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Where Not To Set A Mole Trap?


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ive changed a moles run too accomodate a trap better and still caught him in there so not so sure about the memory

Where Not To Set A Mole Trap?     Anywhere in Hampshire....

I think that there are often less mole hills on a main run because the run was constructed many years before and has become hardened and requires less maintenance to keep clear. Often you might just s

Its often said never to place a trap under a hill, but I've never actually read the reason why.

If the hill is on a main run I cant see what difference it makes, but I'm sure someone will enlighten me.

Cheers.

well in my eyes......i dont like to trap in the feeding areas i like to trap in the main runs and the runs TO the feeding areas....any run under a hill is not a main run. i THINK a mole is more likely to disrupt a trap in the feeding area. and will be trapped faster in a main run or a traveling run.. thou some times if for whatever reason i have to i will put a trap in a hill and it will catch so its likely i and many others are over thinking it all!

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Thanks for that P K. Which brings up another question.

You say any run under a hill is not a main run. So how do you identify which is a main run.Do they not have to "hill up" spoil from all their excavations?

Edited by mazperks
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Thanks for that P K. Which brings up another question.

You say any run under a hill is not a main run. So how do you identify which is a main run.Do they not have to "hill up" spoil from all their excavations?

well ive found they are under fences walls and hedge backs....i often show farmers how i can trap a mole in a field with no mole hills by finding the main runs they are normaly deep down upto 2ft and about twice as wide as a normal run..their will be the odd hill along it but not a line if hills very often...and can produce mole after mole after mole... some places are easy to keep mole free with one trap left in action all year just moping up any would be incomers

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I think that there are often less mole hills on a main run because the run was constructed many years before and has become hardened and requires less maintenance to keep clear. Often you might just see a bit of crumb not much bigger than a worm cast in an area of pure grass. That is a mole clearing a bit of debris from an old tunnel. I've been to some houses over here that are more than 500 years old and the tunnels are like polished clay drainpipes. Not much soil drops into those and so the mole doesn't need to make a great mound like it does in new tunnels and recently excavated ones in loose soil.

 

Like PK says they are most easily found running along fence lines or borders. But in some really large gardens I've found them in the middle of the lawns with no signs of a tunnel being there. And they catch time after time.

 

But, back to topic, I do a garden where the tunnels are always very deep. so deep probing is difficult and so I have to excavate down from a molehill and set the trap there. It works. Same in some stony gardens or gravel driveways where the probe won't go down and I can't find a connecting run. The main reason I don't put traps under molehills though is that it is less effective IMO than trapping mid mound. And I don't know why.

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The main reason I posted the question is I am trapping in grass fields which was formerly quarry land made up. There is lots of stone and pockets, making probing difficult, so I am setting where ever I see hills in any kind of line. I am getting results, but it would be difficult to find main runs in these large areas without some visual clue.

By the way I am a relative learner, so don't get overheated if I ask what many of you will think

of as being obvious.

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Sometimes you can trace an old tunnel by looking at the vegetation. Airborne seeds often root in molehills and years later, well after the tumps have gone, the location of the molehill can be seen in the form of dandelions and thistles. It is always worth probing down a dandelion root. In shallower runs you can often feel the give if you use your heel instead of a probe.

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I had a job early this week: big flat lawn, neat cropped grass, only a couple of hills; but all the wind blown leaves had gathered on the bits where the mole runs were. Looked like a road map - wish I'd taken a picture; I expect it will be gone by the time I go back.

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Its often said never to place a trap under a hill, but I've never actually read the reason why.

If the hill is on a main run I cant see what difference it makes, but I'm sure someone will enlighten me.

Cheers.

It was often not advised to place the trap below a hill,because if the mole has to shift and remove soil,from the tunnel,its going to be around the vicinity of the hill.Think of where the shaft to the surface , will be ? But as others have expressed, its not impossible to catch there,....

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Its often said never to place a trap under a hill, but I've never actually read the reason why.

If the hill is on a main run I cant see what difference it makes, but I'm sure someone will enlighten me.

Cheers.

It was often not advised to place the trap below a hill,because if the mole has to shift and remove soil,from the tunnel,its going to be around the vicinity of the hill.Think of where the shaft to the surface , will be ? But as others have expressed, its not impossible to catch there,....

 

Sorry, should have finished by saying, this increases the chance of the trap being sprung, by the soil & stones, etc that the mole may push in front , before he is in it ! lol

Edited by earth-thrower
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Thats a good point Earth Thrower. At least in difficult to probe ground it would be possible to excavate a hill just to determine the tunnel direction then set the trap further on.

Sorry Phil if my catching expertise has spread down south, but I wont be commuting . In fact I only do this on one farm as a favour.

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The main reason I posted the question is I am trapping in grass fields which was formerly quarry land made up. There is lots of stone and pockets, making probing difficult, so I am setting where ever I see hills in any kind of line. I am getting results, but it would be difficult to find main runs in these large areas without some visual clue.

By the way I am a relative learner, so don't get overheated if I ask what many of you will think

of as being obvious.

I have to do a fair bit of 'stoney ground' ,mate & its a pain & also time consuming, to get the traps installed correctly ! lol ( and im slow enough,as it is ! ) ha ha

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