Trap shy moles

[tank34 2,178]

Is there really a thing trap shy moles ?? Just can't see it myself we all get back fill more when been raining , had moles dig around over an onder traps but would not call a back fill a shy mole , not been trapping long so be nice to hear of people who been trapping along time do you think a mole can be trap shy?? 

[goldfinger 135]

IMO no, just a bad set or bad choice of trap.

Edited March 17, 2022 by goldfinger

[LuckOrJudgement 437]

I call 'em Wise - Guys.

I did a job for a farmer who'd trapped the moles in his garden all his life but had been unsuccessful with one that had been giving him the run-around for a year.

It was no small thing for him to call me in, but he was at his wits end.

It took me six weeks to get the little bstard, making a mockery of Duffus, talpex and putangues, and eventually falling foul of a Trapline well bedded into the floor of a run.

I think you do get moles that have a 6th sense for when something isn't right.

[Nicepix 5,650]

Better mole trappers than me say moles don't trap shy. But over the years I have come across some moles that are very difficult to trap despite everything being the same as normal. Same traps, same methods, etc. If one has been chased around the garden by somebody else then you can understand the mole being wary. But that isn't always the case. Sometimes a new arrival in a garden I have kept clear for years takes the pi$$. But, why should moles be any different to dogs, horses and other animals that spook at things we don't understand? 

[tank34 2,178]

2 hours ago, Nicepix said:

Better mole trappers than me say moles don't trap shy. But over the years I have come across some moles that are very difficult to trap despite everything being the same as normal. Same traps, same methods, etc. If one has been chased around the garden by somebody else then you can understand the mole being wary. But that isn't always the case. Sometimes a new arrival in a garden I have kept clear for years takes the pi$$. But, why should moles be any different to dogs, horses and other animals that spook at things we don't understand? 

Had moles in past take some catching but put that down to me just starting out an not putting traps in right , still learning not been at in long , some call a back fill a shy trap mole me I think it's mole cleaning runs out and poor trap placement??

[LuckOrJudgement 437]

4 minutes ago, tank34 said:

Had moles in past take some catching but put that down to me just starting out an not putting traps in right , still learning not been at in long , some call a back fill a shy trap mole me I think it's mole cleaning runs out and poor trap placement??

When you have a single mole consistently back-filling or going round/under multiple trap sets, there has to be something else in play other than poor trap placement. I've been trapping moles for over 20 years and I would beg to differ.

[tank34 2,178]

14 minutes ago, LuckOrJudgement said:

When you have a single mole consistently back-filling or going round/under multiple trap sets, there has to be something else in play other than poor trap placement. I've been trapping moles for over 20 years and I would beg to differ.

Would you say it's a mole that knows it's runs an knows something not right gose around traps ??

[LuckOrJudgement 437]

15 minutes ago, tank34 said:

Would you say it's a mole that knows it's runs an knows something not right gose around traps ??

Definitely. I take a lot of care with my sets  and to me it's obvious when a mole isn't having any of it and a change of game is required. Thankfully it's not often, but when it does happen it's a bloody pain.

You can't credit a mole with much intelligence, but they do have instincts like all wild animals. If you're the wrong side of one that's spooked then it's just a case of getting creative and varying your traps and tactics.

[Nicepix 5,650]

Sometimes traps are back filled because the mole has to clean out the tunnel every time it passes through. These dirty tunnels are usually new ones in loose soil. The mole bulldozes the loose soil that has fallen in and that ball of soil is pushed into the trigger causing a blockage. So the mole goes under the  blockage and fills the trap to create another tunnel. Those  moles should in theory be caught using  Talpex. But some don't want to be caught that way and dig under the trap. Same with some rats. No matter what bait or type of trap you use they avoid it. Some pheasants on a shoot will fly off elsewhere as soon as they hear the beater's cars arriving. 

Some animals are just smarter than others when it comes to self preservation.

[OldPhil 5,347]

Some moles seem to deliberately avoid traps, they do this, time after time, and if you are working in a big Country Garden, they can cause you a whole lot of stress, and more than a little, embarrassment.. In such a confined area, the customer, or his Head Gardener,.. can see your every move,...you simply must, catch that fecking mole.

Personally,.. after a good few decades of trapping, all sorts of critters,.,. I do not believe Moles become trap shy, in the same way as Foxes can..

From a professional's point of view, the worst mole to catch, is the mole that has buggered off and is no longer using the tunnels...

In such cases, you will never get a victory,...but, IF that mole continues to throw up dirt and is 100% still in the game,..it really is, only a matter of time.

I have always subscribed to the notion of being adaptable ,...if one method (trap) is not working for me, I invariably change my modus operandi and cease using the same traps in the same manner.. Today, we have so many choices,...it pays to think outside the box and to keep an open mind....

Facts are, 'No Mole, No Fee'.... you simply must win this particular game...

 

Edited March 18, 2022 by OldPhil

[Nicepix 5,650]

56 minutes ago, OldPhil said:

Some moles seem to deliberately avoid traps, they do this, time after time, and if you are working in a big Country Garden, they can cause you a whole lot of stress, and more than a little, embarrassment.. In such a confined area, the customer, or his Head Gardener,.. can see your every move,...you simply must, catch that fecking mole.

Personally,.. after a good few decades of trapping, all sorts of critters,.,. I do not believe Moles become trap shy, in the same way as Foxes can..

From a professional's point of view, the worst mole to catch, is the mole that has buggered off and is no longer using the tunnels...

In such cases, you will never get a victory,...but, IF that mole continues to throw up dirt and is 100% still in the game,..it really is, only a matter of time.

I have always subscribed to the notion of being adaptable ,...if one method (trap) is not working for me, I invariably change my modus operandi and cease using the same traps in the same manner.. Today, we have so many choices,...it pays to think outside the box and to keep an open mind....

Facts are, 'No Mole, No Fee'.... you simply must win this particular game...

R

I don't understand your point. If you are saying that you don't believe moles become trap shy then why do you need to think outside the box? Luck or Judgement said that he had tried different traps and modus operandi and the mole avoided the traps. So if you believe the mole isn't trap shy how do you explain that?

And it doesn't matter whether the job is at a country pile or an end terrace house. A customer is a customer and they all know what failure looks like. It looks very much like  a molehill. And we don't get paid until there aren't any.

[OldPhil 5,347]

Yes,..as I say, I personally do not think that Moles become trap shy...

My remark, regarding 'thinking outside the box'  would apply for most types of hunting,...not simply mole trapping...

 

Obviously, you are perfectly entitled to your own opinion,.. and I genuinely respect that...

 

[comanche 2,799]

To me a trap shy animal is e one with a natural suspicion of anything that looks or smells wrong or perhaps triggers a "sixth sense" of self preservation  .  Some animals that don't  have access to trapping books or expert internet advice and so should'nt even know the difference between a trap  and a bit of scrap metal    seem to have these qualities even when faced with an enticing tunnel or easy meal .  That to me is trap shyness  . As is the reaction of an intelligent creature that has had a close call and is capable of having learned by its experiences.

However  , moles studied for research are caught time and time again and thoroughly handled by researchers yet don't  seem to learn to avoid  what must might be a series of stressful experiences.

I don't  believe in trap shy moles.  I don't  believe they learn from their mistakes   but l could be wrong!

I do believe in awkward moles though ; ones that don't  work in normal ways , perhaps hunting in a different manner than usual or  moving through tunnels of an odd diameter originally made by a mole of different body dimensions  , or scrabbling through difficult soil conditions   . Moles that are a unusually small might go the wrong side of a trap instead of through the middle. Moles that come from an odd angle or break into a trap from a side tunnel can wreck the best of sets without reflecting on the skill of the trap setter.  

I think most mole-catchers know how most moles act most of the time  but there is the odd exception that doesn't fit the usual pattern.

Then there are those naughty moles that blunder about wrecking traps for several days in a row and making the trapper feel like a rank amateur.  Suddenly the weather changes, a shower of rain, the appearance of sunshine or a frost maybe ,  and the uncatchable mole is dead!

The mole wasn't  trap,shy it was just working according to conditions we didn't  understand!

 

 

 

Edited March 18, 2022 by comanche

[OldPhil 5,347]

Fair play.. erudite and well-considered reply

 I guess the bottom line is,.. we are all doing our own thing , earning our corn, and basically just trying to get through life, the best way we can...

 Just like dear old Moley

 

Edited April 28, 2022 by OldPhil

[Nicepix 5,650]

The term 'trap shy' needs clarifying. Neophobic means the fear of anything new and that could explain why rats, moles, foxes and other animals avoid what we call traps even though they don't know that is what they are called. But why do they? Some moles are so determined to get through an un-natural obstruction to their tunnel that they rotate to be able to squeeze through a Duffus trigger loop just as they rotate through narrowings caused by roots or stones. Doesn't matter which way you set a Putange, the mole will make sure its shoulders are in line with the prongs. Well, 99.9% of the time. So why does the problem mole defy all the traps? Why does the rat ignore an easy meal? We may never know.

I have only given up on one mole. I have told customers that they were wasting their money in that they would never be clear of moles when I used to do simple clearances with a 1 month no mole guarantee. But, in 8 years and hundreds of jobs only one mole has beaten me, and that could have been because it was too far from my usual route to do regular visits. I have had a lot of difficult moles that defied permanent traps in sites that had accounted for many other moles without a problem.  Most of them finally succumbed to a wrist capture. But these weren't tunnels that needed bulldozing so why was the mole so far behind the trigger?

I don't know the answer. But whether a mole is 'trap shy' or neophobic is beyond my pay grade. What I do know is that some moles, thankfully very few, seem to know that the obstruction we have put before it is dangerous.