mole shooting?

[G.T. Smith]

I stopped by to visit,( and knock back a cold one), with my neighbor the other day. He's pushing 80 probably and he was sitting out in the middle of his yard in a folding chair. As I walked up with a couple beers I noticed a SS bull barreled .22 rifle laying there on the ground beside him. It kinda scared me at first so I asked him, "what's with the rifle"? He then proudly displayed, to my viewing pleasure, 2 moles he had shot. He said He just waits to see them digging the pops them and digs them out. That was a first for me, although my son and I used to put dog food around the old shed out back and wait for pack rats to come out and shoot them with BB guns. I really want to try the mole hunting because we have been overrun with them this year. Don't know if I have the patience or not.
Peace,
gordon

 

[Indiana George]

Yep. I have done a little mole shooting on many occasions. When I find a fresh "run" I'll stick a garden hose into it, sit back with my air rifle and wait. As long as the "run" doesn't have too much distance or branches, it normally doesn't take too long before they will pop up in an attempt to escape the water.

This method seems to be (for me) about 60% effective. A much higher rate than any trap I have ever tried. With close to 5 acres of lawn, I cannot afford, nor do I care to use, all of the chemicals it would take to treat for them.

 

[Engineer1911]

I'll skip the background. If you have moles, you probably have grubs or cut worms in your lawn that grass roots. Treat for grubs and moles go away. My yard is dead lawn and too many moles. Lawn treatment is Saturday.

 

[mstuhr]

earthworms too

Howdy,
The moles like the earthworms too. If you don't get them along with the grubs you will still have moles.
We are pretty close geographically and I have always found the moles to be most active at 6 AM, noon and 6PM around here. Don't be afraid to stalk them once you see them tunneling, but try to be as light footed and move while they are moving. If they stop, you stop.
I am in a sub division now and can't shoot them anymore but I made a "Mole maul" It is three oak boards about 6"x8" with 12" landscape spikes about every inch and a half through one board and capped and held in place by the other. This is all attached to a 5 1/2' piece of 1 1/2" metal pipe and a piece of channel iron for momentum.
When swung hard it will bury itself to the wood.
If the thought of a man with a gun shooting moles is hard on the neighbors I can't imagine what they think when they see me prowling the yard with this.

The Victor OUT OF SIGHT traps work very well but the mole maul is a lot more satisfying.
Good luck on your varmint hunt
Mike

 

[Marshwheeling]

That mole maul looks like fun. I used to have fair luck with mole traps, but my most satisfying was the one I got out in the woods by my St. Francis statue. I had a couple of concrete benches out there, and some bark chips on the ground. I saw a ripple in the bark and skewered one cleanly with the 1871 French bayonet I happened to be carrying. I pulled him out of the soft ground, patted the bark chips back in place, and left him for the coyotes.

The real excitement came whenever Misty, my shepherd/husky mix, got hold of one. She would pull it out of the ground and toss it in the air repeatedly until it got quiet.

 

[yaktamer]

I prefer to just go to the dermatologist.

 

[chud333]

Grandpa used to use the old lawn chair approach. He too would
sit silently but with a Winchester model 97 12 ga. in his lap.



chuck

 

[Odinkar]

Howdy,
The moles like the earthworms too. If you don't get them along with the grubs you will still have moles.
We are pretty close geographically and I have always found the moles to be most active at 6 AM, noon and 6PM around here. Don't be afraid to stalk them once you see them tunneling, but try to be as light footed and move while they are moving. If they stop, you stop.
I am in a sub division now and can't shoot them anymore but I made a "Mole maul" It is three oak boards about 6"x8" with 12" landscape spikes about every inch and a half through one board and capped and held in place by the other. This is all attached to a 5 1/2' piece of 1 1/2" metal pipe and a piece of channel iron for momentum.
When swung hard it will bury itself to the wood.
If the thought of a man with a gun shooting moles is hard on the neighbors I can't imagine what they think when they see me prowling the yard with this.

The Victor OUT OF SIGHT traps work very well but the mole maul is a lot more satisfying.
Good luck on your varmint hunt
Mike

Gives a hole new meaning to "Wack a Mole"

 

[Brian41]

I gave my Dad a Ruger mkI to shoot the moles in his yard. He'd wait for them to begin moving the dirt and whack them.
Mostly now I let them be in my yard but should set some traps out or something.