Recording mole traps

[Shrophunter 7]

When catching on farms I have large numbers of traps down and record the rough positions of them all in a notebook sketch. However it gets pretty messy when you've got wet mucky hands and I'm sure there must be a more efficient way. Does anyone else have a different method of keeping tabs on their traps they'd like to share?

[lamaha 7]

I don't do so many moles that i have to record where i have put them or i have a good memory, but an industrious mole catcher told me he places all his traps whithin 4 meters of the field perimeter and markes them with binder twine, so he only has to remember which field and trundle round them.

The theory was most mole runs are towards the edge and hedge / fence lines, it worked for him!

[DIDO.1 21,287]

I have upto fifty set and manage with just markers. Most of my sites have footpaths so there I just use small dull markers and put them in a few meters away, Iv never needed to make drawings and my memory is terrible. Sometimes I use red white and blue markers, first trap red second white then a blue and so on, you can tell if u miss one then as you get out of sequence. Anyone used a gps marker system, something im looking into.

[davedavedave 69]

You could use google maps to get a satellite view of the field - print if off and put in a plastic see-thru pouch so its water proof then use a permanent marker pen on the plastic to show where your traps are and the numbers as an memory jogger.

 

Ta,

Dave.

[miller 18]

Bright coloured plastic tent pegs.

[The one 8,408]

I use markers just a bit fence wire doubled over at the top and a knot of orange baler twine in it

[kevin from bristol 95]

i draw a map on ground open to the public and hide them as best i can on farms etc i use small flag markers

[trappa 517]

When i first started i used to sketch but its pointless as soon as you mov e them along it all goes to pot.

Mark them and record how many in each field, take this morning for example. Today i set 10 in field 1, 10 in field 2, 30 in field 3. 30 on "high field" and 10 in field in front of farmers house. I now can stay in each field until i find all the traps as i know how many there is in each one.

[pitmanuk 2]

garden cane with electrical tape around the top, then memorize how many in each field. plus if stock will take the cane, spray paint in a circle around the hole with the trap, or dot of paint on the fence near the set. depends where i am and what the land is used for

[Shrophunter 7]

Some interesting ideas. I do mark all my traps with a hazel stick with red tape on the top but I set a lot of traps and the fields I work in tend to be huge and the workings spread out all over the place. I find that if I don't know roughly where to look, I end up losing traps cos my memory is terrible or the farmer has decided to drive across the field over the markers. If I have a sketch plan then at least I'm in with a fighting chance. Perhaps a laminator and chinagraph pencil is the answer for me.