How to set a mole trap

including

How to convert a trap, to make it catch moles.

Mole Trapping at Walcote Farm

In 1966, I had to find a way of catching moles, with the use of traps. After several attempts of not catching any moles, I asked a retired farm worker, Harry Redding, to show me how to do it.

In March 1966, I started to catch moles, so I decided to keep a daily record on how many I caught and from which fields. I still have those records.

These are the numbers of the moles caught per month.

Type of trap mostly used in 1966

Total

I trapped another 29 moles in 1967 making a total of 512 moles before I stopped recording numbers caught because there were no more moles to catch!

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Looking back, December 1966 and January 1967 must have been a very mild and a dry time, in order to be able to catch that number of moles. I would not have tried to catch any moles if the weather had been like this winter has been.

Last year I did not start mole catching until March when I stopped all mole activity on the farm by catching 29 moles. Only 5 traps were used and moles were caught in 6 separate fields covering a total area of 28 acres. All traps were removed from the fields in April after a period of time when there was no more moles being caught. Moles have come back again this winter and it looks as if I will not be trying to catch them until March as the ground is just too wet. Too wet means that the soil digs up very sticky and not ideal for setting traps.

Having said that, the chairman of a local cricket team asked me if I would show him how to catch moles, as he was desperate because the moles have nearly got to the cricket square. On January 25th 2010, I found that the outfield was quite a mess from the molehills and everywhere was very wet. I did find three places where the mole run was not full of water so that I could explain to the chairman on how to set a trap. Note, he did the work, I did the talking!

Within a short time he had caught 3 moles and very relieved that the moles are not going to get onto the cricket square. It is now waiting game to see if there are any more to catch. (5 more moles have now been caught). The traps used would have been bought in the 1950's and were perfect for the job. In less than a fortnight from me showing the chairman how to catch moles he has now been asked by other people, if he can go and catch their moles!

All items that I now use for setting a mole trap.

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March 2009

The trap in the picture, is actually set a few yards from a hedge where there is a single and only mole run going out into this part of the field where you can see many more molehills branching out in all directions. Only one trap was needed to catch the two moles in this area, in two days. When a mole is caught, always set the trap back in the same hole if possible. Occasionally after a mole has been trapped another mole has had to dig round the trap to get back for water and therefore relocate the trap nearby, between the next two molehills.

In this field, I actually used 2 traps for 5 days, in two different locations, catching 4 moles. I then removed the 2 traps and setting one of the traps in another part of the field by a gateway, catching 3 moles in 5 days. Altogether 7 moles were caught over the period of 10 days. Only once was a trap set off without a mole being caught. You do not need many traps, provided they are of the right design, in order to catch a lot of moles in a short period of time.

Sometimes when it is not obvious that there is a main run, set the trap between two of  the newest molehills. Knock down the molehills in the area of the set trap so that you can tell immediately next time you check on the mole trap if there has been anymore fresh activity.

Moles can be caught all the year round, but on farms the ideal time is before the grass growing season when you can see all the activity going on.

The spike on the fencing post has found the mole run between two molehills after prodding the ground several times. You will easily be able to know when you have found the mole run as the spike will suddenly go in quicker. Once you have found the run, always prod the ground, again and again, to find the middle of the run. By doing this, you can now dig down over the centre of the run. If you do not find the centre of the run, it is very easy to make the hole larger than it needs to be.

I make a slit in the ground, wide enough to squeeze my hand through, to find out the angle of the mole run because the mole run is never normally straight between the molehills. I then remove the turf and soil to expose the mole run. Do not make the hole any larger than it is necessary to set a trap.

If I see grass roots hanging down in the mole run with a white fur on them, that means that the mole run is not being used and therefore a waste of time setting a trap.

Consolidating the mole run.

Consolidating the mole run is one of the techniques that I use all the time in order to catch moles. The other technique is to lower the mole run where the trap is to be set, to find firmer ground. I have found by using these techniques, mole catching becomes so easy that I expect a mole to be caught every time a trap goes off.

When I have removed all loose soil from the hole, I will now set the setting ring on the trap, to see if a trap will fit in the hole before I use a T-handle to compact the soil in the run. I will hold the T-handle at different angles so that all the area in the bottom of the run is compacted when the end of the T-handle is hit hard with the hammer. The idea of the T-handle is that it can be pushed up the mole run on either side of the hole so that the approach to the trap can also be compacted. Compacting the soil also compacts any stones in the ground and stops them getting caught in the trap. In some soil conditions, if you find the soil is too soft when compacting, remove more soil, with a trowel, from the bottom of the mole run, then compact the ground. The hole will finish a lot lower than the main mole run. This is fine provided you have made enough room at the bottom of the hole to put the trap and compacted the slopes on either side of the trap with a slope. Compacting the soil allows the trap to close quicker and also makes the mole run smooth, which is essential for catching moles.

Always remove any loose soil before and during compacting the soil. Never try to compact loose soil and never add soil to bring the mole run back to the level of the main mole run.

I have now eased a trap into the hole making a groove with the jaws of the trap down the side of the hole. If this procedure pushes some soil into the run, pull the trap back out to remove the soil.

Make sure the trap is low enough in the hole in order that the mole cannot go underneath the setting ring of the trap without setting the trap off. The setting ring should be about ¾ of an inch above the bottom of the mole run. If the setting ring is too high when the trap is in the run, you will have push the trap down into the soil. At this stage, check to see if the trap will close fast by pinching together the trap handles, just enough for the setting ring to drop down and then loose the trap handles. The trap will probably close slowly. Keep putting the trap back in the mole run and keep repeating the procedure, removing any loose soil, until the trap closes fast.

With the soil compacted and jaws of the trap set into the side of the hole, the mole finds it easier to go into the trap and not around it.

I now lie matted grass, all around the trap, inside the hole, on top of the jaws, and between the handles, because I need to add soil on top that will not fall into the run but will keep out the light.

A bucket can be used to cover the trap for protection if there are animals that would disturb the soil around the trap.

The trap in the mole run should look like this

and not like this, which has a large air pocket that is not natural in a mole run.

This mole trap has gone off and a mole was caught but also check the traps that have not gone off. This is easily done by holding one of the handles sticking out of the ground and pulling it up about half an inch and then pushing it down. If the trap feels loose, that's fine, but if the trap feels tight, pull it out and and you will find that the mole has dug around or underneath the trap and filled the trap with soil. If this happens, try and work out why, based on this website, because you should be expecting to catch a mole every time.

I often hear when people are finding it difficult to catch moles, someone has told them that 'the mole can smell your hands on the trap or the trap is too new'. All this is a load of rubbish, regarding not being able to catch moles.

I found mole catching difficult until I was actually shown how to set a trap in 1966 by a man who had caught moles for many years and in the 1920's and 1930's had sold the mole skins for extra income to his wages as a farm worker.

It was a few years later when I realised that if I compacted the ground, I would get a high percentage rate for catching moles. Also by using only matted grass and not the turf that had been removed to dig the hole.

A lot of money and time is wasted by people trying to get rid of moles when it needn't be so if only someone can show them what to do. I am hoping that the pictures on this website is as good as being shown for real.

For 200-300 yards along this wire fence were numerous short mole runs going out into the field and therefore there is a main mole run along the fence line. The ideal place to set a trap in this instance, is next to a fencing post and is near to the start of the main run where there is water nearby. Moles always come back for water.

I caught 2 moles by the blue fencing stake and 3 moles at a location further on up the fence. A mole was caught every time a trap went off.

Originally when I first started mole catching, I found the best place to catch moles in a field was where a mole run went across a gateway or track where the ground had been consolidated by tractors. I could guarantee to catch moles almost every time that the trap was set. This gave me the idea to consolidate the ground at all other places where a mole trap is set by the method as shown above.

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Mole Catching 2010

Walcote Farm  and local churchyard. 

Picture taken March 2nd. The first day I set the trap. Note the matted grass lying on the ground that is used for setting the trap. The trap is covered in sticky soil which is not ideal for mole catching. This particular trap was bought in the 1950's.

March 2nd. I have just started mole catching but it is still too wet for ideal conditions. I did catch 2 moles today with 4 traps set.     

March 4th. I had been asked if I would catch the moles in the local churchyard. Today I set 2 traps that I had modified and in the afternoon, one trap had sprung with a mole caught.

March 5th. Second mole caught today from the same place as the first mole, in the churchyard.

March 6th. No more moles caught. Removed traps from churchyard as I believe there are no more moles to catch.

The trap used in the churchyard was one that I had modified, putting a curve on the legs, then prising the jaws outward and grinding off and curving the outside corners as shown by the red lines.

March 6th. One mole caught today. I will have to find some new places to catch more moles.

March 8th. One mole caught today.

March 10th. Two moles caught today. So far counting the local churchyard, I have caught 8 moles. There has been only one place that I set a trap which was really too wet, that I did not succeed in catching a mole. I moved the trap to another location. Every location where I have caught these 8 moles, a mole was caught the very first time that the trap was triggered. That is how good the traps that I use are. Every trap that I have set in the fields, has been 100's of yards apart. I do not set two traps near one another, to hope for the best!

March 11th. Two moles caught today. Mole catching is almost finished for this year. I have no more areas to reset the traps.

March 11th. Total number of moles caught so far this year is ten. Look at the different sizes of moles and see how large some of their front feet can be.

March 12th. One mole caught today. This is the third mole to be caught in the same place in 3 days. This is in a main run. The very wet weather that we have had over the winter period, moles can always find water underground, near to where they are active in the field. As the fields become drier, the moles are going to have  to travel for water. This will be anywhere, where water can be found. A ditch, lake, river, etc. At this time of year, when you go into a field, to catch moles, the first thing you should think of is, where is the nearest place for water from where the moles are working. Traps set in a main run or runs going towards a water source, will catch all the moles from a large area, which could extend for many 100's of yards away. Main runs would normally be found in a fence line.

I have now only one trap set on the farm. It is in a main run and will also catch moles coming from a neighbouring fields.

March 16th. Set a trap today, making 2 traps now set, because of finding mole activity which is not using the main run. I am trying out another type of trap. A trap that I have never used before a week ago. I have already caught one mole with it.

March 17th. Caught one mole today with the trap that I set yesterday. At first I thought I hadn't caught a mole because the trap was full of soil. I then found that I had to squeeze the trap handles together, to release the trapped mole before I could pull the trap out of the hole. What had actually happened, another mole, its mate, had dug around the closed trap.

March 18th. Yesterday I reset the trap in the same hole, where I caught the mole, but the hole was not quite how I wanted it, but I thought, this is what testing is all about, I will see if it works. Nine o’clock this morning, I found the trap had gone off without catching a mole. I reset it in a new place, like I had set the trap when I caught the first 2 moles, and by noon today I had caught the mole.

I now again have only one trap set in a main run on the farm. The trap is set on the off chance that a mole might come as the run leads to water.

The trap on the left is a different design than what I have been use to. The picture on the right shows it more clearly. The legs of the jaws are shorter and the setting ring is almost on the floor. To set this trap in the mole run, the setting ring must be at the same height as the other trap, about ¾ of an inch off the ground. The feet on the jaws are not in the bottom of the mole run but on a ledge at the side of the hole. This means that when the trap is triggered, the jaws close in mid air onto the mole and not rubbing along the bottom of the mole run. This could be better for wet ground conditions. I have caught 2 moles so far with this trap and each mole was caught at the first attempt. The trap does not need altering for mole catching, except when the chain breaks! However I do not like the type of spring on the trap as what I have learnt in a short time is that the spring needs oiling often. You really can feel a huge difference when squeezing the handles together, to set the trap when oiled, than on other traps shown on this website.

I have now caught 3 moles with this trap. The third mole at two attempts because I was testing the limits that I can go to in catching moles. The trap is not set now as I have not seen any new mole activity.

March 23rd. I have now caught the fourth mole with this trap, at the first attempt in a neighbour's garden.

March 29th. I have removed the last mole trap that was set on the farm as I have not caught a mole since March 18th.

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This is my No. 1 tip for mole catching.

Mole catching made easy.

This is how all my moles have been caught this year because of the type of soils that the moles have been working in.

If you find that the mole is filling up the trap with soil and you find that the main run on either side of the trap is clear of soil, this means that the mole is digging around or under the trap. This tells you that the ground is not consolidated enough as it is too easy for the mole to avoid the trap. My answer is to set the trap at a lower level where the soil is normally more consolidated.

This mole trap is set two inches lower than the mole run. I catch every mole this way, if the soil is of a loam or fen type. I dig deeper down with a trowel in the mole run and remove more soil to find firmer ground where the trap is to be set. I then compact the soil. This is also the best way to catch moles in garden borders.

Moles are always going down to lower depths and up again but in this case, they never go up. As soon as the mole starts going down the slope, the mole is in the trap

The setting ring is normally ¾ of an inch off the ground when the trap is set, but when the trap is set lower than the mole run, like in the picture, the setting ring is one inch off the ground.

The trap could go deeper. The trap handles could be below ground level and when you add matted grass and soil to keep out the light, the handles of the trap should always still be seen, even though you will have to look into the hole. You might have to take some soil away from the side of the hole, for the trap handles to open. You can check this when you test to see if the trap will close fast, before covering it up to keep out the light.

When you are compacting the ground where the trap is to be placed, also compact the slopes. The end of the handle is inside the mole run that has not been dug out and a hammer is used to get the compaction as shown in a previous picture.

If you have never adopted this method before, and you have the right type of traps, you will find your catching rate will go up considerably.

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How two different types of scissor traps are set in a mole run.

The type of trap on the left has shorter legs on the jaws than all the other traps featured on this website and therefore the legs are not placed in the bottom of the run. This allows the setting ring to be ¾ of an inch off the bottom of the run, like the trap on the right.

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These are the type of traps that I have used this year, 2010, and are very good traps for catching moles, provided they are set in the way that I have described on this webpage. Note the general shape of them.

The two outside traps in the picture can still be bought.

If you have or buy traps like the one on the left, with welded handles and convert it to look like the trap in the middle, you will have a trap which is perfect for mole catching. The trap should last years without any problems.

If you have or buy traps like the one on the right, you will have a trap which is perfect for mole catching. The downside is that the chain easily breaks and the coil spring needs oiling often. I prefer mole traps to have flat springs.

When I first bought the trap, which is shown in the middle of the picture, it was exactly like the one on the left. I tried for several years, before I altered the shape of it, to catch moles with it, but found it was almost impossible, because I was trying to catch moles in late winter/early spring when the ground was still wet.

Other people have told me that they had bought traps one year and caught moles and the next year they couldn't catch any. I told them that they had bought the traps in summertime when the ground was hard and when they tried the next year in the springtime, the ground was wet. They agreed that what has happened.

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Modern mole traps. Note the general shape of them. Useless for high percentage rate, mole trapping.

The picture above corresponds with the picture below. Note the trap on the left shows that the handles have been welded and the trap on the right shows they have not been welded.

The trap on the left has one design fault. 1. The jaw ends are too straight.

The trap on the right has 4 design faults. 1. The wire holding the setting ring is the wrong shape for a fixing to a cotter pin. 2. The jaw ends are too straight. 3. The handles come loose because they are not welded. 4. The spring is too strong, which means that more effort is needed to set the trap off.

This is my experience after over 40 years of mole catching, knowing what to look for in the design of a good mole trap. A good design is a trap that gives you a very high percentage rate for catching moles, provided that the trap is set in the run, as shown on this website.

There must be tens of thousands of mole traps lying in sheds that need to be altered if they are to be used for catching moles. If you have a lot of traps that need altering, you might find that you only need to alter 2 traps as you will be able to catch moles that much easier.

Nobody today would know what is a good design for a scissor mole trap without comparing the difference between the mole traps made before 1970's and today's mole traps. I have not seen any scissor mole traps that are widely sold in retail stores that did not need modifying since the 1960's.

Buying tunnel traps is not the answer.

Setting Rings

1. The bits of metal sticking out from the setting ring at no. 3, can be bent downwards, towards the bottom edge in the picture slightly, for the trap to go off quicker. This is known as, setting it lightly.

2. This is a well worn setting ring. Notice how short the bottom edge is, compared with setting ring no.1. Traps that are used a lot, you will find that the corners at no. 4 become rounded. These corners need to be at right angles, as in setting ring no. 1. A lot of filing has been done over 40 years to have a right angle corner. This setting ring is not going to be used again as the spring on the trap has broken. Ideally a new setting ring would have been better 20 years ago, but I have never found anybody who sold them separately.

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How to convert a trap to make it catch moles!

The reason for the conversion, by putting a curve on the legs of the trap and grinding off the bottom outside corners of the legs is that the trap will close quicker for excellent mole catching results..

The trap on the right, in my opinion, is one of the best mole traps that you can buy, provided that the handles have been welded to the jaws of the trap and it has been modified to look like the trap on the left.

The alterations are

1. The bottom of the legs are curved slightly inwards. Note the inside edge of the wider part of the leg at the top, and taking a straight line downwards, you will see that the curve at the bottom of the leg would be slightly passed that line.

2. The jaws are then prised outwards to make the trap wider. The bend actually happens where the handles meet the jaws of the trap. The distance between the tips of the left and right-hand legs is a fraction over 2 inches.

3. Grind off the bottom outside corners of the legs to make a curve as shown by the red lines.

This trap was exactly the same as the previous picture above but the alterations show how not to do it. Picture sent to me by email.

To put a curve on the legs of the trap.

Only put the very end of each leg  into the vice and hold the trap handles together. With a little pressure on the handles, pushing away from the hammer which is hitting the bottom of the leg with some force. The leg needs to have a small curve at the very bottom of the leg. Only do this if the trap handles are welded. Please read the article above for more accurate information.

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This particular mole trap, which is different from the one above, needs a lot more work on it to make it catch moles. I would not recommend it as the handles are not welded.

The trap on the right was exactly the same as the one one the left, but I have modified the jaws, as shown by bending the legs and grinding off the outside corners so they will slide along the ground easier when the trap is set off. I had to clamp the legs of the trap in a vice, in order to put a curve on the legs. This procedure also lowers the setting ring nearer to the ground. The setting ring on the new unaltered trap is too high.

The wire holding the setting ring on the left trap in the picture, is the wrong shape for trouble free mole catching. This has been a problem that I have noticed on other traps for the past twenty years. It is most important to get it right, if you want to eliminate problems of catching moles.

The end of the wire must be D-shaped and not a round shape if it is fixed through the head of a cotter pin. The strait edge of the D-shape end will drop down through the cotter pin, if the wire is long enough, and allow the setting ring of the trap to get out of the way of the jaws when the mole sets off the trap. The loops on the wire must be at right angles to one another. Using a thinner piece of wire to make the alterations is the best way of doing it. The hole in the centre of the cotter pin must face vertically.

Another problem with some of these traps, is that the handles become loose where they join the forks of the trap and a  hammer and chisel is needed to tighten them up, and if that doesn't work, you will have to weld it. The best design is when the handles are welded to the forks of the trap.

Another view of the picture above.

The trap on the left, the wire holding the setting ring is on an angle when the trap is set. When the trap is triggered, the wire has to swing sideways into a straighter position, in order for the setting ring to drop down.  If the mole enters the trap from the opposite direction, the setting ring cannot drop down at all as the wire is too short. "It is essential to change the wire on this type of trap, to alleviate the problem of the setting ring getting caught in the jaws of the trap."

The trap on the right, which has been modified, the wire holding the setting ring will drop straight down when the trap is set off. The loop at the top of the wire does not stick outwards which makes it easier to add matted grass when setting the trap in a mole run.

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The trap on the right was identical to the trap on the left when bought.

These instructions will apply to other similar type mole traps.

Once  you have a mole trap with none of these problems, and the soil is not too wet, catching moles is quick and easy.

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Latest findings. Mole traps do not improve.

I have altered the chain on the left hand trap to a thin piece of wire because the chain keeps breaking. The trap on the right is brand new and not yet been used. Note the end of the coil spring sticking out at the top of the handle, compared with the older trap with the red handles. Because the end of the spring sticks out at that angle, you can only grip the handles one way, that is with your fingers underneath the end of the spring otherwise if you hold it the other way, it becomes very unpleasant to grip when setting the trap, as the end of the spring digs into the palm of your hand. There is no problem at all with the older trap, when gripping the handles. I could cut a piece off, which would help, but it would still be at the wrong angle for comfort.

It is only a small detail but another example on how manufacturers are making mole traps worse than before.

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Words of Advice.

Don't fall into the trap, (pardon the expression) of buying more traps, because you are told that you would have a better chance of catching moles.

There is no point in setting more than two traps in a field, until you know that you can catch moles with them. By setting more than two traps and the traps keep going off without catching a mole, this is only going to make the problem a lot worse. You must learn to identify the problems and start catching moles before setting more traps.

What you must not do. Some retailers will say that by setting more traps, it will give you a better chance of catching moles. This is all rubbish to think this way, especially with the modern traps. It is like the lottery, it is all based on luck. This is not the way to catch moles.

My website is based on compacting the ground to produce the kind of conditions that you get in the summer when the ground is hard and the moles are easier to catch.

If you find that the mole is filling up the trap with soil and you find that the main run on either side of the trap is clear of soil, this means that the mole is digging around or under the trap. This tells you that the ground is not consolidated enough as it is too easy for the mole to avoid the trap. My answer is to set the trap at a lower level where the soil is normally more consolidated. This of course is based on having a trap in good working order.

When setting a trap, one needs to look in the hole to see if the trap is in line with the mole run, the jaws are not restricted in closing, the setting ring is about ¾ of an inch high off the ground for the mole to try and go underneath or 1 inch off the ground if the mole is approaching the trap, down a slope. Also see that there is no loose soil that has fallen in. You can only see this at very close range. Do you need to take your reading glasses with you?

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I am trying to produce a website where one can identify all the problems in mole catching and therefore act accordingly. This way you won't get frustrated if you know what you are doing.

Eventually there will not be any problems in mole catching, only solutions. 

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I am going to have a moan!

In the past I have spoken to two farming based retailers and told them that the traps that they are selling are useless. The reply I got was 'we sell a lot traps and we do get people saying that they cannot catch anything, but we sell a lot of traps'. I also read that you should buy a lot of traps if you are going to catch any moles because the expected catching rate is up to 25%.

What is actually happening is that the people are not catching the moles, the moles are breeding and moving onto new territory. More people then go and buy new traps and they don't catch the moles and the moles breed and move onto even more new territory. Guess what, more traps are then sold. This is a guaranteed way of selling more traps every year. All the manufacturer is interested in, is reducing the cost of making a mole trap. I have seen over the last 40 years, is that in every decade the design or how a mole trap is made gets worse and is not fit for the purpose for catching moles.

It appears to me that it is not in the manufacturers or retailers interests to sell traps like they were made before the 1960's, because more people would catch more moles using 75% less traps. Less people would need to buy traps as there would be less moles breeding for the moles to move onto new territory.

I wrote the above moan in 2009 and now in 2010 it is widely reported that there is a mole population explosion. I could see this coming because there are too many mole traps being sold which are useless for mole catching. Also there is never any sensible instructions on how to set a trap.

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I find mole catching so easy now, that I am trying to pass on my skills. When I first tried mole catching in the late 1950's, I could not catch anything. I gave up trying to catch moles by trap and tried to put some type of poison which could be bought for the job, onto worms. That idea did not work. The poison was not strychnine. It was in 1966 when the mole population got so bad that I did find away to catch moles. After catching 512 moles, I was not satisfied with the percentage rate. I wasn't into actual percentage rates at the time but it would not have been more than 30%.

I have a lot more of this story to write down but it ends up that a 100% mole catching rate is very achievable. All the information is on this website now.

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Mole Catching Stories That Happened Last Year, 2009.

There are not many householders, it does not matter how big their gardens are, that need to have more than two traps.

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The quickest mole that I have ever trapped, happened before I had finished setting the trap. I had put matted grass on the trap and then I had to get some soil, which was two yards away, to put over the matted grass. As I turned to go and put the soil around the trap, a mole had already been caught.

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Myths About Mole Catching

All the things that you are told, what you Must Not do, if you want to catch moles.

You must not touch the trap with your hands.

You must rub your hands in the soil before you set the trap

You must wear rubber gloves.

You must not wear rubber gloves.

You must bury a new trap in the ground for three days before you can catch moles.

You must bury a new trap in the ground for one week before you can catch moles.

You must not disturb the soil at the bottom of the mole run.

You must not store mole traps in a building where oil is kept.

You must use odourless oil when lubricating the trap.

Of course all these myths are a load of rubbish.

All these suggestions come about when people try and offer advice on mole catching. A lot of these myths are on websites, when offering advice on mole catching. People believe these myths, after they find that they are unable to catch moles, when the real problem is either the trap is useless or it is not set right.

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I keep adding extra words or sentences to try and make it as understandable as possible. If you don't understand something about mole catching, send me an email and I will see if I can help.

I am only interested in the type of traps shown on this site, that I have mentioned, are good for catching moles. I believe a lot of other types of traps would benefit by my way of setting a trap. 

Please let me know if you found this site helpful.

john@walcotefarm.co.uk

Emails Received

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many thanks again for your time and effort, and the priceless information you have given me.
As it happens i finally managed to catch a Mole yesterday evening, in a run that was so deep the trap handles barely stuck out of the ground. This trap was set only 10yards from the hedge  and in line with some mole hills a further 20yards out in the field.

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Found you web page very helpful, will I need to heat the trap before I start bending it as you say some traps in my shed are brand new but useless because to narrow for mr mole to pass through

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Thank you for producing a very informative web page on setting traps and catching moles - one of the best pages I have come across. It is a pleasant surprise to see someone who is willing to divulge information without wanting something in return - a rarity in today's society. In particular, I found your comments on catching moles easier on compacted ground, around gateways interesting. I would always shy away from compacted ground and this has changed my attitude. I also appreciated the time and effort you must have taken in producing the photographs and the use of grass in supporting the waste soil when setting the traps.

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We have had a mole problem for a couple of years at our local junior football club field and many people have come up with many weird and wonderful ideas of how to rid us of these pretty little pests from our peat soil on the edge of the fens. This is the most interesting and informative article I have yet found and have forwarded it to our chairman (chief mole catcher) who is equally optimistic that we will now improve on our very poor success rate. Chairman quoted; "Like the mole catching instructions, several very good points that we/I haven't followed before : i.e. compacting of the mole run and modifying the traps."

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This webpage can also be found at www.walcotefarm.co.uk

john@walcotefarm.co.uk