The Mole Whisperer...

Mole Valley is a farm store in England - like our TSC or Theisen's.
I think I'll open my own chain of Mole Valley Stores here in the states!!

Hopefully you've all seen the movie Caddy Shake. Although we don't golf, we sure do have enough holes and mounds to support an 18 hole course. It's getting pretty crazy out there with new mounds popping up EVERYWHERE!!! Yes, you've guessed it!! We've been INVADED by the MOLES!!!! I must admit, they are rather cute.

Armed with a spade and a 5 gallon bucket I must say I've developed some skill and may have taken "redneck" mole hunting to a new level. I'm actually ENJOYING IT!!!

Now for those of you that don't know much about moles, the girls are sows and the boys are boars. (Isn't that true of MOST boys - LOL) A group of moles is called a labor. I think that's because of the amount of work it takes to get rid of them!!!! In Germany they are a PROTECTED animal!! OMG!!! Come get MINE!!!!! In Russia, they have moles that weigh up to ONE POUND!!! I'm gonna need a BIGGER spade!

I always wondered if they even have eyes? But apparently the do, very small and some are blind, those that aren't have poor eye sight, what would they be looking at anyway?? They eat worms and grubs, they do not eat plant roots.

This year as been pretty good for mole hunting. I am currently up to 4 captures in the last two weeks, 3 live releases and um...one unhappy ending. This week has been extremely good with 2 in the last two days. One did NOT have a happy ending, I'm sad to say. You see, I prefer the "catch and release" method of hunting for these little guys.

Monday after work I was out in the yard checking on plants and seeing what needed to be watered, JIC it didn't rain like it was suppose to. I spotted the fresh overturn of dirt and FROZE!!! I believe that the moles can feel the vibration of the earth (AKA "impact tremors" for those Jurassic Park fans!!) and the moles stop moving when they feel them. SMART LITTLE BUGGERS! Anyway, sure enough, the dirt was MOVING!!!!

I backtracked and ran out the front yard to get my hunting materials! Back to the mound and I carefully turned my bucket upside down and sat on it! Yep, that's your OFFICIAL hunting position, sitting on a bucket! G They are quite interesting creatures, they seem to push up the dirt and then wait for a little while. Flies and other bugs land on the moist dirt and they mole EATS THEM! How amazing is that? Okay, game over, it's time for the ACTION!!

There is true art to this type of hunting. You need to be able to tell which way the burrow is going, if you can't tell or guess incorrectly you are at risk for losing your mole. I HATE that when it happens!! So I have my spade in hand and drive it into the ground and quickly flip the dirt onto the yard surface. I GOT HIM!!! Unfortunately it was a "kill" shot, RATS!! That's actually the first one I've killed and it was an accident. )': So as I'm leaving the yard with my mole carcass in tow I notice another mound moving. I go for it and I must have been still depressed by my loss of the first mole because I choose the wrong side and the little bugger disappeared down his burrow. I just saw his little hind feet and tail as he dove under! I'll save him for another day!

So last night we had class. The late class was really small as some people were on vacation, etc. So I ended up with one person! Amy and Ritz. Actually this worked out really well as we could work with Ritz on his weaves and dog walk issues. I'm putting food at the end of the dog walk, which just happened to be close to a mole run. As Ritz is coming over the dog walk, I see dirt MOVE!! Do you know how hard it is to watch a dog and a mole at the same time!!!! FOCUS ESTER!!! G

So I say to Bill, I'm having a "spade emergency". Funny thing is that he knew EXACTLY what I was talking about. Amy was oblivious! So Ritz continues working on the dog walk, I'm holding the spade and Amy walks back to the beginning of the dog walk. I tell her to hold on a minute and drive my spade into the ground and uproot a MOLE! Amy freaked out, she didn't even see it coming.....yep, I'm SPECTACULAR!!! Well......

Almost. Um....I kind of cut his tail off. EEEWWWW!!!!! They have a tail about the 1/2 the length of a mouse. Talk about a perfect bob!! It was still stuck on the end of the spade, the tail, not the mole. I felt bad for the little guy, but at least I wasn't up a few inches or he would have ended up like the one the day before. We put him in the bucket for release back into the wild after class. As Amy left, I asked if she wanted to take him home? She said NO!!! I asked if she'd like the tail, she said "That's just GROSS!!! I could NEVER live in the country."......makes me wonder what City Folks do for fun?? LOL

I hope the other moles don't make fun of him......