[trefnantbach]

I bought some half round mole traps but the instructions how to set them is rather poor and unclear - any help please, never used them before
ta

[black_feather]

You need to push the big loop downwards and hold it while with a finger get the catch and hook it onto the top of the trigger which is on the top of the trap. Be carefull with your fingers though as if your not used to doing it you could have a nasty accident. I will post a picture if that's not very clear.

As to placing the traps it's best to leaves them outside for a week or two to weather and lose their smell, your hands should also have a nuetral smell, no smelly soap or oils rubbing them in your compost is a good way to clean them. You need to find a run not a mole hill, they usually go between two mole hills though, you can spot them by looking closley at the grass or there will be a ridge if the runs are shallow. Dig down into one, I use my hands as the ground is fairly soft here and it causes less disturbance to the tunnels, place the trap in and covers with completly with the grass you romoved so that no wind or light can get in, but dont make it to heavy or the trap will struggle to kill the mole, also lay a coloured clothes peg on the ground so you reember where they are as it can be hard when you place a few.

Check traps daily, and be careful removing them as one side of the trap will still be active, to disarm just hold down the loop and remove the catch and release pressure slowly, disarm them all when you have finished and leave out for another week to lose the smell again and then store inside so they don't rust.

[Fleecewife]

Thank you black-feather that was really helpful.  I was hoping someone would post a reply.  In the past we have had a mole catcher (he volunteered his services as we had SO many mole hills  )  He used to wear rubber gloves which he also used to handle the deead moles and rubbed in dirt etc to get rid of the smell, as you say, of human/artificial.  Now we have to do them ourselves this year and there seem to be quite a few.  When would you say is the best time to start?  Is it just when you see activity in the hills, or is it best to wait until things warm up?  I want to get rid of them before we start lambing.

[black_feather]

I started a couple of weeks ago and have caught a few, some people say not to bother in hard frost as the worms go lower in the ground but it doesn't make much difference in my experience, I got a mole last night and it was very frosty up here in Yorkshire.

[Fleecewife]

OK thanks - we'll give it a go.  The ground is frozen again up here but not so hard they can't make new molehills, so there is plenty of activity.

[BTMR]

Hello and good morning,

After the very cold weather and the quick thaw at the start of this year we have been stunned over the last month or so with number of enquiries about moles and molehills.
 
We noticed that this forum thread is asking about catching moles and setting traps as well - we thought you may like to know of our website which helps those with a Mole problem in paddock, field, garden or smallholding to find a TRADITIONAL Molecatcher in their area.    -    Not always easy these days.

www.britishmolecatchers.co.uk

The website contains much background information on Moles and Molecatchers and also details of our Training courses.

There is no charge for using our website and finding a Traditional Molecatcher in your area is easy.   You can, however, be sure that any Molecatcher that is on our register will use only Traditional methods of Molecatching. Any arrangements you come to with them is obviously something you have to discuss directly with that Molecatcher.

Hope this information will be helpful.
Kind regards
BTMR