this mostly a rant.
haven't been on here for quite awhile. my pest control work is capturing swarms & removing honeybee hives from structures. i do however take care of critters on my own property i've become pretty good at catching moles. i have some really old victor spike traps that i got from an older friend's dad back in the early 70's. these are taller & have heavier springs than the current ones. bill's dad apparently did not think that they hit hard enough so he added a steel block to the top for extra umph. i also have several O.S.S. traps & an O.S.S copy. the copy is a pain to set as it came with a foot pedal. i usually catch the current mole in a day or 2 but this mole has evaded me for at least a month. my yard feel like i'm walking on a sponge & there are raised mound everywhere. i'm thinking about trying a different trap. any suggestions?
here are photos of the O.S.S. copy & the altered spike trap
img]https://trapperman.com/forum/attachments/usergals/2022/01/full-13036-122436-oss_copy.jpg[/img]

There was a period of time when the OOS where thicker and the dog was stronger. You can tell these because they will be unpainted and the dog is shiny out of the box.
Those are the best years.

all of my OSS traps are the older version. a friend bought a new pot metal version. so far so good but it does not get a lot of use. i've noticed a new stamped metal chinese knock-off that's similar to the OSS. WCS is carrying it on their site.

I still use some of the older spear type mole traps every now and then just to keep sharp at setting them.. Used them a lot years back very successfully. Like most traps you learn what you need to do to make them very effective and you are good to go.

I have a couple of the older taller trap I got from a yard sale a while back.

I have some of those too. also have one made in Taiwan not China

Zack49 - as far as suggestions re trying a different mole trap, I’m still waiting to hear from more trappers using Viking Products’ Mole Whacker mole trap. This mole trap was discussed and touted by a few trappers back in August here on this Forum. I would like an update from these gents and reviews from others using this trap before I pull the trigger and buy some. The discussion of mole traps at that time came about due to the disappointing newer version of the OOS Mole trap.

Aggie,

I’m up to 100 whackers. I think I like them more than the victors now.