Do you have a problem with moles destroying your yard? After 4 years of hell I know what gets rid of moles and which types of products won’t eliminate moles from your yard. I will share with what I learned about these varmints the hard way. If your front yard looks like the front lines of World War One, then this post is for you. (Illustration Below is a dramatization generated by Dall-E 3 using Microsoft Copilot)

I decided to fight back against these monsters. I didn’t like the idea of setting traps because the idea of planting mechanical devices of death into my yard and then having to remove dead moles from them seemed to barbaric. So I went to a local farm store and bought a bunch of these weird little worms that were actually poison. I poked holes in their tunnels and stuffed the poison worms down into the tunnels. I tried that for a year. My problem just got worse.

Next spring my problem was twice as terrible, so I called a local trapping service. They told me they’d charge me $600 for them to come out for the season, but that there was no guarantee that they’d get the moles. This seemed way too expensive so I doubled down on poison worms, pesticides to kill grubs and solar powered ultrasonic mole repellers. These products had a few things in common. They reviewed well online and none of them worked.

As my problem stretched into its 3rd year I decided to do some research. I found a couple of good pages. Both Purdue and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources both seemed to agree, the best, most effective way to get rid of that pesky mole problem is trapping by mechanical traps. Flooding tunnels with a garden hose and smashing the moles with a shovel while they flee floodwaters reportedly also works, but that solution seems a bit too medieval for me.

While I was averse to trapping, desperate times call for desperate measures. I set about finding the best mechanical trap to use. I found this video about the GopherHawk on YouTube and decided to make a purchase.

It found the GopherHawk difficult to set, because you need a deeper mound or tunnel to set the trap. On shallow runs the trap just fell out of the ground. I set the trap and I caught my first mole! Unfortunately, I had no further success. It almost seemed like the moles were pushing my traps out of the ground and mocking me.

I thought I would never get my mole problem under control. My lawn looked terrible. I had more bare spots than I did grass, until one day I was talking to my boss about the problem in my monthly review meeting and he told me about the Easyset Mole Eliminator. He let me borrow one of his traps. I found it super easy to use, and I caught a mole two days in a row! I purchased two traps on Amazon and since last fall I have caught 6 moles. I’ll give you a step by step method that worked for me to to finally solve my problem:

1. If you have a huge mole problem and your yard is wrecked, start by stomping down all the mole hills and tunnels. You’ll want to do this because the moles may not be using all the tunnels in your yard. (If you only have a few signs of moles in your yard you can probably skip step 1)
2. Walk your yard each day. Look for fresh signs of mole activity like new tunnels or mounds of dirt. When you find an active tunnel set your trap! Be sure to follow the instructions that came with your trap. The video below will show you how to set the trap. (I find this is also a great time to pick up sticks, twigs and trash)
3. Check your trap periodically to see if it has been sprung. It’ll pop up from the ground if it has. If after a few days you haven’t caught a mole, consider moving it to a new location.
4. Rinse and repeat until your mole problem is no more!

Do you have any questions or suggestions for how to make this post more useful? I’d appreciate your feedback.

Also, a quick question for you, I’ve been considering starting a mole trapping business. How much would you be willing to pay per week or per month to have a service handle your mole problem?