The other day I woke up to a string of about 8 mole mounds marching across my backyard. The line came right under the fence, so no doubt, “neighborhood” moles are finding my yard good hunting grounds (Probably because I’ve been watering this area, and worms and other underground goodies are thriving there – if you water it, they will come – especially if your neighbors don’t water and the soil has dried out). So, it was war. First, I used a long steel shank to probe the… Read More →

A couple of weeks ago I trapped mole # 11 for this year. Mole activity has become quite visible recently with extensive mound building in a couple parts of my yard. I have tried trapping several places, several times, and have come up empty handed. I know they are there. For the most part, these are located in unirrigated parts of the yard where the soil is very sandy. In most cases, moles pushed the blocked soil plug on through without lifting the trigger pan. Where I have tried trapping deeper… Read More →

This morning I was greeted with the  sight of a huge mound – right along the driveway, at the corner of a flower bed and patio. This is not too far from where I caught mole #10 last week. There has always been a major tunnel system along the driveway, and I have never been too successful in catching moles there. Perhaps because of the concrete ledge underground sticking out, causing the legs of the trap to be in line with the tunnel. Unlike finding a plug of… Read More →

It may seem like I’m obsessed with moles, if you read some entries on this blog. Obsession is really not what it is all about. It’s more of a eureka kind of thing – after about 13 years of half-hearted attempts of trapping moles around my house, suddenly, this year, my success rate has dramatically increased. I believe the reason is 1) observation, 2) understanding failure, 3) persistence, and 4) and a realization that trapping is not as difficult I used to believe. After about 2 months of… Read More →

In trapping moles, persistence pays off. You can’t just give up. And, traps do work! After about a week of attempts, I finally got # 8 for the year, this time using the Victor Out O Site (VOOS) Mole Trap. This was the first mole I’ve trapped using this recently purchased trap. I have read more than one opinion that they are very reliable and preferable for deeper runs. This tunnel was about 4 or 5 inches deep, and the mole was very, very big. This part of… Read More →

Missed Friday on the deeper run using the Out O Site trap, and today using the harpoon trap on a shallow run. In both cases, I was taking a chance because it just so happened that there were at least 3 holes exposed in preparing for the traps. I had to make a choice on which path it was going to take – obviously the wrong ones! I moved the harpoon to another spot nearby where there was a straight-away, so my chances should improve. I just packed… Read More →

A friend saw the photo of my new mole hills, and asked how I knew these were not gopher mounds? This is a common question, and often I think people think any mound is created by gophers, not realizing moles can push up a tremendous amount of soil near their nests and their permanent, deeper tunnels. Mole hills will be amorphous blobs of soil pushed up from the center of the mound, with no visible plug and no symmetry to the mound. Gopher mounds will have a plug… Read More →