Putange mole trapping

[earth-thrower 493]

On 12/04/2018 at 16:51, Dave74 said:

Here’s the battle

Just thinking Dave, that field might well be one of those situations where a surprisingly small number of moles may be causing that mess,......or on the other hand, it might be quite a few more than you expected ! Iol,.......you just never know , sometimes ? (is that the full extent of the damage on it ?)

Edited April 14, 2018 by earth-thrower

[earth-thrower 493]

Anyway, good luck with it,.........this will be my last post on THL , as I've had my fill of it now, but enjoyed it overall. I won't be going elsewhere or anything (like alot of others have ?) & besides I've always said alot more than I really wanted or intended too, over the years I've been on  ,.....i feel also for the people that actually start & participate during topics ,cause it's the same old folk !......& far to many just sit back observing , where they could join in more ? & finally just to end on a happy note,...lol,......my chosen field, the moling game is f....d now, anyway, i reckon,....all this revival (since around 2006)is to its detriment in the longer term i feel,.....the THL is still a good site by the way, & any other 'talking shops' I've briefly experienced are overrated anyway,.......over & out

 

Edited April 30, 2018 by earth-thrower

[Dave74 107]

I totally agree with what your saying about forums.No that photo doesn’t actually show the full mess it goes on and on,Anyway thanks for the experience/banter and fair well,I wish you well in all you do

Edited April 14, 2018 by Dave74

[3175darren 1,100]

On 14/04/2018 at 20:40, earth-thrower said:

Just thinking Dave, that field might well be one of those situations where a surprisingly small number of moles may be causing that mess,......or on the other hand, it might be quite a few more than you expected ! Iol,.......you just never know , sometimes ? (is that the full extent of the damage on it ?)

It all boils down to worm counts, if you have a poor worm count, you tend to have more digging, at the end of the day they are trying to fill there bellies, if you have a lot of digging, in a field that is rich in worms, then you can expect a reasonably high Catch number, I get asked regularly by customers, how many moles do you think there is, well there’s no accurate way of knowing, I have gone to jobs that look horrendous, and caught no way near what I expected, and jobs that don’t particularly look bad, and caught far more than I expected, it’s a lottery really, I have done this for yrs and I am frequently wrong, when it comes to estimating numbers, I took on a farm back in early March, and the old farmer/ farther is a old mole catcher, who through arthritis has packed in, he said I doubt you will get more than 30, and I finished on 48, take little notice on what you see on top, other than an aid to trap location, 

[MAG1980 116]

On 12/04/2018 at 22:32, earth-thrower said:

Its also been repeated to me over the years (especially by farmers lol) that the best mole runs to place a trap , is always one that "leads to a water source" ?,....the idea being that all the moles in an area will travel it to get a drink,....(even better in a dry spell in spring or early summer, etc),...now that's all well & good, and I have found them up here before,...but some would refute this by believing that the moles get all the moisture they need from their main prey, the worms,....cause their bodies contain alot if water ?,.....anyone any thoughts on this one ?

Regards trapping mole's in "area's that lead to water sources"

Worms like abit moisture as you'll all know, come the dryer months they go further down & the mole's follow. So it makes perfect sense to target these moisture areas that are fertile in worms

[Dave74 107]

On 19/04/2018 at 02:46, MAG1980 said:

Regards trapping mole's in "area's that lead to water sources"

Worms like abit moisture as you'll all know, come the dryer months they go further down & the mole's follow. So it makes perfect sense to target these moisture areas that are fertile in worms

Yes that would make perfect sense to me,they go where the food is like all of God’s great creatures

[stormyboy 1,352]

On 4/15/2018 at 23:22, 3175darren said:

It all boils down to worm counts, if you have a poor worm count, you tend to have more digging, at the end of the day they are trying to fill there bellies, if you have a lot of digging, in a field that is rich in worms, then you can expect a reasonably high Catch number, I get asked regularly by customers, how many moles do you think there is, well there’s no accurate way of knowing, I have gone to jobs that look horrendous, and caught no way near what I expected, and jobs that don’t particularly look bad, and caught far more than I expected, it’s a lottery really, I have done this for yrs and I am frequently wrong, when it comes to estimating numbers, I took on a farm back in early March, and the old farmer/ farther is a old mole catcher, who through arthritis has packed in, he said I doubt you will get more than 30, and I finished on 48, take little notice on what you see on top, other than an aid to trap location, 

Now that makes a lot of sense. ?

[dillydog 8,463]

I've had 68 moles in a week off a farm that shows hardly any mole activity,  I was depressed while driving the fields to wiegh the job up. I've still got 20 + traps down, so the final tally will be higher. 

I've never found any accurate way of guessing what's in the ground,  all I tell myself if I'm getting lazy is "the traps won't earn anything in the bag" !

Edited April 28, 2018 by dillydog

[Dave74 107]

Caught a few more since last post,here’s the most recent in trap yesterday

[Devon Minnow 152]

Looks like the mole is caught by its front legs

[Dave74 107]

On 19/05/2018 at 06:51, Devon Minnow said:

Looks like the mole is caught by its front legs

The 2 upright legs on the putange have closed right in the side of the neck/head

[Devon Minnow 152]

Reason I asked was when I started using putanges I caught quite a few moles by the front legs even thou I followed the supplier instruction (not a humane death). I stopped using them until I had a answer to the problem. I now set the trigger a lot further down the trap so the uprights catch the mole behind the shoulder. Hopefully giving a more humane death. If you have ever seen a skinned mole you will understand why, the front shoulders of a mole are very strong and muscular.

[tilimangro 1,013]

On 14/04/2018 at 21:05, earth-thrower said:

Anyway, good luck with it,.........this will be my last post on THL now, as I've had my fill of it now, but enjoyed it overall. I won't be going elsewhere or anything (like alot of others have ?) & besides I've always said alot more than I really wanted or intended too, over the years I've been on  ,.....i feel also for the people that actually start & participate during topics ,cause it's the same old folk !......& far to many just sit back observing , where they could join in more ? & finally just to end on a happy note,...lol,......my chosen field, the moling game is f....d now, anyway, i reckon,....all this revival (since around 2006)is to its detriment in the longer term i feel,.....the THL is still a good site by the way, & any other 'talking shops' I've briefly experienced are overrated anyway,.......over & out

 

You only have to hold a dead mole up to the trap to work out where to put the trigger 

once you know where to set it’s one of the most effective traps going

 

[LuckOrJudgement 437]

My go-to trap now is the putangue.

Just need someone to invent a detector that can tell you if it's been sprung without you having to disturb the set.

[3175darren 1,100]

17 minutes ago, LuckOrJudgement said:

My go-to trap now is the putangue.

Just need someone to invent a detector that can tell you if it's been sprung without you having to disturb the set.

And that to me is the only drawback with them, just like the nomol trap,