I lost an outstanding sheepdog once as a result of him playing about with a dead mole he picked up on a farm where I was doing some shepherding. It was a horrible death.
Mole catching
- Thread starter 308McTavish
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Mine are stainless. I much prefer them to any other type of trap. Never weathered or any of tgat nonsense. I've set them stinking of diesel. They still work. Loads of crap talked about moles being wary and difficult to catch. They aren't.
Which is great until you find you've dug into a tunnel at a point with 3 or more branches. That's where putanges are invaluable.
Putang for me ! Std carbon steel, never used stainless ( i also tye the trigger to a thin fishing braid , these are often lost ) . I do better with inspection gloves ( pre- mucked up ) before use.
countrryboy
Well-Known Member
I do find that hard to believe that u caught many moles with hands covered in diesel.
Althou i have to admit never tried it.
But i was always pretty careful about how a stored traps and wot i handled.
Would never store or transport my saws near them
Not hard to catch moles but also easy enough to educate then into 'bad catchers' was always a pain turning up at golfys and fancy gardens when u know they have been trying to catch them 1st.
I always mind auld rab saying he could never catch moles when he started workung FT on farm back in the 60s.
He used to tell stories of fighting with other school boys over wot farms they trapped moles on ( we dobe the same for ferretting).
That was their pocket money for catching them plus skin money on top.
He blamed the smell of sheep and other stuff on his hands.
Freeforester
Well-Known Member
Much preferred the trap to the strychnine,
You saw the results of your efforts and was a more humane end for the mole.
First go with the putanges, eight years ago, rt&lft.
The stainless ones are stronger than the carbon steel putanges- or the ones i had, at any rate. Far fewer accidental discharges with stainless ones.
well i have some that are still squishing moles just fine after a good few years now , never had an issue . To say stainless against carbon steel makes a spring stronger ? Well that is just plain wrong 1095 is the likely steel choice and its still top choice for spring making . If anything false triggering is helped not to happen via the rust that carbon steel builds along with pitting . The only issue i have had is if a trap gets real curusty , as the mole will sometimes push the trap out its way WITHOUT TRIGGERING. Easy fix is a clean with a brass brush and a tiny bit of light oil
Thanks for sharing your opinion, but do calm down. The fact is that I have owned both stainless and carbon steel putanges. The stainless ones are stronger, taking more effort to open. I don't need a lecture.
Brittany boy
Well-Known Member
Is phostoxin still available. It’s years since I’ve used it and bought it from the wool growers association, I’ve moved onto traps , talpex and putanges and had forgotten about the gas.
shakey jake
Well-Known Member
almost certsinly need a new ticket for use and training. Also now need the correct respirator and testing equipment to use it.
Seems alot of effort to me, not worth the money
Brittany boy
Well-Known Member
Never needed any of that nonsense when I did it ( **** I feel old ) and still here to tell the tale. Yeh I’ll just stick to the trapping now.
Yes still available, last lot i bought was about £60 a pot. If applied correctly it's 100% one visit solution. Still got a load of traps as well but not used for years.
Large scale trapping got far too time consuming for me, won a few shooting perms from it though.
shakey jake
Well-Known Member
Ive more or less given up mole work, cant get paid what i want to earn, fair play to any one that does it
Brittany boy
Well-Known Member
I do it as an aside to shooting vermin for my landowners, I’ve never charged. How do you price a job, is it by the number of moles caught.?
The going rate around here is £10/mole.
Brittany boy
Well-Known Member
That seems fair enough but would be a lot of work to make a wage me thinks
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