Victor Out of Site Mole Traps

Haven’t been on in a while but I thought I would hop on and provide a buyer beware thread. We just received a batch of the new design victor mole traps. We have been using out of sites for years. In my opinion the best mole trap on the market. The new traps are COMPLETE JUNK!!!! Springs are so soft they won’t fire through wet sand. If anyone has any old style victor out of sites let me know I am in the market. Stay away from the new cheap junk!

Thanks, Good to know. been picking up a few used ones, expanding my business.

Aren’t they made of aluminum now? We’ve got several that need replacing, soon. Thinking of going with the trapline products traps. He’s a member here and I’ve heard a lot of good things.



Owl

yep after thinking I was done with mole trapping or moles in general period last year and selling everything now I'm under new company so reordered 3 dozen of the trapline traps yesterday.

Ive got enough old school victors to last my lifetime, I'm good there, steves traps are very effective in certain key situations where others are not, and I do acquire more each season, the gopher hawks are another good tool for moles. those 3 are what I use.......... your mileage may vary

No, the new traps arent made out of aluminum, vote for trump if you want the manufacturing done here

I am pretty sure the new traps are made of aluminum. It seems my suspicions have been confirmed as to the quality of the construction of the new traps. Glad I have a couple dozen of the older style traps. Guess I’m gonna have to start looking for more older ones...

I too use Trapline traps in conjunction with the OOS. Really starting to prefer the OOS for ease of checking.

someone should talk to Bill Duke

According to WCS, the ones that they are selling are made out of aluminum- https://www.wildlifecontrolsupplies.com/animal/NWS0600.html

Wow! I stand corrected, lighter would be nice, but I wonder if they stand up over time, I assume the springs would have to be steel coils

I’d like to handle one so if the OP would like to sell one I’d gladly buy it plus the shipping cost.

The spring on the new model has (I think) one fewer coiled loops than the old model, which I assume is because the lighter metal cannot take as much snapping stress. I think we’re all going to be disappointed with this new model over the long haul.

X2

Really having one less coil won’t make much of a difference on how powerful it is. If anything I think it would make it stronger. With torsion springs the power is really determined Where the spring starts and ends, and how much it is preloaded when it is installed on the frame.

I haven’t seen the new aluminum ones yet but I don’t think there necessarily would be a problem making the jaws and the body from aluminum as long as it was thick enough. I’d be more interested in seeing if the triggering mechanism and the spring are decent.

He’s ALIVE! Long time no see, Steve!

Whatever happened to the NEW mole trap you were working on a year or so ago? You still working on it?

Good to see you on here again.

Thanks, Aggie! The mole trap I was working on was a really cool little trap, but only drawback was that I couldn't get it to catch moles consistently, and I couldn't figure out why. I might still play around with some details and see if I can get it to work.

Just got 50 of your traps Steve in last 3 weeks. I got the pilot tool that Bob Jameson sells coming this week think should be set to start with anyways. I thought I was out of the mole game last year ironically sold all my traps no back into it. Only problem been having lately ground super dry tunnels collapsing in tunnels surface runs so having to go to the mounds instead.

All of my OOS traps have been either upgraded using Jordan Budinski’s Elete Mole Upgrade kit (stainless steel trip rod and step down trip pad) or bought the traps outright from him with the EMU kit installed. Besides Steve’s concern of a decent spring, my question to Bud, when he gets ahold of on of these new aluminum OOS traps, “Is your EMU kit compatible with this trap?”

Jordan - Let us know if and when you get a chance to fiddle with these new traps with your upgrade kits.

I will have 2 of the new aluminum OOS traps in hand tomorrow and plan on slapping Jordan’s kits on them. Will know more tomorrow.

I will buy any of the old style OOS traps. PM me for info.

Here are a few pics of the new Aluminum OOS traps. Last few photos compare them to the old style. To say that I’m disappointed is an understatement. Fit and finish is absolutely awful! Sloppy deburing, spotty powder coating, and rust on it fresh out of the box. Wow! The spring is so weak that you can very easily set these by hand. I’m worried they won’t power through the soil if you bed them properly. I will try them out but I have my doubts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pax4h_Jss9Y&feature=youtu.be

Here is a quick video of the trap not working. I precut the slots in the ground deeper and wider than I normally do. Fail.

Thanks for filming. To seal the deal on its failure, it would be interesting to see an old style trap put into the slot after that failure to show how the old traps cuts through. I hope Victor sees that this is a useless product and brings back the old model.

If I get some more time I will do just that. The springs on these traps are geared more towards chip clips.

The ones I have handled I wouldnt buy or use.

Thanks for the info Tony H I will avoid these

I got a sample of the new trap a couple of days ago. The main difference I see is that the spring on the new trap is made from a much thinner wire and it's a much weaker spring. No need for those setting bars anymore. LOL.

My boss used 2 of the new style the other day they broke just setting them.

ouch

That sucks!

Try a recall on those chinese made traps, they are probably flooded in lowes and home depots across the country....The sad part is, homeowners(in general) dont know the difference between a good trap and a bad trap, good for us mole trappers, but bad for consumers....

I have steel out of sights, made in the 60s 70s and 80s, they still kill moles....

And they dont break

I've had the cast iron ones break too, but few and far between. Not like in that picture by NWTrapper. Wow!

Same here, only a small percentage of cast iron victor traps have broken jaws over many years of use and miss use.

Here’s a very early out of sight, more than 100 years old. I always wondered why it has that odd curve to the jaws which the newer models don’t have.

Early version of the off set jaws I would assume. Certainly would allow for some losses.

...and a slower death.

We talk about humane lethal catches, and I’ve never quite been satisfied with the OOS in this regard. The trap jaws are spaced from the pan far enough that the jaws catch moles in the gut, not in the thoracic area where the vitals are located. One of the immediate concerns I saw with the new, weaker spring is that a mole is being hit with less force, so potentially an even slower death because the gut is merely being pinched while the mole is locked in place. The old stronger spring at least crushed the gut to expedite death.

If the old, original OOS’ weren’t so stinkin’ great at catching moles, I’d opt for something different altogether.

Looks like WCS has the OOS listed as unavailable due to the manufacturer redesigning it.

On my last order of 50 OOS from Univar, I got about half of the steel ones and half of the new ones and it took 3 months to get them. Wish I wouldve ordered more sooner. I don't know if I will ever set one of the new ones. Have zero confidence in them.

I will just use the steel ones until every last one of them gets destroyed by a lawn mower.

That is one of the big down sides of above ground traps damage and theft.

Ive got 250 out of sights, 40 gopher hawks and about 7 dozen of steves traps, honestly, if I buy more traps it will be steves and I would'nt mind another 30 gopher hawks as well, each of those 3 types have paid for themselves over and over, the out of sights are great, quick set up, but more weight if you are walking a ways out, the trapline gopher trap has been a killer on these townsend moles, the smaller mole traps work great on the pacific moles, the gopher hawks are a great tool overall, they are a lil spendy at $24, but they have each covered their cost 10 times

One thing that shines with the gopher hawk, I can set at an angle underneath a sidewalk, it takes some practice, I have kind of perfected it over time, you have to prod a lot to find the right spot, the other thing Ilike about the hawks, you can binoc spot them 200 yards away across the livestock field, time is money, if no hit the next time, I will make the walk and shuffle traps

i'm glad i found this thread. i was just about to replace some OOS traps & saw that WDC quit carrying them. came to this forum & now i know why. i have some old OOS traps that i riveted some thin stainless steel pieces onto the trigger shoe as they were pitted & wouldn't release properly. i guess i'll refurb the rest of them. might give the gopherhawk.a try.

If your old OOS traps are getting rusty like mine were, order the stainless upgrade kits for Buds Traps. Jordan is a great guy and will get you hooked up. I have been using them for 4-5 months and now all my traps have them installed. You won’t be disappointed. This pic is from yesterday. Less than 12 hrs in one yard, no missed moles. I’m right up the road from you I Eureka, by the way. I get a lot of call from people all over St Louis but I only work in Eureka. If you want some business I could send some people your way.

Well like I said originally the new ones are JUNK! i found a case of the old model at a local supply store and overpaid to secure them.

my doctor hired me to tend his beehives after he realized his hives were in trouble. he was what beekeepers call a bee haver. last trip to his place i saw that he had an obvious mole problem. his gardener was having no luck with spike traps, mostly i believe because he did not know how to use them. i set 6 OSS traps & caught 5 moles in 2 days. i don't have time to trap his moles on a regular basis so i showed him & his gardener how to set the OSS & the spike traps & told him to search around for old stock steel OSS traps. i was there yesterday tending hives & found that he's bought 2 of the new OSS traps so i got to see them in the flesh. 1st noticeable difference was how light the spring was. i could almost set it without the setting tools. i told him that i hoped he'd kept his receipt as he was going to need it.

Watch out flee markets!

What is the chances of being able to put beef springs on the new style and make em stronger?

"I do not know for sure, but I can only hope that they will be redesigning them to be better. We know they were horrible, we received nothing but complaints and passed them on to the manufacturer. Right now they are not available because of the redesigning."

Answer from a vendor when I asked if they knew anything about Victor going back to the original.

As for putting beefier springs on the new traps, I am currently looking into this. Like most other ideas, easier said than done lol

X2

Word !

Funny when I email Victor about this they said they had no complaints about the new traps. I find that really hard to believe.

Youngest boy bought some of the new OOS for me thinking they were the old style. He read the description on the box before buying them. It says they are cast iron. They are not! They are aluminum. I would think this is a truth in advertising problem. Might also be a liability problem. New type metal in the traps and using boxes made and printed for the old cast iron traps. Victor traps must have some really stupid people working for them or they just do not have a problem with lying about there products.

This thread has close to 4,000 views, so there is definatley alot of people looking to get some of the old style oos traps. I just called victor and she said she hasnt heard of any complaints with the new traps, but will make a note of this and send it to management. I doubt it will get to management but if everyone thats been checking in on this thread calls them, then maybe it could turn a head or two....i realize this is wishful thinking but its better to have them hear this than us just going back and forth. Victors customer service #1-855-584-2867

Don’t forget to leave a 1 star review too on the Victor website.

That's crap and they know it. I have emailed them and given poor reviews on amazon. They have acknowledged the receipt of my concerns.

read the latest reviews, not most relevant:

https://www.amazon.com/Victor-OSight-Mole-Trap-0631/dp/B00004RAMY/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1LKZVUJGRIXVA&dchild=1&keywords=victor+out+of+sight+mole+trap&qid=1613172388&sprefix=victor+out+%2Caps%2C226&sr=8-2#customerReviews
amazon reviews

I just spit my drink all over the screen

If you do not admit to the problem then there is no problem, RIGHT! Only the people that have used the old traps know there is a problem. Anyone buying the trap will not know there is a problem. So whey fix the problem just go on selling the trap. JMO