on our Eastern moles (Scalopus aquatics) are bald compared to yours (lightly furred really). Range maps indicate you probably have both species in SW PA, but not sure.

Note the nearly hairless tails of an Eastern mole. Nothing like Bob's hairy brutes!

yeah...i agree...no hair on the tails of the moles here...i wondered. moles are similar in size but tails are definitely different...i am betting you are on the hairy tailed mole.

I have never caught a mole that had a hairless tail as I can recall over the last 30 some years.

what is really neat is that baby moles grow their fur as the last thing

1st 6 mole traps of the year just went in!


*Fist pump*

Got 33 stops going now...over 115 mole traps set

11 moles on 4 stops today...love it when i go 7 moles for 14 traps i set last wednesday

What is the avg price per mole trapped? Set fee?

my prices are no secret...you can find them on www.callthemoletrapper.com i don't charge a set up fee because i have the utmost confidence i will kill moles on the first check of traps

We charge a flat fee for 7-10 days. Most of our jobs avg. $450 to $550. Some may be a bit less if smaller jobs/lawns, some alot more on large acreage homes, estates and golf courses. Travel distance is a big factor that drives up prices and how often we feel we need to check that particular job.

We have alot of work on most set ups here due to the activity level and our populations. Lots of doubles on first checks.

My mole traps in my yard are under 4 inches of snow this am. and it is still coming.



You would have to change your pricing structure working here Josh or you would be a wealthy man just doing moles.