OT - Bill Murray here, need help with moles

Re: OT - Bill Murray here, need help with moles

Jerry Nicholson

I heard years ago (many many years!) that moles like Juicy Fruit chewing gum. And the gum allegedly clogs their guts. I have no first hand knowledge of how well it works. Do they still make Juicy Fruit?

Kill Traps

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In New Jersey

I cleared our property using the spring-loaded Victor together with grub control. The moles are after they primary food source, that being grubs. Treat for grubs and the moles you don't trap may well go elsewhere.

Grub Control

David Yoho

Mark's got it - you need to go after their food, which is probably grubs. Treat for them and the moles will move to "greener pastures". But it won't be right away because it takes time for the grub control to work.

This brings up another question - what to use. Some people I know swear by milky spore but I think it might be pricey. Then there's those that treat with Diazinon and swear by it. I've always had good results from using the stuff sold at the hardware stores in bags for killing grubs. The thing is you'll have to apply it more than one time. More like once a year. The down side to some of these grub killers can be they may kill earth worms too, which are beneficial to your soil.

Of course, there's always dynamite!!!

Re: OT - Bill Murray here, need help with moles

Martin

My neighbors and I use the Nash choker loop with success. The ground has a high sand content and the Victors that plunge down spikes never seem to work, the pop up when tripped.

My experience is placing the loops on the Nash is critical, they have to encompass the tunnel. If off to the side the mole can go around or trip without getting caught. I use a small spade to cut across and deep into the ground. The loops are as deep as possible. The tunnel is pushed down only under the trip pan, you want the mole past a loop before having to push up to open the tunnel.

And try to find the main tunnel used to access your yard. That can be easy to say but difficult to find.

Re: OT - Bill Murray here, need help with moles

Dave Bair

I have successfully used the Nash traps (made here in MI). But they are hard to set, especially if your hands are arthritic. I actually have better luck using my feet to collapse their tunnel and watching for the ground to start moving as they begin pushing it back. I use an old pike-fishing spear to collect them. This method only works for retired, patient folks, though.

Re: OT - Bill Murray here, need help with moles

Barry Irby

Years ago, I put down some sort of grub control and watered it in. Worked astonishingly well. Who knew there could be so many grubs? They actually stunk as they decomposed. The moles went nuts. Tunneling everywhere desperately searching. They finally went away.

Moles are relatively harmless, they are carnivores, eating grubs and worms. They are often followed by voles, little mouse like creatures who are opportunists, using the mole's tunnels and they eat the roots and bulbs off your plants, killing them.

I was once standing in my yard talking to a neighbor and saw the grass moving. Stomped it flat without comment. Neighbor later told me he thought I was having a seizure. After he left, I dug up the mole and trashed it.

I have also used the victor traps with the spikes that plunge down into them, with some success, but it takes patience to set the traps.

Re: OT - How Not to Exterminate Moles

William Duffield

One of my dogs likes to dig them up and kill them. In this case the cure is worse than the disease.

Once, one burrowed into the bottom of my rubber-lined frog pond. It drowned. My goldfish did not survive the emptying of the pond.

BINGO!

Kevin French

Try Milky Spore

Put it in with your lime in a drop spreader or with fertilizer in a broadcast spreader just before a moderate to heavy rain

Re: OT - How Not to Exterminate Moles

Barry Irby

I had forgotten our dog got a mole and we praised her highly. She took it to mean that was her mission and she threw herself into it. My yard looked like someone had gone mad with a rototiller. She wore off her claws and her nose was raw. Fortunately for her the moles went away and she recovered.

Re: OT - Bill Murray here, need help with moles

Walter Ahlgrim

There was a mole guy in my old neighborhood no traps no chemicals, just water a shovel and patience.

Wait until the ground dries out. Stomp down all tunnels in the target area 20 feet square. Water the target area. Do not disturb the target area with vehicle pet or pedestrian traffic before your hunt. The next day walking softly observe the target area. When you see where the mole is tunneling dig it up with a shovel. He was often killed the mole with the first shovel below ground sometimes he would get them with the shovel above ground.

I only paid if he produced a corpse $100 for the first one this year and 50 each that year. It seemed he had all the customers he wanted.

Walta

Re: OT - How Not to Exterminate Moles

William Duffield

,but I'm sure it wasn't funny at the time.

Re: OT - Bill Murray here, need help with moles

ebd

These are the ones I use. I call them the "Jaws of Death". Easy to set and reliably deadly. Biggest problem is figuring out which tunnels are still in use. Sounds like you have that down as your traps are getting triggered.

https://www.wildlifecontrolsupplies.com/animal/NWS0600.html

Re: OT - Bill Murray here, need help with moles

Mark Nowicki

Why do they have to be eliminated?

It is hard to share a little bit of ground with another creature?

Re: OT - Bill Murray here, need help with moles

Larry Clinton At Frankfort, (Central) Indiana

That is the belief of Jainism, however I have a desire to have my little piece of property to myself with respect to animals!

I do not wish to share my home or yard with animals or insects that bite me, cause me discomfort, injury or disease. As such until you have stepped into a mole tunnel and turned your ankle you may not dislike them as much.

I am not finicky about my lawn, actually I prefer natural prairie plants but regulations in my city require I maintain a golf course style.

I do eat meat and when young I did quite a bit of hunting. As my wife will not eat game meat I quit hunting many years ago but certainly don't condemn those who do.

Re: OT - Bill Murray here, need help with moles

ebd

+++1 and a single mole can destroy an area of 15' X 15' with it's tunnels that destroy grass roots.

I agree that getting rid of the food source seems preferable, but considering you have to poison the grubs repeatedly, I wonder which is better environmentally. There is no shortage of moles in the world. A few less isn't going to cause any harm.

I feel the same way about all the animal that frequent my yard. I have a trail camera and have video of chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, skunks, opossoms, racoons, mink, groundhogs, ferral cats, ferral dogs, red fox, coyote, deer, hawks, owls, and turkey. This is a suburban place of 5 acres, 2/3 wood - 1/3 lawn/field surrounded by suburban neighborhood.

As long as the animals stay where they belong and do no damage I leave them alone and enjoy seeing them. When they encroach and start to do damage it's time to assert my right to handle the situation.

It is illegal, with hefty fines, to live trap and release the animal anywhere but where it was trapped in my state. Many of my neighbors have come to me with various nuisance wildlife problems. I live trap and dispose with the exception of opossoms. They are tick magnets and eat 97% of the ticks that get on them so I take the chance of releasing them on my plot (just across the street so esentially the same area - at least that would be my argument should I get caught releasing them).

It is hard to share ground with moles

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

We have come to know that when a plant in the flower bed dies it probably has a mole tunnel under it. I don't share my peach crop with coons. I don't share the house with mice or the barn with rats. I don't share what I grow with groundhogs, coons, skunks, possums, deer, crows, black birds, etc. If your food comes from a store you may not understand the need to defend what you grow in the garden and orchard.