Some neighborhood walkers stopped by yesterday as I was working on digging a hole in my yard. "What 'cha doing?" "Trapping moles!" The gentlemen then launched on a familiar theme of trying everything under the sun to kill them, including poison baits, and some home remedies. I told him that I've trapped 7 this year, and he raised his eyebrows and exclaimed he had tried traps but hadn't gotten any, but he has runs all over his yard. (Maybe that's where some of my repopulation is coming from). I tried encouraging him, by stating that all you have to do is find an active run. "Oh, it's no use; I've got lots of those. But, I can't get them." I felt like he didn't understand what I meant by an active run, but he and his wife walked off before I could explain what I meant.
Moles: July 2007 Archives
Two days after the last catch, these popped up in the lawn in a different part of the yard. 
So, I was thinking I was getting the upper hand after getting #7, but since I previously hadn't trapped any for over a year, there are probably several more. Extension publications say that 3 to 5 moles per acre is considered a high population, but other articles I have read have said that populations after the yearly litter is produced can go up to 16 per acre under ideal circumstances.
I think there must be at least 3 different mole families in different parts of my .9 acre lot. Activity has disappeared in 2 of the 3 areas, but these molehills indicate a deeper network of runs in the vicinity. These will be harder to locate, but it will be worth the effort, because these will be well-traveled runs where traps can be successfully set.
Finally, after several weeks of waiting for the deeper mole runs to reappear, the soil has dried out enough for mole activity to "resurface". There are certain parts of my lot where deeper runs regularly appear. Earlier this week, one of those big ridges showed up, so I set the harpoon trap. I had to pull away about 3 inches of soil before getting to tunnel. Nothing happened after a couple of days, and I realized the mole went around the trap. Must of run into one of the legs. So, I reset, and in 12 hours had mole #7 for 2007.
