Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Help! Mole digging through yard.

How can I get rid of a mole that is digging through my back yard. I found a dead one in the front by the street last weekend. Thanks in advance. Bob

Mole traps work, but I don't know if they are available in your area, look kind of like 5 or 6 long needles on each side of a spring driven plate, when the mole comes back thru the tunnel you have mashed down, he is shishkabobed. Cost about 12 to 15 bucks down here and are not all that easy to find. You may have to order one. I would be very careful about using them if I had any young children around. <P>They also have some poison pellet bait that you can carefully put in the tunnels that supposedly kills them, I bought some once, but never used it, so don't know. Should work, check feed and seed stores in your area, or a nursery if there is one around you. Good luck they are a pest in the yard. CAT

Mothballs in the tunnel will send him/her elsewhere.<P>Wall

I think I have been invaded by a herd of moles. They tell me to posion my yard to kill grub worms and insects and the moles will leave. Have two sacks of Dursban in the B-B-Q house ready to spread. -- no<P>------------------<BR>A hint to the wise is sufficient! Smiles are contagious, infect everyone!

Bob.280, go to a CO-OP farm store. I believe they are in Mississippi also. We have one in every town here in Tennessee. They sell mole traps and poison also. HOSS

Thanks everyone. I remember dad using a mole trap when I was a kid. I will see if he still has it. This critter is really getting around. Thanks for not suggesting dynamite, it is a residential area. Bob

CAT, I remember those critters well from back when I visited my grandparents in Pittsburg. I remember the mole traps well. Interesting traps. tom

My favorite way involves several cans of cold beverages and a garden hose. Contents of the cans is optional.<P>The beverages are required because this usually takes some time for observation but, done properly, has never failed me.<P>First, check for signs of new digging activity. Keep hose charged but nozzle off at this time.<P>At the first sign of earth movement you've located the critter (s).<P>Immediately shove the hose, water on, in the mound or tunnel at the site of activity.<P>Every time I've done this the mole eventually fights his way upstream and actually pops out of the hole. One swift, firm kick and the party's over. They're very fragile.<P>Even if you fail to detect activity the first few times you try don't give up. It's very satisfying when it works.<P>2D

Ok, Here are the facts from a mole expert.<P>First of all, books could be written on alternative mole control. Most of them are interesting, but are only that, interesting reading, not factual information.<P>Forget, the barbed wire and glass down the tunnels. The little buggers are not hemophilics (sp?).<BR>You're not going to drown them either, by putting a hose down the tunnel. They're excellent swimmers.<BR>The windmill daisys, flamingos, and electric resonance will not make them move by giveing them a headache.<BR>The suggestion of putting gum in the tunnel was started on an extension newsletter as a joke. This was picked up and spread as gospel. Now its one of the most widely quoted mole control alternatives. Just goes to show you how careful you must be when you write or say something...<BR>The castor bean planting, and castor oil sprays that are being sold are not standing up inturf research. You can do nothing and get the same results as doing the castor thing.<BR>Yes, moles will eat grubs. But grubs are present only certain times of the season. Even if you were able to kill any grubs present in your lawn with insecticides, the earthworm populations would still remain. It's the earthworms that are the moles main diet.<BR>Some dogs and even cats become pretty good molers.<BR>I know of some folks that delight working the tunnels with pitch forks, potato forks and even a shotgun.<BR>What works are traps! Sissor or harpoon. They must be set properly, and on active tunnels. Most of the tunnels that go every-which-way are feeding tunnels and the mole will rarely frequent those tunnels twice. Ideally you need to find the tunnel that goes from a burrowing den to the feeding area. Thats where you want to place the trap or traps. Your chances of nailing them are greater when multible sets are made and by being persistent. <BR>There are several good sites on the biology and control of moles. The starnosed mole is actually protected in some states.<BR>Purdue University has a good site as well as doing a search on Moleman.<BR>I know of one person that got real good at popping the critters out of the ground with a potato fork, unscathed, then collected them in a pickel bucket. He then drove around to those neighbors that he didn't care for or those that had the perfect lawns. I understand that one could "seed" a lawn with a mole by doing a moving hookshot from a speeding vehicle; the mole disappearing into the sod within 5 seconds. ;^)<P>regards,<P>gunner

I have had great luck with the wooden birds with wings that rotate or the little guy swinging a pick, etc... Seems they do not like the vibration sounds as they can not tell when something is coming toward them. There are a wide variety of them too so you can find something that looks good in your yard. TM

Mole warfare: .22 rimfire. Use CB caps if noise is a problem and you want to do this discreetly. Find a fresh mole hole and dig gently till you uncover the tunnel running away from the mound of dirt. An active one where the mole is working is best. Feel and look to get the direction of the tunnel and poke a small aiming or guide stick in the surface of the ground ten inches or so away from the entrance, directly above the tunnel at that point . <P>Then get a comfortable lawn chair and your .22 and sit so that you can comfortably aim for a long time through the center of the entrance hole and down the length of the tunnel. Elbows on knees , lining up entrance and aiming stick, just far away enough to get the downward angle correct. Do not move your feet or anything hin contact with the ground, as this alerts the mole (a tactic learned from watching coyotes stalking moles and mice). When the mole appears, ususally you will not see him but will see a plug of dirt being pushed ahead of him. Shoot through the dirt dead center of the entrance at your predetermined angle to have the bullet go down the center of the tunnel. Guaranteed to work. Leisurely Saturday monring kind of hunting.<P>One mole I shot was pushing a burned out smoke bomb ahead of him when he ran afoul of the lawn sniper. My father in law favours shooting them with a big bore rifle or shotgun, but that's overkill.

Hey There<BR> Alright everybodys gonna laugh at this one but it seems to work in my neck of the woods.<BR> Ready - Juicy Fruit gum, [img]images/icons/tongue.gif" border="0[/img] Alright calm down thats what I did when my neighbors told me about it.And I didn't do it for a year I was pulling my hair out,whats left of it anyway [img]images/icons/smile.gif" border="0[/img]. Get some sticks of gum slide it on down the tunnels,they eat it and can't digest it and die. No more moles and I'm not laughing anymore.<BR> O.K. you can quit laughing now. [img]images/icons/laugh.gif" border="0[/img] <BR> Good Luck Ruttin

.22 rimfire is nice, but I recently expanded my arsenal to include a blowgun. Cripes are these things accurate, and you can even get broadheads!!! But here is the deal. For around 15 bucks, you can get a nifty device called an "underground exterminator" although I suppose you could also make one. It is a simple rubber flange that fits over a tailpipe, and the other end has the female threading to accomodate a garden hose. Get the picture? You hook this up to your fume belching, pre-emission control, combustion engine, ("clean cars" work also) and slide the other end into the nearest mole hole. The smoke comes blasting out of the end of the hose and fills up the tunnel. Wait for smoke to rise out of the lawn and block up those vents to increase the kill power. This thing is nice because it will kill moles, voles, shrews, pocket gophers and whatever other subterrainian beasties trouble you [img]images/icons/laugh.gif" border="0[/img] [img]images/icons/laugh.gif" border="0[/img] Sometimes the buggers make a break for it. Commence firing. I know this thing works. I've sold plenty of them at a retailer years ago and got great feedback from customers. Plus, I've used my own. No lasting poisons, no mess, multiple kills at a time, etc. I have not seen a downside.

Ridding our pastures & hay fields of gophers--moles--ground squirrels used to be a real job------we would be at this off & on for 2 months in the spring-----we have tried everything---poison---propane----traps---CO2--- gassing by chance I was in our local farm store & spotted (gopher bombs) I read the label then remembered I had the exact same thing at home----road flares----dig down until you see the run going each direction---try & stick a flare in as far as you can in each run--unlit---if it goes---pull it back out light it---stuff it in & do the other----cover up-----NO more rodents---look around to make sure no smoke is coming out of other openings. For some reason this smoke clings to the walls & no others will use it again, at least for 4 years----that is how long ago we started. There isn't anything safer or deadlier in the ground.