Please feel free to post your questions, interesting news and experiences about moles. Please click on the comment or “Share your thoughts” link below each post.
The Traditional Mole Catching Service
Please feel free to post your questions, interesting news and experiences about moles. Please click on the comment or “Share your thoughts” link below each post.
I am a traditional mole catcher that started my career in pest control 14 years ago, having spent these years travelling throughout the country specialising in insect & rodent prevention & control for blue chip companies.
Seeing the mole hills on the verges and in the fields gave me an idea to specialise in mole catching and not the lazy way that most pest control companies carry out so called mole control using gas or strychnine before it was banned.
I have really enjoyed browsing yours and your brothers websites regarding mole control the correct way!
It is wonderful to see that there are still talented people carrying out the true art of mole catching, it beats working inside buildings all day.
Good luck with the mole catching and long live the mole!!
Hi Steve
Many thanks for your comments and support for the traditional approach to mole catching.
I note your use of the word “art”, and would agree that the methods used by traditional molecatchers compared to the “lazy” approach of most pest control companies are indeed an art form, incorporating many skills.
From detection of live runs, precision of turf removal, attention to detail in setting the trap, through to the tuning of the traps themselves….all skills passed down through the generations.
In some circumstances, the reconstruction of a tunnel to bring it back to its former state so that the mole will be tricked into thinking there is nothing amiss – a real work of art!!
I’ve even built a tunnel out of twigs, sticks and leaves under a hedge, when the original tunnel was so close to the surface that it collapsed the moment I tried to insert the trap. By painstakingly placing the twigs, leaves and then soil across the run, and incorporating the trap into the construction to form a complete run, I effectively rebuilt the moles main access route into the garden lawn area.
The following day…..bingo! Got him! That job provided me with a real sense of achievement.
On another occasion, I was called by a lady to deal with a mole problem on her lawn, to find on arrival that she had already made attempts to catch it herself. These seemed to involve the “dig a massive hole, stick a trap in it and wait” technique. The hole was about 2 feet in diametre, 12 inches deep, with pile of soil next to it….not the mole hill, but the soil she had dug out to set the trap!
“I havent had much luck”, she said, her face downcast, as I struggled not to let out a gaffaw. Any self respecting mole would probably have also taken one look at that trap and wet itself laughing!
Again, using construction skills, I rebuilt the original tunnel system, as my customer looked on in silence.
The following day…bingo! 1 Mole caught, unaware that its tunnel was actually man made, using the damp soil to form a new section in the run, built around the trap itself. Another satisfied, rather amazed customer, who couldn’t believe how I’d done it.