Hunting Moles escaping Stalag Luft Neighbours garden by tunneling under the perimeter fence. Do the sonic gizmos work ?

[foxdropper]

By creating a wetter area mare all you’ve done is attract more worms as it drains away .Trapping is the way to go .One thing about moles is they arnt going anywhere bar tunnels .Use a metal rod to probe and plot tunnels for sets .Set twice as many as you first think and you’ll get it within days .

 

[GamoGat]

By creating a wetter area mare all you’ve done is attract more worms as it drains away .Trapping is the way to go .One thing about moles is they arnt going anywhere bar tunnels .Use a metal rod to probe and plot tunnels for sets .Set twice as many as you first think and you’ll get it within days .

Learning by error.
At the moment i reckon i should stop faffing around disturbing the ground. Possible it didn't like my garden anyway......
By default and faffing around i expect if it's still down there it will dig a fresh tunnel run.

Await a new mound to appear. Maybe tomorrow or a few days time, maybe it's going out through the neighbours garden. If no fresh mounds appear in next 2 weeks then i can assume it's moved on.
Probe around the fresh mound and work out where the tunnel run is and mark it. ( sorted out a pile of skewers and a probe all ready to go)
Once i find a new/fresh tunnel run..... then dig into it and set traps, wear gloves to not scent mark the traps and any soil i scrape out.

You tube is now feeding me allsorts regarding garden moles and traps.

The next move is what will the Mole do next ?

 

[Deleted Member 170325]

Do miss the old German cold war surplus moleskin shirts.

or the Jasper Carrot method - yes, I’ve even resorted to that.

I always think of the Jasper Carrott sketch when moles get a mention, absolute comedy classic.

Lotta worms and slugs in the garden, but no hedgehog has moved in this year to eat them all

Is your garden accessible? You've mentioned concrete fence panels, hogs need to be able to travel between gardens modern fences often stop this.

 

[GamoGat]

I always think of the Jasper Carrott sketch when moles get a mention, absolute comedy classic.

Is your garden accessible? You've mentioned concrete fence panels, hogs need to be able to travel between gardens modern fences often stop this.

It's not ideal but there is free entry up one side of the house. They can get in and out. The garden fence is concrete base with concrete posts and the fence panels just drop fit

Two years back we had a family of three hogs in the garden and now and then i find hog poop and put in a hog-house but nothing has moved back in.
They are out there, i keep meaning to get a cheap trail cam to see what comes in the garden at night.

 

[Staffy1]

I can see why some are tempted to try propane/petrol down the holes........ (as seen on youtube)

Be in town in the morning and the hardware place opens at 10 so shall see what they have in stock as the website isn't the best.
Looking like i might as well get a Scissor and a Tunnel Trap as they are a lot cheaper anyway than the sonic emitter's.

On the bright side the rain water butt has been cleaned out and de-sludged.

Lotta worms and slugs in the garden, but no hedgehog has moved in this year to eat them all.

@pogue your picture is what my garden looks like with a water logged tunnel. And dispells my theory that drying out the garden might be why the mole has appeared. Must have travelled through at least two other gardens to get to me.

Mole tunnels can be eight feet deep so propane and petrol unlikely to work and burning a living creature alive is pretty inhumane and illegal . Traps normally work well.

 

[GamoGat]

Todays Mole watch.

No fresh mounds, no sign of a mole moving through the disturbed chunk of tunnel.

It's possible it dosen't like the sandy/stony make up of the soil.

Been to town and looked at a few traps. After a quick inspection (and slim choice) i went with the dearest at £5.99 as it seemed better quality all round and a stiffer spring.
Get to the till, it's scanned through and gets 25% discount and -£2.50 (i know do the math on that ) so getting the better one has already worked out cheaper than the actual cheaper one at £4.28 ?

Now i wait and see if a fresh tunnel mound appears and then go to work.

 

[GamoGat]

@Staffy1 That chap on youtube pinged up straight away when i looked the other day. Watched his shorter videos on how to catch and set traps.

It's an interesting look into the problems the moles cause ranging from broken legs on cattle to contaminated silage.
The various youtubers i have watched are very informative and educational

 

[GamoGat]

Mole watch CSI.

No fresh mounds.
Had a probing session to track the tunnel and had a look under the bushes on the fence line. I think there is one or two mounds, but fairly shallow compared to what appeared on the grass.

It appears to have come in near the corner of the garden and has cut across next doors garden, behind our back fences is an access track and more houses, so some traffic and i would say compacted ground.



Maybe hard to see.
Top left of photo on the dirt by bushes is a peg with red tape. Was a big mound, go left a few meters up the fence line and maybe another mound, i reckon this is point of entry.
From the top left marker peg it's dug until it hit the edge of the patio and came up again.
Then followed the edge of the patio, and came up again.
The patio is 6 slabs wide, bottom right is slab 6 and it's come up again on the corner edge. from probing, ground is quite stony and tunnel is just under the grass (so needs backfilling as my weight collapses it) Hard to see but is a red peg there on the corner.
Mole has come out to the lawn and popped up again.
The fairly clear to see red peg is the tunnel looping back round towards the patio edge and it's made it's way back out via that tunnel.

Hopefully my garden isn't good enough for it, and it's moved on.

So if nothing appears in next two weeks i belive i can consider it's moved on and making for the Swiss border

The trap has been played with and washed and is now lurking outside in the garden to "weather" and is ready to be used. Seems a point of debate, but many reckon not to handle the traps with bare hands when setting them as you leave a scent which "might" spook the mole.

Haven't bought a possible "snake oil" sonic thumper/emitter, got lucky with a weird discount and a very cheap scissor trap and ready if Mr Mole comes back. Possible one of the neighbours has set a trap and caught it already.

Has been an interesting look into a wide issue in the countryside that can cause huge amounts of damage. At worst i will be cutting a few meters of turf to back fill the tunnels underneath so i don't pop an ankle when the tunnel roof collapses.

Thank you all for the tips and pointers

 

[pogue]

just set the trap and get it over and done with

 

[GamoGat]

Naaa, playing a long game now....

If it don't come back it lives.
If it does come back it gets it.

 

[Devonair]

My dad used to shoot them with a shotgun. He reckoned that they would dig at the same time each day and so he’d keep note of when the hills arrived and then he’d wait and when he saw a hill move he’d aim the gun downwards and fire. It’d clear the whole hill and all you’d see is the mole lying there dead.

I asked if he gave the mole a funeral? He was the local vicar!

 

[MikeyB]

My dad used to shoot them with a shotgun. He reckoned that they would dig at the same time each day and so he’d keep note of when the hills arrived and then he’d wait and when he saw a hill move he’d aim the gun downwards and fire. It’d clear the whole hill and all you’d see is the mole lying there dead.

I asked if he gave the mole a funeral? He was the local vicar!

Love that tale. I used to do exactly the same with my 12 bore. Always amazed me that there was very little (if any) physical damage to the mole - reckon the pressure wave killed them. Anyway, trapping’s the way to go - much more reliable

 

[Staffy1]

Mole watch CSI.

No fresh mounds.
Had a probing session to track the tunnel and had a look under the bushes on the fence line. I think there is one or two mounds, but fairly shallow compared to what appeared on the grass.

It appears to have come in near the corner of the garden and has cut across next doors garden, behind our back fences is an access track and more houses, so some traffic and i would say compacted ground.

View attachment 552182

Maybe hard to see.
Top left of photo on the dirt by bushes is a peg with red tape. Was a big mound, go left a few meters up the fence line and maybe another mound, i reckon this is point of entry.
From the top left marker peg it's dug until it hit the edge of the patio and came up again.
Then followed the edge of the patio, and came up again.
The patio is 6 slabs wide, bottom right is slab 6 and it's come up again on the corner edge. from probing, ground is quite stony and tunnel is just under the grass (so needs backfilling as my weight collapses it) Hard to see but is a red peg there on the corner.
Mole has come out to the lawn and popped up again.
The fairly clear to see red peg is the tunnel looping back round towards the patio edge and it's made it's way back out via that tunnel.

Hopefully my garden isn't good enough for it, and it's moved on.

So if nothing appears in next two weeks i belive i can consider it's moved on and making for the Swiss border

The trap has been played with and washed and is now lurking outside in the garden to "weather" and is ready to be used. Seems a point of debate, but many reckon not to handle the traps with bare hands when setting them as you leave a scent which "might" spook the mole.

Haven't bought a possible "snake oil" sonic thumper/emitter, got lucky with a weird discount and a very cheap scissor trap and ready if Mr Mole comes back. Possible one of the neighbours has set a trap and caught it already.

Has been an interesting look into a wide issue in the countryside that can cause huge amounts of damage. At worst i will be cutting a few meters of turf to back fill the tunnels underneath so i don't pop an ankle when the tunnel roof collapses.

Thank you all for the tips and pointers

Make sure you put lots of dirt over trap once set. Moles can sense a difference in pressure in tunnel so if traps only lightly covered they may sense difference turn round and back fill tunnel. You may find a tunnel along edge of paving slabs . If moles hit a path/patio where rubble blocks their way they often do a turn and follow line of patio/path. Good spot to trap them. Don't worry about scent just rub hands in dirt before handling traps. Ive caught with brand new shiny traps as well as weathered ones

 

[Scubashot]

I started off in much the same way as yourself several years ago and bought the same scissor trap. It did work and I caught a few moles with it but I found it was limited in the depth of run in which it could be deployed. It was often tricky to seal the run at the surface as the handles are sticking up through the soil above the run.
I later moved on to the putange type traps which have been far more successful for me. I suggest that you look them up on YouTube to see them in use. The photos that @pogue provided in post 16 show them to be very effective!

 

[GamoGat]

Mole Watch.
No fresh mounds, no sign of activity. Been a week as i found the mounds last Friday.

@Scubashot had noted the Putange style traps seemed better, however mail order only as i have never seen one in a shop and i opted for a Scissor type as i could get it locally.
Now it's a waiting game, a long game, if it comes back i can set a trap straight away and look into other types if needed.

 

[Jamex]

Sadly, I've had to deal with a few moles over the years where we live now. Long gone Grandfather insisted that if you kicked the top of a molehill that was "moving" you would bloody the moles nose and it would never dig again. I was a disbeliever until I saw a molehill moving and put a shovel into the soil and shoved sideways and pulled upwards = one stunned mole (and me !). I also had an unfortunate mole which triggered the scissor trap with its nose. I've tried Jeyes fluid on cloth in the tunnel (mole just backed up the soil) buried rose briars, "mole plants" (think Maginot line) and plain old fashioned noise - steel spikes deep in the soil, hit several times a day (they do not like noise/vibrations ). Pity they wreak such havoc - bad enough for your lawnmower, but carnage near horses.

 

[GamoGat]

While no new mounds have appeared, i do belive it's rebored the tunnels as some fresh soil has appeared on a mound i poked around in.
just checked the photo of the other day and certain it's still about as the mound was left open and now it's plugged shut.

Trap set.

Long game continues.

 

[GamoGat]

Heavy rain last night.
Been out to check the water barrel and it's full now

Also the trap has been sprung overnight. It was still set last night....... it's been triggered...... i did wonder if the mole had just gone round it.
I shall investigate shortly.

 

[GamoGat]

Not having done this before.
Trap was set in a small hole on a section of tunnel that moley had rebored, so a good guess he would come back through here.
Set the trap and gave it a wiggle in the hole and tripped it a few times with a stick to make sure it would function.
Criss-crossed some pegs around the trap, then sprinkled soil from the hole into the expected side of entry. Then backfilled over the top with compressed balls of dirt to add weight, and block out light, but not impeded the action of the trap.

I think it came back on Friday night and rebored the tunnels, i set the trap on Saturday and got it over night.
Don't think we need a photo.
Mole caught behind shoulders and going by how closed the trap was i would say the end of mole was instant.

Echoing the thoughts of one of the videos, never seen a mole before, except flat packed on a road, strangely have seen a few recently.
Lovely little creature. From this encounter i can fully understand the damage caused to cattle and livestock as my own bodyweight has found very soft spots around the tunnel area, and at least a few meters of lawn will have the turf cut over the tunnels and an attempt to back fill with very dry soil and sand so i don't pop an ankle when i collapse a tunnel roof on the shallow tunnel.

trap reset, mole is now in the garden waste bin to go to Resyc, and i get to probe a section of garden looking for more tunnels and possibly back fill where needed.

From reading various Emitter reviews they really seem to be 50/50 some rate them others have mole hills appear next to the emitters.
Would have been nice to go that way, but i suspect a lot of the positive reviews are based on the mole just passing through over being scared off be a sonic emitter and the emitter getting the credit.
Damage is limited to a small corner of the garden so should recover and be fixed easily.
Scissor trap gets a big thumbs up

Thanks for the tips and pointers. Trap will be left set for a week or two as it's on the edge of the tunnel system so i can work on repairs.
If i get another invasion which is possible as i have no idea how big the tunnel network is and how many neighbours gardens it covers, then i am ready for a swift course of action.

 

[Deleted Member 170325]

My dad used to shoot them with a shotgun. He reckoned that they would dig at the same time each day and so he’d keep note of when the hills arrived and then he’d wait and when he saw a hill move he’d aim the gun downwards and fire. It’d clear the whole hill and all you’d see is the mole lying there dead.

I asked if he gave the mole a funeral? He was the local vicar!

I really hope you've watched the Jasper Carrott sketch