Missed A Couple

[torchey 1,202]

 

Couple of fields on sunny exmoor last week picked up 19 atm but had a couple go under the talpex ,moved the traps so should pick em up monday..do the same couple of fields every year and always between 15-20..

Having trouble trying to get a proper photo up off an ipad..........

[Nicepix 5,650]

I rarely use Talpex, mainly because I've struggled to achieve reliable results in the type of terrain I most frequently encounter these days. The last three weeks however has seen me doing more jobs in softer, stone free soil and I've really cracked on with them. Got a grueler today though. Soft, black soil and all the tunnels were elbow deep. It was difficult to prevent the holes falling in on themselves as there was no body to the soil. Roots didn't help matters either and reminded me that I still need to replace the secateurs I lost last month.

[torchey 1,202]

Picked up another 5 today no fresh hills so job done for now....if you get nice soil and the weathers ok talpex are good i use them quite alot but if i,m totally honest if i had enough putanges i would probably just use them as my main traps never really had a situation where they couldn,t be used.....elbow deep feck that..

[Nicepix 5,650]

I was gutted. Looked lie a doddle, small garden with two areas of infestation plus fence lines from neighbours. Then I put the probe in and it just kept going down Couldn't find any shallow runs even along path sides and no worms came up to the probe either so all the activity was deep down. The soil had nothing to hold it together either. No chance of using Putanges on that job.

[Nicepix 5,650]

Well, the garden from hell didn't disappoint. Five traps triggered, two Duffus, two Talpex and a Putange without a capture. Then I go to my next two jobs and have five in five and three in four. The difference? IMO it is because the customer has chased the little bugger all round the garden for months using moth balls, rose clippings, petrol and barbed wire (I dug up at least six pieces of wire while setting the traps). I've had three tricky moles in the last two years and in every case the customer has spent months trying all sorts of methods to get rid of it.

[mazperks 18]

Well Nicepics we've been informed theres no such thing as "trap shy" moles, and if you've got traps backfilled, or tunnelled under, its down to pilot error.

[Nicepix 5,650]

Well Nicepics we've been informed theres no such thing as "trap shy" moles, and if you've got traps backfilled, or tunnelled under, its down to pilot error.

Well, it could be operator error. But as I reasoned before; if the trapper is the same, the traps are the same, the techniques are the same then all you are left with is the terrain and the mole. I've had three really tricky moles; one in stony soil, one in good, normal soil and this one is deep silty black stuff. In the first two examples I've since been back again several months later and caught straight away. So that leaves just the one variable; the mole. And in all three occasions they have been harried by the customer for months. 'Trap shy' I don't think so. They don't know what a trap is. But neophobic, the fear or suspicion of anything unusual or new certainly. Just like you would be if you'd come across a load of booby traps in your domain.

 

The good thing is that I'm certain now that there is only the one. You never can be sure out here. I've had three visits to one garden and taken a single mole out twice, then thirteen the last time. It has always been singletons that have cause the biggest problems and always when the customer has chased them round the garden for months before I've got there.

[mazperks 18]

Agree with everything you said. I only use the term "Trap shy" as a general term to mean any critter that is obviously avoiding being caught.

Be it through bad experience, heightened awareness or whatever.

I've been after mine for a month now

[torchey 1,202]

Few weeks back i done a garden job that already had half a dozen traps in the ground i left them in and set my own took three moles , that proved it was down to poor trapping on the clients behalf, don,t get me wrong i had one a while ago that took ages to catch no matter which traps were in the ground ,,,,,was that down to poor trapping, i would hope not lol

[Nicepix 5,650]

I caught the tricky mole today - five times over

 

The line of traps that had been triggered without capture had the pesky critter in one of the Duffus with none of the other four disturbed, and three other traps in areas of the garden where there had been nothing through or under the traps had another four in them. It wasn't young looking for their Mother as sometimes happens. At least two were 'old hands'. I reckon two were from the cattle pasture on one side and the other two were from the neighbour's garden on the other side. Once the resident had been accounted for, the others came in for a nosey around.

 

€160 in pocket today and he wants me to check his garden over every time I'm passing

[shropshire mole 190]

I`m not sure there really is an answer when I cant catch a mole.

Dont think I do anything different at each trapping site, but one particular mole on a farm where I have trapped over 60 took 6 visits, duffus and talpa traps set but this mole just knew something was up? Maybe in the end he/she just gave up playing the game and joined their fellow colleagues in mole heaven.

 

It is baffling as to why this happens, its just one of the joys of mole trapping - trapper v mini beast

[Nicepix 5,650]

Had a Putange day today. First job I checked had two sets of three out, plus some Duffus. Both sets of Putanges had a brace in them. Then at a friend's garden another three from four Putanges and later on at another job got another brace in a three way run. Not managed a three out of three yet, but its only a matter of time