Moles Down Holes

[LuckOrJudgement 437]

Hello to the mole catchers. I only recently discovered these forums & Hunting Life. Lots of interesting stuff posted on here.

Part of my duties as a maintenance man on a private estate is pest control and that's how I got into mole catching. I'd done plenty of rats, mice, wasps and ants etc before the mole hills started bubbling up, so I found an old Duffus in a drawer and went from there. I started doing private mole jobs last year - all gardens so far - and have started generating a useful 2nd income out of it. Just beer money at the moment but more than enough for a few pints. I like the work and am fascinated by all the different traps and their suitability to different situations. I use a lot of Traplines and I'd be interested to have other opinions on them - the good, the bad and the ugly if you like. Although I carry Duffus and Talpex, I've gotten into the bad habit of defaulting to tlines which has revealed that certain moles won't have anything to do with them - they seem to just chuck 'em out the way. They also often fire without catching. Not on every job, but often enough to remind me that there is always another tool for the job. I really like the Trapline, and I'm working on refining my setting technique constantly. Just wondered what other mole men's experiences with them were. And to say hello.

[Torquemada 288]

Traplines are shite.

[trappa 518]

Haha. Eloquently put by torquemeda!!

I use trapline but they are far from my "go-to-first" trap. Pros ive found are they are light, you can get about 5 million in your box when your walking about, cons for me are they are fidly as foook, and in the winter fingers are numb with cold, plus you need to set two , one for each direction, plus you need to (or i do) tether them down. I find i use trapline more for garden jobs where a run is going under a patio or similar.

Thats my tuppence worth

[Rowan 308]

Only ever use traplines in public places where i need to hide my traps from prying eyes . definately not my first go to trap . The half barrel duffus all day every day and then the Talpex.

[LuckOrJudgement 437]

Interesting. It was the discretion factor that attracted me to them in the first place. I' ve got nearly a grands worth of them and whilst they'll do the business beneath clay especially in the jinky runs and triples and heavy loam, as soon as the terroir gets dry and loose you can forget about traplines.

[Rowan 308]

A grands worth ,, , mate you really should have found this forum earlier ...

[Devon Minnow 152]

Putanges are my favourite, very quick to set, discreet, very cheap, far better where multiple runs join and where roots are a problem. Down side is that you have to set two traps in one run and can be difficult to use in loose soil situation.

[mole trapper 1,693]

Putanges.

[MAG1980 116]

As above ☝

[LuckOrJudgement 437]

Putanges ordered. Looking forward to trying them out.

[TOMO 26,193]

a grands worth...part time for beer money...

[LuckOrJudgement 437]

You would be surprised how much I drink... ?

[Devon Minnow 152]

Putanges ordered. Looking forward to trying them out.

Make sure you attached the trigger to the trap with some cordage, weather them well because there easier to set when slightly rusty and set the trigger slightly further away from the jaws than the instructions tell you cause this stops the mole been caught by its front feet. Good luck [BANNED TEXT]

[Devon Minnow 152]

[LuckOrJudgement 437]

Thanks for the advice, Devon. Appreciate it.

Too many moles triggering the Traplines without leaving so much as a hair behind.