Mole Trapping

I see a lot of pictures of mole damage where it just looks like a bunch of mole hills, but when you guys see this kind of damage, do you also see the runs in the grass along with these hills??

I bought an instructional mole trapping DVD demonstrating how to use the Victor OOS and he traps in a lot of smaller residential backyards. He never showed any areas that had mole hills, only runs, so I am afraid I would encounter this type of problem and not know where to set traps unless I could see the runs. Thanks for your time.

I do not get very many like that up here, but when it happens it is because the runs are deep. The mole pushes the dirt up in one spot. I imagine you could dig down to find the tunnel, but you would probably do better with a Steve trap or a No-mol in this situation. I am sure someone that deals with this all the time will chime in.

I was thinking the same thing with the Steve's traps. I have a lot of regrets about buying my 2 dozen Victor OOs' traps over Steve's, but I didn't know about Steve's traps at the time.

On situations like you describe find the runs between the hills by probing them. Then set them that way. Steves traps work well in that situation.

Around here, they make the larger boils when the ground is hard, usually summer. Those mounds are the tailings, usually granular clay that can't be pushed aside. Like Hoffy, I probe between boils, and set with Steve's or OOSs. It's work, but I've caught as many as 6 moles at such sites.

Are the runs usually shallow enough in the ground in this situation where you can just do this with your hand and see if you can push your finger through the ground?

From my experience I'd say no but depending on how big your dirtpiles are will tell the tale. Big hills usually deeper. A dandelion puller or just a metal rod will help you probe. Not gospel but JME.

Look at the pattern of the hills to get an idea of where to set the trap. Usually the mole will be travelling 'from' cover of some sort. He is not always where the freshest hills are, in fact, traps set there are not always the best for getting fast results. JMHO, but if you can get your head around 'reading' the hill pattern you won't go far wrong, all things being equal! It's a bit like those guys in the matrix: they look at a load of green squiggles and see things we can't, well, a good moler will look at a whole mess of molehills and be able to read where the black velvet gentleman is coming and going from. JMHO. Happy Trapping..

The moles are we're the food is , if it's deep they have to excavate ,that's when you see the mounds , sometimes if the snow gets deep so the ground don't freeze , these mounds will pop up every we're under the snow ,

Thanks Peskycritter. So how do YOU typically try to set the traps on a job like this. Do you try to probe the ground and try to find the deep run?

I don't set them ,I look for a shallow run , I orderd some of Steve's traps I hope this will help on the deep runs