Moles or gophers: how to rid my yard of them?

[DeadheadNM]

Any advice on what works to eliminate the moles or gophers that are heaving mounds in my newly seeded plot of yard? Shooting them isn’t an option as the neighbors are a little too close and I suspect these critters aren’t above ground much or at all during daylight.

[kazoocruiser]

There are a lot of videos on YouTube regarding how to get rid of voles, moles, and other yard pests. I saw one where the guy tired Juicy fruit chewing gum. Supposedly the critters eat it, and can't digest it.

[Warrens69GMC]

Car flares.

find a hole, scratch the flare to light it, drop in hole, cover hole up.

Any smoke comes out of other holes, cover them up.Might want to do a 15x15 area at a time.

[skihor]

I saw some State workers at a rest area in Oregon dealing with that. They had a device that injected propane and then ignited it. Hell of a loud bang. Sent people running for cover.

[CG]

Caddy Shack

[Shorty Cox]

What you got appears to be Goffers to me. When I have one of the pest enter my yard, I use a plan ole box goffer trap.

[Stocker]

You have my sympathy but sadly, no real help. I have tried road flares, gopher smoke bombs, flooding, K20 exhaust, traps, poison, and probably a few others that I have forgotten. I've had gophers (which you appear to have) and moles, but at different times. The moles did the most damage right after I dug up the entire yard, screened out all the rocks, put in a sprinkler system, and laid new sod. It was beautiful until the moles showed up. After everything else failed, I got my old bolt-action .22 out & waited to see movement underground. It worked! Yes, I am in town but the .22 is quiet enough and nobody complained. I would do it again if needed but my lawn is shot and the critters are leaving it alone. Of course.

[leddzepp]

I’ve dealt with gophers my whole life. There are only 2 things that work: 1. snare traps (wear gloves when setting them, don’t leave any scent or they will avoid them and dig around them) 2. Waiting for them and popping them with a .22 short. I’m “in town” too and they sound like a cap gun, very mild. Otherwise, an air bb or pellet gun for total silence.

[WorkinLonghorn]

I go with the 3 pronged attack and always get my gophers. Moles are carnivores and also don't make big piles of dirt usually.

I get a bunch of gopher gassers. You need to plan where to put each one since these buggers are not stupid and they will just outrun the fumes if given a chance. If there is a concrete or other impassable wall, then try to encircle the little buggers with bombs. Or just do lines of them so that you will get most of them running into other fumigated areas.

I also set traps and use gopher poison applied underground. With the correct planning, you can eliminate them entirely---until another family moves in from the neighor's yard that is.

I saw a "professional" exterminator use a 2-stoke engine with too much oil mixed into the gasoline and the fumes piped into a hole. However the gophers just run away until he cashes the check and will soon be back. Waste of $. -BA

[100%Chevy]

I had a golden retriever for 14 years named Misty.
Her "hobby" was mole hunting!
She could hear and smell them,then dig it up and play with it until it died!
Worked pretty good too!
Mike.

[GOPAPA]

I have honestly killed over a couple hundred or more Moles from my large yard at the home in Oregon I lived at some 45 years,, A mole spring trap is what I got the most of them with.. The main thing I learned about trapping them is this ,,dig out the hole they have made and never set a trap in it unless the mole has dug STRAIGHT across from where they entered the hole .. When they make a right or left turn in the hole was hard to trap them, waste of time,, I never found in all them years proof enough about smell from me stopping me from catching moles.. I used a 6 inch post hole digger and then my hands to clean out the round hole to set the trap.. This is moles ,,not Gophers ..didnt have them

[Red71gmc]

I was once told that if you get rid of grubs, you get rid of the tunnel diggers because they have no food source. I have no personal experience with this.
It seems a little early for grubs in you part of the country but maybe not. Several ag insecticides will kill a wide variety of grubs but I definitely wouldn't want people or pets on the yard for some time after. There may be safer products at garden centers.

[GOPAPA]

[QUOTE=Red71gmc;8513756]I was once told that if you get rid of grubs, you get rid of the tunnel diggers because they have no food source. I have no personal experience with this.


That is true Ref71 gmc if you furtilize with nitrogen it runs the worms off and the moles find no dinner and leave for better ground..

[DeadheadNM]

Thanks a ton guys for making time to comment. I’ll try a multiprong approach and report back but please keep the tips coming.

[Getter-Done]

Here is my mole and gopher trap.


.


She is also my helper / in the way all the time/ henderance
She is expensive but is worth it.




.

[C-ries]

Originally Posted by skihor

I saw some State workers at a rest area in Oregon dealing with that. They had a device that injected propane and then ignited it. Hell of a loud bang. Sent people running for cover.

I have an older buddy that tried to build his own but he didn’t plumb it correctly. After pumping way too much propane because it wouldn’t ignite he realized his design error and corrected it...the next pump and ignite cycle it did light but all the extra propane in the hole caused it to kick back right in the groin! He had to drop his pants in the middle of the field to make sure everything was still there! He said he was black and blue for weeks!

[LockDoc]

-
If they are moles you will be able to see trails between some of the mounds where they push the ground up as they burrow looking for food. Gophers don't do that. Gophers do come up during the day when they are working on the burrows. I also shoot them with my .22 rifle with the short shells. I usually dig the moles out when I see them burrowing.

LockDoc

[Dirt's72]

We get $2 a tail down here from the conservancy district from ones we catch here in the village. I'll get you lined up man!

[beadblaster]

Black hole gopher trap. This trap gets them every time. I think you can buy it on amazon. Make sure it is the black hole model as there are a bunch of knock offs that do not work

[4u2nv]

Well I heard once that exlacts that stuff you take to make you crap , spread it around the area , they chow down on it and BOOM , they dehydrate from the s*!ts , True story

[kazoocruiser]

Originally Posted by 4u2nv

Well I heard once that exlacts that stuff you take to make you crap , spread it around the area , they chow down on it and BOOM , they dehydrate from the s*!ts , True story

A friend of mine who I used to consume massive amounts of Canabis with was a professional exterminator. He taught me a few things about being smarter than the pest you are trying to deal with. If you can figure out what they are eating, you can do a safe poison. Some methods are not safe around dogs or other children.

For rodents, Jim would mix Quickcrete and peanut butter together, and use paint paddles like room-temperature fudgicles that the animals could not resist. They would eat the mix, and of course, the Quickcrete would make them thirsty, they would run outside to find water, and then once they drank any, well, bye-bye ratski.

I am sure you could get creative with the pet store meal-worms as substitute grubs. Throw a little hamburger if you think they might get drawn to the smell.

With moles, I heard that if you see where they are burrowing, you can smack a shovel directly over them and the concussion will supposedly kill them.

Be creative.

[DeadheadNM]

I’ve got two style traps coming (including the Black Hole) and I’ve dusted off my 10/22 takedown for which the 5.56 suppressor should help some.

Here’s a commercially available product that looks effective but a bit pricey:

Pocket Gophers being blown away by the Rodenator...

[Red71gmc]

Originally Posted by kazoocruiser

A friend of mine who I used to consume massive amounts of Canabis with was a professional exterminator. He taught me a few things about being smarter than the pest you are trying to deal with. If you can figure out what they are eating, you can do a safe poison. Some methods are not safe around dogs or other children.

For rodents, Jim would mix Quickcrete and peanut butter together, and use paint paddles like room-temperature fudgicles that the animals could not resist. They would eat the mix, and of course, the Quickcrete would make them thirsty, they would run outside to find water, and then once they drank any, well, bye-bye ratski.

I am sure you could get creative with the pet store meal-worms as substitute grubs. Throw a little hamburger if you think they might get drawn to the smell.

With moles, I heard that if you see where they are burrowing, you can smack a shovel directly over them and the concussion will supposedly kill them.

Be creative.

Your friend sounds like Cady Shack lol. The concrete is correct. Especially the fast setting mix which probably has more lime.
I had mortar mix, sand mix, regular quikrete, 5000k and the fast setting mix in a shed. Mice ate the heck out of the fast setting mix like it was a treat. Of course they don't get far when it starts to set in their guts (talk about constipation).
May be an idea to drop some of this mix in the tunnels and holes?

[Red71gmc]

I can see it now. In a few years poor moles and gophers are going to be on the endangered list all because a bunch of guys nationwide on a truck forum put their heads together to figure out the perfect rodent killer. The forum will probably get closed until a lengthy investigation can decide if we conspired against the mole and gopher.

[kazoocruiser]

Originally Posted by Red71gmc

I can see it now. In a few years poor moles and gophers are going to be on the endangered list all because a bunch of guys nationwide on a truck forum put their heads together to figure out the perfect rodent killer. The forum will probably get closed until a lengthy investigation can decide if we conspired against the mole and gopher.

I can see it now . . . challenged by organized Black Mice Matter protesters . . . not too worried though . . . because any signs they print in protest will be as incomprehensible to read as contract fine print. Until then there is a great dish called Whack-a-mo-lay made with a fry pan.