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!!