Elm wood mole trap (& a dearth of rabbits)

[tilimangro 1,013]

Let them sit outside or in the wet for a day or two to get a wee bit of rust on them

or just soak then triggers in brine 

the rust makes the trap work better

set your trigger about an inch or so back from the jaws 

tie the trigger to the body of the trap so it doesn’t ping oaway when it goes off

pin then down together so the trap can’t be pushed along the tunnel

theres some good tutorial later on youtube

[bere404 2]

That I will do when the Putangs arrive. cheers.

  The neighboring farmer in conversation asked me if I would clear some moles for him (£10 each). Its a big farm for these parts and he has pointed a few areas for me to look at so today I took out my twenty decent traps mostly FlatPack Duffus and four Taplex and set them up. I set a few scissors type I bought from ebay which have had the Walcot Farm adjustments... though Im not sure if the are best left in the shed.

The chap who does the moles round here is in his 86th year and I wondered if there might be an opportunity to add a income stream to the small family farm

     So ! if I do a fair job and keep the learning curve as short as possible, how many traps might I need to catch three moles per day+?

     

 

   

[earth-thrower 490]

On 11/12/2018 at 23:00, bere404 said:

Hi Im new and just finding my way round this forum. 

 Whats best for the trap or method to catch a trap shy mole? Im no expert but caught enough on my own land and offered to clear a messy field for a neighbour. The first took a week to catch but three weeks latter and £10 of fuel used going back and forth, all I get is earth filled traps and new mole hills. I use Duffus flat pack and scissor traps.

 

    

Not too much wrong with the "Duffus flat packs" ability to capture,...

[earth-thrower 490]

1 hour ago, bere404 said:

That I will do when the Putangs arrive. cheers.

  The neighboring farmer in conversation asked me if I would clear some moles for him (£10 each). Its a big farm for these parts and he has pointed a few areas for me to look at so today I took out my twenty decent traps mostly FlatPack Duffus and four Taplex and set them up. I set a few scissors type I bought from ebay which have had the Walcot Farm adjustments... though Im not sure if the are best left in the shed.

The chap who does the moles round here is in his 86th year and I wondered if there might be an opportunity to add a income stream to the small family farm

     So ! if I do a fair job and keep the learning curve as short as possible, how many traps might I need to catch three moles per day+?

  

As a per mole rate, £10 is good (for farmland),....& those scissor types, if they are the heavier/Eliza Tinsley style ones, well , they may well benefit from the "Walcot Farm" treatment !  lol,.......& "how many traps might i need to catch three moles per day+?" ??,.....it sounds as if youve got more than enough already,......

[Phil Lloyd 10,736]

2 hours ago, bere404 said:

That I will do when the Putangs arrive. cheers.

  The neighboring farmer in conversation asked me if I would clear some moles for him (£10 each). Its a big farm for these parts and he has pointed a few areas for me to look at so today I took out my twenty decent traps mostly FlatPack Duffus and four Taplex and set them up. I set a few scissors type I bought from ebay which have had the Walcot Farm adjustments... though Im not sure if the are best left in the shed.

The chap who does the moles round here is in his 86th year and I wondered if there might be an opportunity to add a income stream to the small family farm

     So ! if I do a fair job and keep the learning curve as short as possible, how many traps might I need to catch three moles per day+?

     

 

   

Up your odds young fellah,..maybe purchase another twenty traps, and get them moles captured...IF you get known locally as being a bit handy,..more work will come in. 

[earth-thrower 490]

2 hours ago, bere404 said:

That I will do when the Putangs arrive. cheers.

  The neighboring farmer in conversation asked me if I would clear some moles for him (£10 each). Its a big farm for these parts and he has pointed a few areas for me to look at so today I took out my twenty decent traps mostly FlatPack Duffus and four Taplex and set them up. I set a few scissors type I bought from ebay which have had the Walcot Farm adjustments... though Im not sure if the are best left in the shed.

The chap who does the moles round here is in his 86th year and I wondered if there might be an opportunity to add a income stream to the small family farm

     So ! if I do a fair job and keep the learning curve as short as possible, how many traps might I need to catch three moles per day+?

     

 

   

"The chap who does the moles round here is in his 86th year" ,..... wouldn't be a bad idea to try & become acquainted with him  , you know what i mean  ? (especially,  if your the friendly, sociable type,....im still like that myself , deep down,....ha ha )

[bere404 2]

I have ten quality Patangs on their way in the post but yet to try these out. So I will see how it goes with 30 traps. 5 Talpax, 15 Duffus the 10 Putangs ..when they arrive.

  The 10 scissor traps are these   https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-X-NEW-SCISSOR-MOLE-CLAW-TRAPS-FOR-PROFESSIONAL-EXCELLENT-MOLE-CONTROL-TRAP/171002423577?epid=1861747258&hash=item27d089e919:g:tD8AAOSw4CFY1Rlz:rk:9:pf:0   which have had the Walcot Farm treatment. I used them on my own land and did ok but its one thing slowly clearing a few fields and checking and setting while checking on the sheep on the daily walk round as compared to making a viable return and pleasing a customer to the point at which he will recommend you to someone else. 

[earth-thrower 490]

3 minutes ago, bere404 said:

I have ten quality Patangs on their way in the post but yet to try these out. So I will see how it goes with 30 traps. 5 Talpax, 15 Duffus the 10 Putangs ..when they arrive.

  The 10 scissor traps are these   https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-X-NEW-SCISSOR-MOLE-CLAW-TRAPS-FOR-PROFESSIONAL-EXCELLENT-MOLE-CONTROL-TRAP/171002423577?epid=1861747258&hash=item27d089e919:g:tD8AAOSw4CFY1Rlz:rk:9:pf:0   which have had the Walcot Farm treatment. I used them on my own land and did ok but its one thing slowly clearing a few fields and checking and setting while checking on the sheep on the daily walk round as compared to making a viable return and pleasing a customer to the point at which he will recommend you to someone else. 

If your really keen & interested, & stick at it, you SHOULD get more efficient , as time passes. (dont let yourself get too disappointed from empty traps, sprung & unsprung, bunged with with soil, etc where it occurs, try & learn from it)

[earth-thrower 490]

4 minutes ago, earth-thrower said:

If your really keen & interested, & stick at it, you SHOULD get more efficient , as time passes. (dont let yourself get too disappointed from empty traps, sprung & unsprung, bunged with with soil, etc where it occurs, try & learn from it)

& also, it sounds like you've got enough traps to start with, until your satisfied with your capture rate.

[bere404 2]

Thanks for the encouragement as well as guidance. It relay means a lot. The the skills and experience you lads have  just cant be found at the village pub or from the chap down the road anymore. 

If I have understood correctly. 30 traps properly placed in sensible locations were moles are active, fingers crossed should reward me with three moles a day average otherwise Im doing something wrong or need to move on.

When I walked round some of the farmers fields earlier there was quit a lot of mole hills in the fields but there seemed even more tunnel type activity on the fence lines, hedge banks and near walls as if they were waiting for some signal to break into the field. 

 

 

           

[bere404 2]

I set all 20 traps  and then went for a walk round the field to look for other moles (plenty more) hills and check out the lie of the land. One in the trap when I got back . Taking fuel and time into consideration, how often do you guy's check your traps?  

[bere404 2]

Eight moles so far mainly caught with the Duffus traps, one with a scissor trap and one with a Putang. I like the Putangs but yet to see how they perform. The  new chopped down and adapted T handle bought from Amazon to firm up the excavated mole tunnel was a disaster and was soon replaced by one of these things.. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/professional-mole-trap-setter/123537247956?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649     . Does the job!

   Now its just a matter of upgrading my old corner-shop shopping basket for carrying all the kit around but cant think of anything more practical. 

    

 

[tilimangro 1,013]

Keep at it mate

its about practice and time spent mate. No book can teach you really

[bere404 2]

Two more today using the Putangs. The thing Im liking about the traps is the mole tunnels never seem to be in a straight line and these things can be angled. Another advantage  is that the excavated hole breaking into the tunnel  does not have to be sized tightly to the trap though its good to clean out the hole and reform the holes.