Voles and moles are tearing up my yard!

T

The Big D

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Hellllllllpppppppp!

Am frustrated and have tried everything available to rid my yard of these critters. No dynamite yet but might be soon. :eek:

Seriously, in my yard they are tunneling everywhere. Have tried deterrent sprays, poison bait pellets, and granules applied via spreader. Nothing works. (Cannot recall brand names immediately and containers were tossed.)

Ideas? Please. Thank you.

Be safe.
 
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got them also...only thing I can say is, treat for grubs at least once a year (late spring)...mole chasers have helped...the good metal ones that look like torpedos, I've also used Talprid worms (poison)...have had little luck trapping them...dug more up than I've trapped!
 
We've got 'em, too. Between us and the neighbors, I think we've tried just about everything. I don't think we can totally eradicate the little buggers,but the only thing that has helped us get on top of the issue so far is one very aggressive barn cat.

We've always had a few cats around the ol' homestead, but this particular little gal is heck on voles. She's not very big. In fact, as far as cats go, I'd say she's a midget. The others might get a vole occasionally, but this little feline is getting one or more each day it seems. At least those are the ones that we've seen. Who knows how many she's caught that we haven't seen? She usually leaves the intestines, hind legs, and tail on the back lawn for Ms. Judy to admire.:eek:

Like I said, I don't think we can totally eliminate them, but it sure looks like Ms. Judy's cat is putting a dent in the breeding population.
XSzNMjy.jpg
 
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Jack Russel terriers. No voles, no moles...although the holes may increase in size and number, but only once!
Otherwise try a good grub killer as mentioned above. If there's nothing to eat they'll eventually leave.
 
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victorgophertrap0615.jpg


I use these (Victor model 0615) to catch the pesky little buggers. I've had the same four traps for over 20 years and they were old when I got them.

All you need to do is find a gopher hole and slip the trap down the burrow. I've had best results when I use two traps - each one in the same burrow facing in opposite directions. Go back and check in a day or two and pull out the trap with gopher attached. Be sure to use a stake and a short piece of cord to secure the trap in the event that some other critter finds the trap and carries it off for a free gopher snack.

Walmart sells them, Home Depot sells them, most any farm supply or hardware store sells them. Cheap and easy.
 
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Sorry to hear you're still having problems.

How about a couple of pics? Maybe one fairly closeup and another looking across the lawn.

Don't know anything about voles but moles are said to be territorial so if it's moles there might only be one causing all the damage.

They usually work at night and start their tunnels along the perimeter where they can stay somewhat concealed. I basically soaked my lawn to the point where the critter had to change it's routine to find food. I caught the vermin just starting a new tunnel and stuck a smoke bomb in the hole before he got too far. He had to exit the tunnel and ended up croaking on the sidewalk.

Have you ever considered xeriscaping your property? If nothing else it's less maintenance.
 
stick stakes in ground, place empty one gallon plastic milk containers over the stakes. punch holes in the milk jugs first. the wind blowing through the containers crates vibrations in the ground . Moles leave that area..*sigh*
 
They are out of control up here in North Texas! Have been for the 40+ years the family has been up here. Some years are worse than others. The traps will get some. The cats and dogs will get some. The snakes will get some. Poison will get some.

But the truth is that there is really no way to get rid of them completely. If there was surely some one would have found it by now. we just keep scraping down the hills as the pop up.

I have parked my golf cart next to an active burrow and waited for the little bugger to pop his head up and get him with a pellet gun or snake shot .22lr. It gives temporary satisfaction but does nothing to solve the problem.
 
I have had a problem with them before. Tried all the usual things, not much worked until I started a trap line with Victor mole traps. If you keep after it you will eventually win. 😎 most of the time.





 
SS336's trap works. Had a couple when lived in mountains of Va., worked so well that some neighbors wanted to borrow them, never got them back. Had a mutt dog back in 70's-80's that would kill every mole that came in the yard, she killed one that was Huge, about a foot long!
 
I hooked up a hose to the exhaust of my leaf blower. Nothing can live for 2 minutes breathing that stuff. I just poked holes into their tunnels and fed the hose into the hole and let it idle for about 20 minutes. You will be surprised how far away smoke will come out of the ground.
 
I may try the engine exhaust technique soon. Traps and poison baits are
out, with two dogs in the yard. Up to six moles this year--three by dog, and
three by poking a garden hose into fresh runs, after heavy rains.

Everything says moles are territorial except for spring mating. My
yard must be a hot spot in the mole dating world. :rolleyes: A
friend said he had good luck with the exhaust treatment--makes
sense since carbon monoxide is something like 400 times more
linkable to hemoglobin, than oxygen, and air in the tunnel
complex should be limited.
 
I had them really bad for years and tried everything, poison traps, water, smoke, even hooked up a garden hose to the exhaust pipe of my pickup. I finally did something I don't really recommend. I took a couple of Chlorine tablets out of my swimming pool filter and put them in a hole then I took a cup of muratic acid and held my nose and poured it in the hole and took off running. I was about 25 yards away and finally took a breath and inhaled some chlorine gas and it took my breath away for a few seconds! Very scary! Never had a single gopher/mole in the remaining 10 years we lived there.
 
We had the same problem but then we started seeing black snakes around our yard. We had several large ones (5' - 6') and soon we didn't have a mole/vole problem any more. We don't kill snakes as they do too much good. In 20 years we have been in our place, we never had a mouse in the house as I sure the snakes keep their population down too.
 
Chicken snakes are your friend. Black with white bottom, they usually hang out around barns, sheds as thats were mice and rats also want to live. We had one about 6' long in the old spring/ milk house on hunt club in mountains of Va. years ago. I named her " Miss Sylvester" as she was almost a pet. Place was old dairy farm that buddy bought, nice hunt club and shooting range, miss those days.
 
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