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I'm using more and more Putanges compared to Duffus and Talpex these days, but that is because of how I work and they might not suit other trappers. They are no good in loose soil such as new drillings or veg' patches that have been rotivated or dug over recently. They work best if you can remove the clod in one piece and use it to seal up the trap site after you have placed the Putanges.

 

It is best to have a mixture of the three main types of traps so that you have the right one for the conditions.

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Forget traps, moles are haemophiliacs, they have no clotting agent in their blood, so the slightest cut and they will bleed out, so open an active tunnel, break up some window glass into small shards and drop into the tunnel, fill it in and let nature take its course, done it dozens of times when I farmed in France, worked a treat and cost nothing.

Other options are short lengths of thorny bramble put in the same way, also poison worms which they love to chomp on, used to get them from farm supplies in France.

Best trap I saw was a plate fitted into the tunnel which carried an explosive charge, when they stepped on it, 'bang' no more mole.

Another one, A friend of mine used to sit near the holes with a bottle of wine and a 12 gauge, just drink the wine and wait for the ground to start moving, point and pull the trigger, not always effective but a good excuse to drink a bottle of wine.

Poor little velvet monsters, all they want is a meal and a mate. :lol::lol:

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Moles are not haemophiliac. That is an urban myth along with loads of other 'facts' about moles. Think about it; an animal that digs relentlessly all its life is bound to pick up a few scratches and cuts along its way. I've caught loads with cuts to their scrapers. If they were haemophiliac the species would have died out.

 

The brambles / barbed wire / glass in the tunnels doesn't work. The moles just tunnel around or under any such obstacle as I have found out many times in my customer's gardens. The explosive Detauper device only seems to work in shallow tunnels. Again, my customers have used them and then called in a trapper and poison worms are a waste of time since strychnine was banned ten years ago.

Edited by UKPoacher
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Moles are not haemophiliac. That is an urban myth along with loads of other 'facts' about moles. Think about it; an animal that digs relentlessly all its life is bound to pick up a few scratches and cuts along its way. I've caught loads with cuts to their scrapers. If they were haemophiliac the species would have died out.

 

The brambles / barbed wire / glass in the tunnels doesn't work. The moles just tunnel around or under any such obstacle as I have found out many times in my customer's gardens. The explosive Detauper device only seems to work in shallow tunnels. Again, my customers have used them and then called in a trapper and poison worms are a waste of time since strychnine was banned ten years ago.

You forgot the wine and shotgun, surely you have a well educated retort for that one as well, I cleared many gardens and paddocks with all the above methods around Confolens in the Charente and had many happy customers, I did draw the line at blowing their gardens away with the shotgun, maybe the moles just felt unwanted and moved on, :yes::yes:

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You forgot the wine and shotgun, surely you have a well educated retort for that one as well, I cleared many gardens and paddocks with all the above methods around Confolens in the Charente and had many happy customers, I did draw the line at blowing their gardens away with the shotgun, maybe the moles just felt unwanted and moved on, :yes::yes:

This method is seriously flawed, although effective. Getting towards the end of the bottle, the danger is which hand is holding which and which hand you use to put something in your mouth. :sad1:

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You forgot the wine and shotgun, surely you have a well educated retort for that one as well, I cleared many gardens and paddocks with all the above methods around Confolens in the Charente and had many happy customers, I did draw the line at blowing their gardens away with the shotgun, maybe the moles just felt unwanted and moved on, :yes::yes:

 

No. I'll just stick to commenting on the old wive's tales like haemophilia. If you were a professional mole trapper as you imply then you would know better. After all, there must be some reason why all the professionals use traps and not broken glass :rolleyes:

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No. I'll just stick to commenting on the old wive's tales like haemophilia. If you were a professional mole trapper as you imply then you would know better. After all, there must be some reason why all the professionals use traps and not broken glass :rolleyes:

I was a part time farmer, moles were just a pain in the butt and took up too much time to get rid of, I never charged anyone for getting rid of their moles, I did it for fun and a glass of wine, :lol::lol:

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I was a part time farmer, moles were just a pain in the butt and took up too much time to get rid of, I never charged anyone for getting rid of their moles, I did it for fun and a glass of wine, :lol::lol:

 

Yes, 'customers' tend to be happy when they aren't getting charged. You forgot to mention 'a pinch of salt' but I've taken one anyway.

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Just spoken to a friend who told me of moles shot on two driven pheasant days, . Shooter was fined for shooting ground game BUT isn't a mole, BELOW GROUND GAME ????? Apparently sat at his peg and saw mole hill moving so shot the hill blowing said mole out into the field.

 

They aren't game either :lol: But I can understand if the reason for no ground game is a safety measure.

 

Found six traps set today on a public footpath, three had moles in and obviously hadn't been checked. So I left the moles on top and reset them ...

 

You wouldn't have found mine on a public footpath. I cut the clod out in one piece like a wedge, pop two Putanges in, peg them and then replace the clod so you can't tell the ground has been disturbed. ;)

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Found six traps set today on a public footpath, three had moles in and obviously hadn't been checked. So I left the moles on top and reset them ...

 

top man well done .

 

as a general rule of thumb , if your traps can be seen , theyll get nicked lol.

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Just put 66 pairs in. I've used every Putange I had that wasn't already in the ground. I'd even sorted 20 pairs from my redundant non-stainless lot that I'd retired last year. Part of the farm has a badger / boar problem and I didn't want the expensive traps disappearing.

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I've got around a hundred permanently in the ground at contract jobs and more and more of my customers are opting for that rather than interventions whenever the moles return so I'll need more stainless ones just to service that side of things. I'll have to get some more next month but its not worth the hassle of selling them on. On eBay the charges and fees are extortionate these days plus the French tax is 13.3% of the total selling price plus the postage charges. On a four quid trap I might make thirty pence tops. Less the cost of travelling 12 miles to the courier's office. And selling them on French freead sites is a PITA. as well The French pro's think nothing of driving 200km to pick up a hundred and then turn up three hours later than they said and I've lost an afternoon waiting for them to arrive.

 

Its like Del Boy once said: "The French are no good at business Rodney. They haven't even got their own word for entrepreneur." :lol:

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  • 1 month later...

Just put 66 pairs in. I've used every Putange I had that wasn't already in the ground. I'd even sorted 20 pairs from my redundant non-stainless lot that I'd retired last year. Part of the farm has a badger / boar problem and I didn't want the expensive traps disappearing.

 

Ended up with 54 moles from 80 trap sites on the farm. I had to put 14 Talpex in as the job was bigger than I'd anticipated. And the phone is ringing again now that the weather has got a bit warmer and customers are getting out into their gardens. Any time now we'll be getting the holiday home owners ringing from the UK requesting a mole free garden when they arrive for their holidays at Easter. Happy days :)

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