So, I have a Nash choker loop mole trap and some DK-1 gopher & mole traps. I've never had moles on my property I've never really have an opportunity to trap them. My neighbors have lots of moles and they want me to catch them. Anyone got any tips for a newbie mole trapper? Thanks!

I like The old Victor out of sight traps and the Trapline product traps best. They all have a learning curve. Once you figure it out your golden.

wws

Thanks!

Check out Mole Reaper Traps. I sell a Home Defense Kit just for homeowners. I also have several trap setting tutorial videos on the website and YouTube. You can also message me if you have any questions. Thanks!!

Tony

Cool, thank you!

You’re welcome!

In all fair ness, It isn't enough trap for me to take serious.
Any mole trap you can set with one hand
is too weak to use consistently in clay soil.
IMO , Mole ReapIer traps do not have the spring strength to use in clay soil that we have here in the Midwest and Great Lakes Region.
They just aren't a strong trap and the jaws aren't long enough for the type of soil we have here in Ohio.
Loose soil or sand, perhaps.

Good to know, I was somewhat worried about the clay, too

LT GREY, in all fairness, Have you ever tried them? Actual Mole Reapers. They don’t have the same spring the ones on Amazon have. There are several other design differences from the ones on Amazon.




Yeah I have no luck with them. I’ve sold them in every state and have awesome feedback. Read the reviews. Watch how I set them and you’ll see you don’t need a ton of spring power.

Get on Molecatchers US on Facebook and ask about them. The best of the best mole trappers hang over there.

Yep, my friend has some of the junky ones that are probably from Amazon... They don't work at all. But your traps obviously work great, and the way you set them in the video makes sense.
When I said this I just thought that since they looked like kind of like the Amazon ones, they might not work too well in the clay/denser soil. But now I see that they're much much much better than those ones. I appreciate your help!

...?

i have heavy clay soil around my house and the mole reapers went right through that, they are pretty dang strong too. have you ever tried the mole reapers LT grey?

x2

So I’m pretty sure he’s accusing me of freezing moles and putting them in traps for a picture. Too funny!!!



How about this one? Out in the field on a 5 acre property? Straight from the freezer LOL!!!. LT GREY, come follow me trapping for a day and I’ll send you home with enough moles to fill your freezer.

So have you ever tried a Mole Reaper? Why aren’t you answering the question?

https://youtu.be/auM5FtarlKE?si=QFRxi_uWoDWYArSu

Are you "one and done" when trapping moles? I understand you want a pic showing how effective your traps are, but why didn't you reset those?

This is from several yards and if I feel that I’ve caught the moles then I don’t reset. If I feel there might be more then I leave the other traps in the yard. I generally set 2-3 traps per mole that I think there might be.

It’s also faster for me to just leave the dead moles in the trap and reset a new trap if I’m going to reset on the same run. I take ALL moles with me because I don’t want a customers pet to find them and roll in them or bring them in their house. I don’t use a bucket to hold my traps and stakes. I carry a handful of stakes with traps clipped on them. I can easily carry 15+ traps and stakes in one hand for larger properties.

I take moles with me also, or if I'm in a rural setting, throw them far enough into the brush pets won't find them. If I find fresh sign in a yard that I already have set, I'll walk back to the truck and get more traps. But to walk around the yard, carrying more traps, while you're checking traps, to replace traps that already have a mole in them, then carry the trap and mole back to the truck instead of re-setting?

Take a one gallon bucket with you when checking, drop the mole in the bucket and re-set. I believe you that your traps work.

Carrying a bucket to put dead moles in or 3 or 4 traps is the same. Plus then I’ve got to have room for the bucket in my truck which is the already full to the max. Then if I see new runs i don’t have to walk back to my truck and get more traps.

This is 15 traps I pulled from a yard. No problem carrying them in one hand.

Don't you ever have anything positive to say ?

He’s obviously never seriously trapped moles or else he’d know what moles look like when they’ve been in a trap for a few days underground…and it’s even worse when it’s hot.

No, carrying a one gallon, empty bucket, is not the same as carrying 3-4 traps. And your truck is so full, you don't have room for a one gallon bucket? I'm starting to run the BS flag up the flagpole.

Why would I carry a bucket when I can carry the traps I might need to set on any new activity or reset on tripped traps? So you are going to go empty your traps into a one gallon bucket, and then if there’s any new damage, which is common, you will walk back to your truck and grab more traps. Then walk back out to set the traps? I prefer to make one trip around a yard and have everything I need.

Not quite sure why you think that’s BS. I always thought it was efficient. But maybe having to walk around the yard twice is more efficient?

It’s not about having room for a one gallon bucket. It’s about not carrying something that I don’t need.

I resemble the OP somewhat, as we have a lot of moles...........except my neighbor hired an ADC guy to come trap his. Told me the bill ran into hundreds of dollars. Realizing I had as man moles as he did, I decided to get busy and trap mine too, so together maybe we could put a dent in them, plus mowing my front yard was like trying to run the Baja. So I bought half a dozen Mole Reapers from Tony and when the problem gets bad enough, I put them to use. Have caught several this past week alone. Biggest hurdle to success for me was learning where to set them. Moved away from the visible runs near the feed beds to finding the travel runs closer to the pushed up mounds. Only problem there is those runs are deep, so are tough to find. Have traps set now where top of trap is below the surface to get them down to the runs. But get it right and I'll get my mole within 24 hours.

I have what you call a target rich environment. Few, if any, visible runs connecting all those mounds.

In short, trapping moles is like most things trapping. It's less about how to set a trap......that part is easy. Success is more about where to set the trap. If I was to suggest a topic for another Tony video, that would be it. If need be, up to and including a hand drawn diagram of the entire mole run......and where to place the trap.

Use a long screw driver 15" -20" or a long dandelion root removal tool. Probe the soil between the mounds to find the void areas of the tunnels. Then find a part of the tunnel that is a somewhat a straight line run. Set your traps in those areas for the best catch results.

Even tho the scissor traps you’re using are working in these deeper mole runs you mention, they may be more conducive to being used for the foraging/feeding runs on the soil surface. You might consider using the Trapline Products mole trap for these deeper runs especially if you’re trapping in more clay like soils. Less wiggle room and more energy required from these little rascals to dig under or around in these type of soils I would imagine.

Aggie 73, Reapers can be set in deeper runs just as easily as Traplines can. They both require basically the same amount of excavation. The upside to the Reapers is you don’t have to dig up your set to check it. Upside to Traplines is you might catch 2 in one set.

Hay Day, so if you’re seeing singular surface tunnels, whether it be along a hard surface or connecting 2 feeding areas, set on it. If you have mounds, probe between the mounds to find the connecting run. I like to probe 8-10” away from the mound. It’s much easier to find the connecting run if you probe closer to a mound. And as you’ve probably found out, if the Reapers are set while they are down in the run then they can be set very deeply with no problem.

My school of thought is this on the How Vs Where to set traps. If you think about it, of all the active tunnels in a moles territory, there is not one that the mole will likely not revisit. So with that being said, yes, there are “better” tunnels to set on. You will likely catch your mole faster. BUT at the same time, if you don’t set the trap properly, you will struggle to catch your mole. So for me I always stress making good, quality, detail-oriented sets over finding those “perfect” runs. I prefer to let the traps work for me. The surface tunnels are much easier and faster to set on. In my area I basically set on all surface runs. I don’t even carry a probe anymore.

And by the way, THANK YOU again for the order!

Today's catch. The mounds you see were it. No runs. Just these random mounds. Maybe 4 feet apart total. Had probed between them to find the tunnel. Caught one......then noticed the hole had been repaired. So reset it this morning. Checked around 4 PM and trap had fired. So two moles caught from just this. No expert but does not seem like the typical setup.....yet there they were.

Nice catch!! Just proving that you can set them deeper with excellent results. They can even be set flush up against foundations, sidewalks, edging, etc.

Even placing the trap at a 45 degree angle to reach under sidewalks, edging, etc works extremely well.

Well Tony, you’ve convinced me to give those Reapers a try. Moles are wreaking havoc around here this year so hopefully these will be plug and play.

Butch

Excellent Butch!!! If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.

If you haven’t already, please watch a few of my video tutorials on setting them. They require a unique setting method for best results. Thanks!!