Morally...would you be able to kill...
 

.... one of these?
I just did this morning...first one of the season. :)
Looks like he got his little red snout caught...ouch!:eek:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1616771867.jpg

Morally? Yes but whenever I have done I feel guilty afterwards.

I grew up a farm boy.... eradicating pests doesn’t bother me.

I've been using a new strategy...since springtime last year. I bought three more of the same trap pictured.
When I find a maze of raised dirt in the yard...I place all four of them in different trails at once.

It works every time. They have no escape route.

A mole, if it was causing issues for me sure. When we lived in Japan, there were moles. They never really seemed to cause any issues other than a little pile of dirt here and there. Most of the time, critters outside are fine unless they are dangerous or a major nuisance, and there's no alternative to killing.

WHen we lived in Japan the first time, we had a cat that was an inside/outside cat. It was a killer, lots of dead birds and maybe the occasional rat IIRC. One day my father and I were sitting inside and heard the cat making the horrible noise that a cat makes when they are fighting, and we also heard another noise that was a weird hissing/screeching sound. Both sounds were really loud. After a few seconds, we got up to go see what was going on. Right outside our front door was our cat. It was in a Mexican stand-off with a mole. THey are tiny, maybe the size of a mouse or a tiny bit bigger. The mole was making a heck of a racket hissing and screeching at the cat and the cat was hissing back, but not getting too close. Dad dispatched it with a bunch of blunt force trauma. It was surprising how much noise came out such a tiny thing. I think it surprised the cat too.

Mice and rats inside house or garage, also fair game. Dangerous snakes anywhere nearby, fair game. The folks that sold us our property said that they did occasionally see rattle snakes, but that it was usually after they'd run over them with the mower. I'm hoping that's how it works out for me as well.

I would have no problem with them...except for how quickly they can destroy a nice lawn.
Usually just one small mole (like the one in the pic) will tunnel through 30-50 ft of lawn in one night. If the lawn is in good condition...even more.
The dirt can be stepped back down, but it takes about a whole season to get the grass filled back in.

I worded it that way to balance out the 'killing people' and 'beating down Asians' threads.

"Save The Moles!"

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1616775588.jpg

We don't have moles, we have/had gophers.
I let them eat all the Juicy Fruit gum they'd like. They don't seem to like it enough to come back for seconds.
Works for me.

I'm amoral in general so that's not really a factor in vermin eradication.

I do love the thrill of the hunt however. I love those damn traps, brilliantly simple, effective and humane.

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^^^ icemaster
I came home one day and right next to the house entry was a mole tunnel.
I was instantly out to get the trap...I only had one at that time.

I stepped down the tunnel and stepped the trap into the ground to set it. I went to go inside to wash my hands and I was only 5 feet away and I heard a 'snap'. Figured I didn't set the trap good and pulled it out and a mole was caught in it already!
Approx 5 seconds from setting to catching....excellent!

I have a perimeter. Anything (including bugs, birds, bats, bears, rodents, reptiles, canines, felines, relatives, neighbors, witnesses, etc.) inside it that is not welcome is fair game by any means necessary; chemical, electrical, mechanical, hydro-ical, fire, ballistic and nukular are all permitted.

Remorse hits long enough for dispatchment of the corpses. Then...nothing.

Sweeeeeeet!

Beats the time I set one, left for 10 days in August, came back to it sprung. Must have sprung on the first day I was gone. :D

What is that trap?

One time on my farm I saw movement in one of those tunnels, so I thrust a pointed shovel into the dirt, and stopped it cold. A severed mole head gave me great pleasure at the time...still does !

^^^LWJ

Mole Eliminator step-in trap.
Best mole trap ever made....seriously.

https://www.amazon.com/Wire-Tek-1001-EasySet-Eliminator/dp/B000SDKGC6/ref=sr_1_5?crid=17DGOB84UBV8C&dchild=1&keywords=mo le+eliminator+trap&qid=1616779255&sprefix=mole+eli %2Caps%2C193&sr=8-5

The only bad thing about the trap...is getting the dead mole out of the trap.
The jaws are real strong and I use a couple long screwdriver to try and pry the jaws open..not easy.

That's ok though...I'm smiling and laughing during the whole time!

Ha! I've got them before with a shovel...but by waiting and watching for the dirt movement and then shoveling like crazy in that area. Didn't work very often.

Does that kill them? I have a few on my hill. Pita they are.

I have no problem killing them, Snake, gofer, pest whatever. I grew up in the city, never live on a farm or really been in a farm.

If you have gophers...the gal milk jug works every time.

You have to see which hole the gopher enters.
Have a full gal milk jug of water ready when you see it enter the hole.

Take the cap off and quickly set it upside down in the hole.
When the water is about gone...you will see the gopher in the jug trying to climb out of it.
Turn the jug over and cap it.

Raccoons, moles, squirrels, deer, weasels, and mice are the bane of my farm's existence. When weasels killed all my chickens last summer I realized it is us or them. The more of my stuff they destroy the easier it is to kill them.

Moles, as far as I can see, serve no good purpose.
They eat the worms that aerate the soil. And then leave a bunch of dead grass with their tunneling.

Ive never had a golf course lawn and dont understand the fascination with having one.

That said if any type of critter "needs" to be killed I dont have a moral issue with it.

There are about 100 squirrel skeletons buried in our flower beds. Ruger .22 air rifle.

Kitty probably got 15-20 moles which was okay with me. For about five years they ate every single bulb I planted next to the walk and let bubble trails everywhere. He never touched birds afaik.

One time kitty brought in a rabbit baby larger than than a softball (and completely unharmed) and gave it to me as a present. Both the dog and cat looked at me and pleaded "we want a new friend so can we keep it?" They were sad when I put it outside with food, but with all the new smells on it the mother probably rejected it afterwards. Nowadays the dog will just walk two feet past rabbits in the yard eating the bird seed.

When the native fox squirrels are gone those nasty little red squirrels will move in.
I used to not like or feed the fox ones and would "ping" them on the butt if they got in the bird feeder (shame on me for locating it next to a higher launch point).
They'd clean it out in only a couple hours.
But they are a part of area nature and serve as food for the hawks and spread seed. And I'm living on their land after all.

We have Feral everything round these parts, raccoons, possum, armidillo and some really nasty critters out there that cant be described? LOL! I call up animal control, or I set a trap and re-locate em..

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I threw the dead mole on the (cold)burn pile....gone this morning. :)

Umm.... kinda impossible for a wild animal to be "feral". By definition that would be a typically domestic type beast who grew up un-domesticated. Feral cats, dogs, pigs - yes. Raccoons, possums and 'dillos? Nope.

Early bird gets the worm, but second mouse gets the cheese.

No problem with bad snakes or spiders. Fifty or so years ago actively tried to kill people who were trying to kill me. They called it “war”. These days I try hard to not step on insects or run over squirrels.