I had a hard time at first with the scissor traps, the moles would just dig back through them and not set them off. The only way I could get the scissor trap to work was to remove the dirt it was going over and mix it with water in a bucket to make a mud brick with the consistency of play dough. I then set the block of mud back in the hole and then placed the trap. Best of luck

Interesting. So how big would the block be? Will it be small enough to fit between the scissors and under the trigger? That would be like the size of a pack of gum?

Get a run of the mill ally cat. Our first house's back yard was full of mole tunnels when we moved in. Our cat had a ball hunting them and the next spring no more moles.

I had to switch over to container gardening and re-landscape my yard and take out my lawn. I have it barked and rock in my back yard and no more gophers. In the front I used poison food you buy at home depot and put that in the holes. I tried flooding, smoke bombs and nothing worked.

And if I didn't succeed I was going to get a cat or 2 and I don't like cats lol.

Try the GopherHawk. It works for me.

I’m prett sure these are moles. Root damage is collateral damage when they tunnel for grubs.

There are a couple of neighbors farm cats on patrol, but they are able to do little.

GopherHawk Is not for sale here, maybe I can import it if it really is a miracle cure.

would rototilling the grounds help?

I researched scissor trap usage a lot, and spent a lot of time setting in properly, and the best I can do is get them to set off without catching anything. This is very difficult!

Or maybe the roots are being eaten by voles that use the mole tunnels... Otherwise I consider moles to be my friend, as they eat the grubs that become Japanese beetles that completely destroyed a fuji apple..

The brick was wide enough to just barely fit between the open jaws and tall enough to just barely press on the under side of the trigger. The idea was to make the soil as dense as possible so as to increase the amount of soil disturbance under the trigger.

I did basically the same Adam, using a brick to compact the soil in that area as a mound. The only thing I did different was I didn’t add any water. I see a lot of pictures of people catching moles with these traps, but for some reason I can’t do it after many months. I set the trap in line as much as possible with the Tonnele, clear obstructions and test closure, and then I cover it up with loose dirt and grass. I can usually tell active tunnels as they are quite clean and smooth inside. These usually set the trap off, but there’s no mole or mole pieces of any kind in the area.

I use a trap made here called the gophenator. In my experience, different sized varmints called for different sized traps. It helps to shuffle the set trap back and forth to settle it into the dirt. the mole will try to push the trap out or bury it if he feels it.

Thanks, I looked all those traps up. Not for sale locally, but I can order them to be imported through Amazon for a premium price.

My new MoleHawk should arrive in the mail today (thx for the tip Matt). I'll post my results later on. Several stubborn moles here in my yard that seem to think mole baits are for snacking.

Make sure you follow the instructions on how to use it. Pull the ramming tube up to arm it, never push the center tube with the spring down.

Ahhh moles. Yes I've been lucky to whack them when they are on the move. But, for me, spike traps work best. It is a constant battle and you must be relentless. Good luck.

Finally caught one. Been trying for almost a year! Just about jumped out of my boots because I was expecting the trap to be empty as usual.

It is a constant battle, I try to catch as many as possible in the spring before the babies are made.

I did nothing different this time, except that the hole was exiting from under landscape fabric.

Update on my Gopherhawk trap ---

Ok, I have caught 1 mole so far on 5 tries. It's really designed for gophers which make larger tunnels, plus gophers can more easily trigger the trap with their larger bodies. Where the trap didn't catch a mole the holes were filled back in by the mole but it did not trigger the trap. I augmented the trap's trigger (a thin metal rod) by extending it 1 inch longer and that did work to catch the 1 mole. Since moles make smaller tunnels compared to gophers I have to make the underground chamber bigger so that the trap can expand completely without warping the metal snare. As mole season heats up I hope to have more success.

Even with our pocket gophers out here, I use 3 different sizes of traps to catch them. The smaller ones, I use the small mole trap I mentioned earlier in this thread. It fits in their small holes and still has the size to kill them quickly. The big guys seem to bury these traps most often. The big boys get a black plastic box trap that is placed outside their tunnel but can handle the larger bodies. I get excellent results with the big guys but the smaller gophers usually backfill the trap without springing it. I don't think they like going into the large trap from their small tunnels. I occasionally use a big jaw spring trap for the big ones also. Then I have some generic gopher traps that seem to do well with the medium ones. Good luck with your trapping!

Just discovered a new sink hole right under my best nectarine tree - mole hole. No where to dig a trap without destroying a large section of the roots on this new establish tree. This is a pattern that’s happening around my orchard a lot. Really sad.

I also made a little copper wire loop around the trigger to catch smaller gophers. I've caught three so far.

If have moles use milky spores its powder put out for parasite for any grubs. Once there no grubs moles leave. milky spores don't take as much as direction call for once on grub that make more milky spores in your soil.

Thanks, I did a search for those last year, and they were nowhere available in the country.

Moles eat earthworms too but MS doesn't help eliminate that food source.