This is for you OOS mole trap guys. I see in a lot of the video's that they use the sod to block out the sun light. I put a leaf over the bar and sift in soil to fill in the hole. I do so-so with the OOS but would like to do better. I have modified the pan and dog with the stainless steel on some. Our sand dry's out in the summer. I add water to help firm up the wall for the pan to set on. Do you try and keep the sand out of the run? Just trying to fine tune the program.

Wow...u take time to sift dirt/sand?...i am sloppy i guess...i refill the hole with dirt on both sides and make sure the trigger rod can set off easy...i use a tater rake to open hole

GT - We are both blessed and cursed with our sandy soils! Worse case scenario is during drought when the soil turns to "blow sand!" Not good for either moles or mole catchers. Fortunately the majority of my customers love green lawns and thus are forced to irrigate in our climate. I occasionally also have to water down prospective mole trapping runs for those clients that do not irrigate. Moles are constantly checking their feeding runs and maintaining collapsed ones in our types of soil. In my short experience, I've never had an issue backfilling an OOS set with sandy soil.

When using the OOS (upgraded version), I never have to worry about covering/protecting the stainless steel pan or rod. I cut out the "bath tub" in the mole surface run the width and length of the trap, then lightly backfill the bottom of the cut out tunnel with soil. I then compact the bottom of the cut out run using a wooden mallet head. The base of the bath tub or cut out now should be level with the bottom of the mole tunnel. I then follow through setting the OOS with the offset pan resting only slightly off the bottom of the compressed cut out run. Hand-sifting and backfilling this set ensures no rocks, acorns, mulch pieces, etc. will hinder the operation of the OOS. Of course, checking the soil path of the trap pinchers/legs for roots, rocks, etc. is paramount! Hope this helps.

Does sunlight really effect success for those using OOS? OOS is not my go to trap. Maybe I have less success with it b/c I don't fill in (or cover) the 2 slots with something to keep the light out.

I firmly believe in covering all of the spring...catch about 1300 moles a year in OOS so I am sold in way I train my guys

I'll give it a try.
I always just step down the tunnel the width of my boot, make 2 thin slots, place the OOS, & move on (similar to what I do with my Nash Choker loop traps).
The Nash's don't usually go off powerfully when tripped by a mole if there is dirt plugging the slots. OOS of course are WAY more powerful than Nash's. I might try putting an upside down pail over my Nash's to solve that sunlight issue that you mentioned. I don't use Nash's much.
Thanks for the tip.
I just got a 5th mole already this year in 1 yard. They're very active this year. The next tunnel I see I'll probably set an OOS the way you mention, & see if my success rate climbs.

I dig out every tunnel i set with OOS...too many times the tunnel below is not how it seems...I believe those that set the way you do or similar are missing alot of moles as they are not getting trap placement correct

Interesting. Maybe I'm not necessarily following. I think I make sure its centered properly...I can tell its track based on the path being risen in the soil, then (b4 I set the trap) I poke my finger in its hole to help ensure I'm lined up. Your catch is an amazing 1300, so I'm not arguing. I don't seem to have false trips with the OOS that I can recall, but I don't use it much. I'll probably give your method a try as maybe I'll like the OOS more than I realize. The Nash's are challenging to line up, so your advice might be particularly helpful for those.

Thanks

Proper trap placement / tunnel alignment is key to consistent catches. With the OOS traps you have some margin of error due to the width of the jaw spread. Using the trapline traps you have no margin for error. You must be aligned and bedded well into the tunnels or you will have misses, dig unders and plugged traps for sure. Every time one of these things happen you need to improve your technique or it will continue.

Checking for and selecting straight tunnel runs for your set ups is critical for high percentage catches. Making sure that your tunnel set up has a straight open tunnel on each side of the traps is key as well. Do all this consistently and your catches will be good, if not you will be discouraged until you figure it out.

No margin of error setting them the way I do...mole goes thru and mole dies

There is good technique needed to make consistent catches no doubt with any trap you use.

Real news

I'm not concerned with sunight, I dont want air going into the tunnel, with an out of sight, dig your hole, pull enough dirt out to confirm a good tunnel, make your bridge with dirt, wider if a small tunnel, place trap with tongs, release, if no obstructions, squeeze and set, pour soil on top of coil spring and make sure the tunnels get filled up with loose soil , push dirt underneath trigger pan to meet the block bridge, thats an airtight set, with my short shovel, from time of tunnel location by probe, to completion, I can do a set in 3 minutes on average, but remember, sometimes you will dig down and not like the tunnel, so its not always rainbows and sunshine, the trapline products work as advertised, I had to move up to the gopher size for our townsends, the mole size works great on the smaller moles (Tunnel) The gopher hawk is a great trap, if you need to be in fast, they are a go to, I dont set them in larger public places, for fear of theft, at $25 a pop, I dont want to lose them, Mole work is busier than heck here, I suppose because folks are stuck home, and the mole hills annoy them more

Now that I am catching up to the number of Steves traps and gopher hawks that I have to out of sights, on average, each one performs at about the same rate, The gopher hawks are good at getting underneath a sidewalk at an angle where you cant put out of sights, similarly, I can get steves traps in tight locations, the other advantage is they are light, and will work in any application, the gopher hawks are nice for setting up a big pasture, you can glass them to see if they are tripped, I like the versatility of having all 3, for customers with really expensive landscaped lawns, the gopher hawk sells itself to the customer, it only takes a lil hole to set them, other customers dont care, they just say "Kill Em!!"

For the record, both TRapper and Bob Jameson have posted a wealth of knowledge on the subject of mole trapping, they arent the only 2, but they were on this post and I wanted to acknowledge them