When trapping moles for ADC work, do you trap just the easy, "can see from the surface" tunnels, or do you probe for deeper tunnels?

Usually set the surface tunnels. However, if there are no surface tunnels, I will look around the mounds and set them. Usually the tunnel coming from the deep tunnels to the mound.

If I see mounds with no runs I probe around the mounds but stay back a few feet. JMO

Moles are like pocket gophers in they have main tunnels, feeder tunnels and deeper tunnels. What you are looking for are the main connecting tunnels. In most cases they will be in a line with the mounds. Moles in worm quests can dig 15 feet in an hour, but those are offshoot feeder tunnels and meander, and will probably not be returned to.
Main tunnels follow barriers or concentrated food sources, like sidewalks, hedgerows etc.... They will also have mounds which are opened periodically. If you look at the soil on the mounds, you can tell which are the freshest and the direction the mole is probing. That is the most active locations to set in.
For probling I use a spike or a quarter inch rod.
I always overload on set ups to on traps.
Hope that helps.

Trap on the main tunnels when you can find them. Feeder tunnels when you must. Deep when you absolutely must.

Like most animals that you trap you need to learn where to set the better locations. I set heavy and cover most all the obvious old and new runs.

Bob
You make a good point. A lot of the run are old and flat with the ground and just look like an old flinted out mound with no grass. Check them out, you can tell if the run is being used or not.

For probing I use a 6 inch and 12 inch Phillip's screwdriver.. I put a washer just a little larger than the shaft. Tack it with a weld. With a welder on the 6 inch probe I put a little weld around the end a little larger that the shaft and make a blunt end. Goes in easy and lets you know when you hit the tunnel. On the 12 inch probe I do the same thing but put a point because you have to go deeper, but the point is a little larger than the shaft so there is no drag.

This helps. Up until last week, a mole was making major tunnels in the garden beds but since it's dried up a bit, no more. I'm guessing the mole is still there, but has gone deeper. (lots of worms in the soil in the back yard).

Bit of a difficult situation as there were only two mole hills about two months ago, and no obvious runs through the grass.

Is this meaningful in any way? Would this indicate that the mole tunnels are well estabilished and some female was just getting a nursery ready for later?

Landscaping was put in two years ago and there was a bit of mole activity last year.

Thanks.

Turn on the sprinkler. Get the mole to the surface.

The moles are still there if you have mounds. The mounds are made because of several reason's. The mole can not get rid of the dirt underground or they are making a place to have baby's or have run into a object underground.

Trapping in the "can see from the surface" tunnels means I'll use the "easier to set and see when tripped" traps!

I see that you have modified the OOS. Look like they do the job for your!

A good idea should I be unsuccessful with the other methods. Aa shovel, a lawn chair, something big to read and wait for the digging to begin!

But there aren't any more mounds--other than the two mounds a couple of months ago--but there were significant wandering surface tunnels in the mulched beds up until two weeks ago when it dried up some.

Had a bit of dig by the house and found a tunnel 8 - 10" deep. Lots of worms in the back yard. Quite shaded there, too. Will stay green for most of the summer without watering. Not the same for the front which will burn at the start of summer if not watered.

Traps here in about a week. Will get my probe ready. Supposed to get some rain soon, so we'll see if the moles come up closer to the surface for food.

Most mulch areas that surround a home or part of it will have a main travel run along the foundation. Dig down until you find it and set it up. If you can set a couple of sets along this tunnel area. You will catch most if not all of the moles eventually in these tunnels in a week or less. I use Trap line traps so they work well for me. You could use No Mole traps there also. It would be difficult to set OS traps due to the tunnel being right up against the block.

I dig out the run to set traps and cover the open area with some weed block pieces cut to fit larger then what you need to use to cover and keep the area dark below. These areas tend to collapse easily.

I hate setting mulch beds.

Why's that? A lot of dig around & unders?

I also do not like setting mulch beds, watch out for plants, keeping the old mulch out of the run. JMO

What is the reason for changing the pan setup like that? Are you setting those in a clear run or one with dirt pushed into it?

The stainless steel trip rod and offset pan affords me no worries regarding rust. A few years back, there was a wooden insert available for the OOS that would slide onto the original steel pan. Popular now is the "building a bridge" of dirt under the pan instead of using the woodie insert. The SS offset pan makes using a woodie or dirt bridge unnecessary.

I dig out the trap set. Using a wooden mallet head, I then compress the soil in the set to the bottom of mole tunnel. I also slightly compress the area underneath the trip pan allowing nose room for Mr. Mole before back filling the trap set. I rarely have misses using this trap and method on surface/foraging runs and in sandy soil.