He clearly knows to avoid the trap and pack dirt against it.

But is it by sense of smell, feeling the disturbed tunnel, sensing the light used to take the video?

I don't know, but he certainly wants no part of it.

Love that !

That should help trappers who can read between the lines !

OK, for those of you that can't...

IMO, it's the light...reason why I developed a new speed tool for setting OOS traps.
Opening a tunnel big enough to set a OOS trap and not properly closing it can cause a mole to avoid the tunnel altogether...

Hey, this is not one of our traps by the way. I am pretty sure it is a German made trap that is pretty big and the tunnel would have had to have been dug out quite a bit to fit the trap in. So that may be part of it. I think it's reacting just like it would to a break in his tunnel system.

But I really don't know for sure.

Amazing. Thanks for sharing.

My experience has shown that it can be one of the following or a combination of light entering the tunnel,air flow or an obvious change in the interior size of the tunnel. With their keen sense of smell,touch and body contact sensation they can smell and identify something that may cause them alarm. This alarm perception can trigger the back fill / tunnel closure response used to separate the mole from the foreign object,the enlarged area,or block the light or air flow from his network.

Many mole trappers dont really understand the mole and its behavior within its foraging tunnels and permanent burrow network.Too much or too firm of a tunnel blockage when setting traps will cause much of the shown behavior or rerouteing around,up and over or complete turn around in a tunnel.

I have had some students over the years that just dont get it even after continuious re enforcement of method correction showing them the result of poor trap setting techniques.Resulting in digouts around the trap or no captures/refusals at some locations that should have produced moles.They sure will have their issues over the years in not being able to clean out all the moles from a specific area if they dont see the light pretty soon. LOL

I'm not so sure about the scent side of things, but i'm certain that its the moles whiskers and nose that can make him wary of the 'unusual' metal in his run. i've had traps in (to experiment) that were skinking of diesel and they caught. My dogs share the back of the car with my traps and they seem to catch me enough. I really do think its either light/high oxygen levels or the 'feel' of the trap rather than just scent alone. I could be wrong, but i've a feeling Mr Mole is a sensitive kinda guy and the main reason for not catching him (if the trap is properly covered)is that the traps are not fine enough set.

Well it looked to me like he stopped to smell or feel the wire of the trap for a minute, but then continued to move forwards another inch or so to the point where his head was between the jaws of the trap. At that point, he moves his head back and forth in the disturbed/enlarged tunnel where the trap is set, and it is at that point that he really seems to realize that something is seriously wrong and backs out and backfills the end of his tunnel. So it seems to me it is the disturbance and enlargement of the tunnel that really tipped this guy off, more so than smell or anything else.

I don't know for sure, but that would be my guess.

Bob I was just thinking the same and Steve it definitely stops at the trap jaws,but backed away fast and filled the hole we all have seen moles react to the traps but in this case could the problem be the light on the camera

Do mind telling us what kind of camera and how you set it up ?

I didn't take the video, someone sent it to me a year or so back. I would guess it's done with a infrared camera and infrared light source, but I am not sure.

If anyone has any ideas on how to film underground, I would be interested in giving it a try.

I am going to say heat from the lights caused it to back out and plug the hole. Any idea of what trap that is?

I think its the camera and light but it was very enteresting. I think they make something like a sea snake camera. This has really got me enterested. I have seen muskrats do that at exits to their den. I have caught a lot of moles leaaving both sides of an out-a-site open and when they try to repair the damage they get caught. I was really impressed with the mole. Maybe he really is smarter than me.
I usually tell people when I start a job of any kind that I would like to concede that so there will not be any need in pointing it out during the process. I am going to get him with persistance and he will be gone before I am done.

Got any pictures of this speed tool?