The animal pest. The little creatures have been destroying my yard late last fall, thru the winter, and now they've got burrows and tunnels everywhere. Grrrrrr !
What the most effective way to get rid of them? ( I have a large area to treat, so it needs to be economical $$)
Probably a bigger predator. Like a raccoon. Or a badger. Or a wolverine.
Would not recommend.
Typically they are looking for insects to feed on. Kill the insects and they will move on (hopefully).
Gasoline. Pump the tunnels full and light it off. (Just kidding, please don't do this. And if you do, take video.)
10/22, some beer, and a couple hours outta do it.
Osterkraut wrote: 10/22, some beer, and a couple hours outta do it.
My brother in law just used that method on mice in his garage. Three sleepless nights later and after being forced to rearrange everything and throw some stuff out, he caught the last mouse.
He did rebuild his shelving though and now has really nice organization.
Moles feed on grubs.
Kill grubs, moles move on
... like to your neighbors yard. 
Moles do eat grubs, but they also eat earthworms and a bunch of other stuff that you can't easily get rid of. Eliminating grubs can't hurt you yard and might be enough to encourage the moles to seek greener pastures, but it's not guaranteed to fix your mole problem as they may just continue to feed on other things that are around and available.
The only way to guarantee your mole problem gets fixed is killing the mole or moles responsible. You can wait around to see if you can catch one while it's working, and try to get it with a spade, you can flood the tunnels to try and force it out, or you can set out traps.
Keep the suggestions coming guys.....
Has anyone tried these electronic repellents? Are they just snake oil?
Borrow a cat, an apex predator barely hidden by familiarity.
This year has been especially bad (good?) for moles. They're all over my yard. Funny how I only notice them in the fall and winter. Anyone know why this is so?
I have thought about issuing an executive order banning mole immigration, but I'm not sure that will be effective. Not wild about poisoning my yard. Not sold on the shotgun method. I suppose that leaves this:
In reply to STM317:
I swear by it every spring. Broadcast spreader FTW.
I ain't got no berkeleying moles.
YMMV
My home's water source is a well, so I'm not real enthusiastic about the using poison method (for obvious reasons)
You can try the suggestion I gave to a friend: Take that 64 Caddy you have in the back yard (that runs), put a pipe from it's exhaust to one of the holes, let it run all day...
What he did do was set up a bunch of traps, that seemed to work pretty good.
Got a cat, she took care of all the little creatures.
I found remains on the porch.
My dad spent one very memorable summer weekend when I was a kid sitting on a stool in the yard, 12 gauge across his lap, staring intently at the lawn and shooting every time he saw the ground move. I don't know how effective it was, but it was a) extremely tidy--already buried! and b) no doubt satisfying.
My dad tended to bring a gun to a knife-fight, in terms of domestic solutions... I also remember the Christmas he grew frustrated with our antique tree stand and used 2x4s and 10-penny nails to nail the tree to the wall.
On the more practical side, if you want to get rid of moles, yeah, get rid of the pests they eat. We had a pretty significant problem until we caved and hired one of those lawn-poisoning services. :(
Margie
Natural things that annoy animals. Cayenne pepper, ammonia, and Epsom salts in Large doses.
Worked for me.
Our dogs love digging after moles. Sadly they have gotten a few. Generally, I figure having moles is part of nature.
David S. Wallens wrote: Our dogs love digging after moles. Sadly they have gotten a few. Generally, I figure having moles is part of nature.
I do not understand this part of your post. Mole gone, happy dog. How is that not a win-win?
I'm with David. I couldn't care less if my yard has moles, as long as they're not overturning my garbage cans or making my deck collapse.
My cat leaves them on the porch for me to throw out. It's a handy reminder that she's not completely useless.
I saw a hawk hunting moles in our front yard once, that was fun. Maybe more hawks would take care of it. That might impact the cat's utility though; it's hard for her to hunt moles and chipmunks while she's airborne under a hawk.
I never see one of the little critters pop up their heads, but they are all over my place this year too, although I think they're really Voles and not Moles.
Grub-ex, etc. has never made any dent in the population at all.
carguy123 wrote: I never see one of the little critters pop up their heads, but they are all over my place this year too, although I think they're really Voles and not Moles. Grub-ex, etc. has never made any dent in the population at all.
Moles leave raised tunnels. Voles do not. They leave semi excavated surface runways. They come out at night to feed. Their holes are usually in flower beds near the bases of plants. They will gnaw the bark off the stems of plants and kill them. They will also burrow around the roots of plants eating them as well.
It's not really a vanity thing with me (my yard/lawn looks like crap with or without the moles). It's more about the height of the tunnels and mounds they continually make. I can't mow with the height of the dirt everywhere. I've tried. I either get huge scalped areas where the blade tops the soil (along with a ploom of dirt and dust) or I get a bent blade. Seriously, last year I bent two blades down at more than 30 degrees trying to just mow over/thru their tunnels. I hate the little berkeleyers !
Talpirid Worms - cured my mole infestation very quickly.
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