Moles – The Saga Continues

Previously I posted several blogs regarding my mole problems. It started last spring when the snow melted and I found that the moles had build a town under the snow. I finally resolved the problem using some mole poison. Things were great through the fall and early summer when I posted an update on my mole problems.

 Shortly after the first snowfall I noticed some mole signs moving out of the prairie and into the yard. They stopped when they hit the driveway so I didn’t give it much thought. However, in the next few days the mounds of dirt started appearing along the driveway. I put some poison out but it didn’t seem to help. I realized this was some bait I had opened earlier in the summer and it had dried out and was hard as a rock.

The moles continued following the driveway toward the house. When they finally stopped they had traveled about 80 feet along the driveway. The weather warmed up and the ground was not frozen so I opened my last package of poison and put it out in four different locations. So far I haven’t seen any more mole movement. I’m hoping that is the end of it for the winter.

 Somehow I think this is going to be a war that doesn’t end.

 

Mole Town Update

Mole Tracks

Last spring I posted a blog regarding my problems with moles. After spending days cleaning up the mess left by the moles I declared war on them. Over the years I’ve used plunger traps to try and get them although I didn’t find them particularly effective. The traps would spring but I never found any moles. In addition they were difficult to set in my heavy clay soil. My most successful tactic was to watch from the second story of the house and when I saw the ground moving run down and get them with the pitch fork. This is a shot showing the yard last spring after the snow melted.

When the moles returned early in the spring I put out some plunger traps. The moles sprung the traps but the moles kept on digging. I made a trip to my local Fleet Farm to see what other options I had. I decided to try the Motomco Mole Killer Grub partly because the main food in my yard seemed to be grubs. I can always tell when the moles were going to start showing up because there would be evidence that the skunks had been wandering the yard digging up the grubs. I used a slightly different approach than recommended on the bait box. I used a shovel to dig a plug out of the mole track. I then poked around the hole until I found where the mole tunnel was located. I cleared it out then placed a grub back into the tunnel. I then returned the plug. Within a few days the moles were gone. I repeated this step several more times as moles attacked the yard with the same success. As of this writing this is the first fall I can remember that I haven’t seen a single mole track. I’ve tried other baits over the years but this is the first one that I found that really worked.

Mole Towns

This whole ugly episode started last December when we had a early blizzard that dumped over a foot of snow on the ground. The ground was not yet frozen and the snow cover meant that it would remain that way for quite some time. Spring finally arrived, after another blizzard, in late march. As the snow started to melt I started to see strange formations in my yard. At first I didn’t know what was going on but it soon became evident that moles had been busy working under the snow. It looked like an entire villages had been established throughout the yard.

Mole Tracks

This past week I had to try and get control of the situation. I couldn’t leave them because the grass under the formations would die and the yard would be impossible to mow. First, I raked the dirt up from the yard. If the moles had been working in loam it wouldn’t have been so bad but they were working in clay. The dirt clods were like cement. I tried to break them up with the rake. That was only partly successful. Once they were broken into smaller clods I had had to step on them and pulverize them. Once that was done the dirt had to be raked back into the grass so new grass could grow.

Mole Tracks

After working for three days the project is finally finished. Now the problem is that the moles have returned and are starting to dig new tunnels. If anyone knows how to get rid of moles I would be happy to hear about it. My only success so far has been to watch the yard from the house and when I see the ground moving run outside and dig them out with a pitch fork. So far I’ve gotten three this way. However, having watched a TV special on moles I’m not optimistic about being able to outsmart them.

I’ve posted an update regarding my mole problems and what I did to resolve them.