Voles
 

I noticed over the last month these holes along my side walk well I finally trapped one and there voles what is the best way to get rid of them.

Maybe try Trapping forum...Moles were a hot ticket item over there a while back,.....lol

Once you get the knack, easy to trap, those round plastic ones work really well. I flatten the hills to find the most recent one and then use a narrow garden trowel to find the tunnel.

Grizz

Voles and pocket gophers (moles) are different critters

there is a product called "the Giant Destroyer" funny name but it works like right now. It is a tubular gas bomb about 1" diameter and 4-5" long. I had about 10 vole holes along sidewalk. Plug them all with rags , gravel whatever except for one . Make sure you have the last hole poked out good with a bar , screw driver or whatever so the gas bomb will basically drop in. Light the sucker and get her in FAST the fuse burns like lightning. Have a pail of dirt , gravel to cover hole and step on it to pack. Every vole is dead in a matter of one minute.
Available at Home Hardware , probably Crappy Tire and others also.

The Destroyer works but not on all holes, some go straight down. I also use regular mouse traps, drill a small hole in the trap and push a nail into the ground so they don't drag the trap away.

Put out some yummy bait and sit quietly with a pellet gun. I got six this summer

Sounds like fun, what do ou use for bait?

This has been the only effective vole strategy at my house. We put traps on surface but that doesn't stop the lawn destruction. I hit the destroyers hard right until freeze and it mitigates the winter damage. Fun to use too.

I think a lot of us use the terms interchangeably. I know it's sloppy.

Grizz

Fresh picked clover and a couple of mountain ash berries. Works every time.

Voles like fruit. Get a few Victor old school 99cent traps. Place piece of apple on pan and set near open holes. You will have meat in them in the morning.

When I was having vole problems I dealt with them in a few ways, first I cut the grass very short, if you don’t your lawn will look like a maze in the spring. Second I ended up catching them using a funnel as bait outside can be tricky as they have their food all over. I put a length of 2x4 along side either side of the house and put those victor traps with the yellow tab rather than the little metal bait holder, put those on either side of the house and in about 2 weeks caught 15-20 of them. After that no more vole problem.

I tried trapping them myself, no luck..

Tried the smoke bombs after sealing off the entry holes, no luck..

Finally had to call in a trapper off kijiji as our back yard was destroyed over a winter and spring. Prob cost be almost 500 bucks from repeated trips but finally got them all and no issues since spring.

Once you find the holes plug them all and wait for a new hole to appear, set up traps around that hole and by morning your traps are full.

Traps?
 

I have a big problem too. I bought a bunch of victor mouse traps, half of them disappeared and the rest had no bait (peanut butter) no voles.
I suspect the neigbour's dog but I could be wrong.
What size traps should I buy? I'd like to try that 2x4 system. BTW I have hired a guy to come and catch them but he said he has lost 2 traps. Coyotes? I live in the country.
I need some help.

Destroyer gas bombs...simple.

Densa Voles do not like peanut butter, they like fruit, place small peace of apple on Victor trap pan. Neighbour dog will not eat your traps and you will have voles for supper.

I used the gas bombs and no holes have appeared in a few days now.
Fingers crossed

Where can I buy some?
 

I used to hear about those bombs too and I'd be willing to try anything. Let us know if they worked.
THX.

Now I have voles. I was in the yard and saw a pea plant starting to shake. Snuck over and scared a vole. They are now in my carrot patch and doing a fair bit of damage.

I set a bunch of victor traps baited with peanut butter. Caught 4… one a day. Two traps were unbaited. Figure proximity to the carrots their were eating and caught them traveling.

I’m going to have to try the Apple for bait and see how it works.

The buggers are tunneling around the Apple tree so they seem keen.

I figure if I caught 4 there must be 40?

Meadow Voles

https://www.calgary.ca/parks/pests/voles.html

We took in a cat 3 years ago . she get's 2-3 a week during the summer .

My son had them also this summer then he got a dog and the voles moved

My neighbor and I placed traps in short pieces of pvc pipe , and we caught quite a few. We always leave some traps in pipes over winter, and check them now and then.

I wonder if the odour of cat turds would scare them off?

Don’t know about cat turd but my neighbor swears that garlic will scare them away. She said that they have been leaving crashed whole garlic heads around the lawn for the winter and had no voles damage at all! I am going to try this this year, my lawn got lots of damage this spring….

I was listening to the radio today on the way to work and there was a garden show on. The dude was saying that the blood meal scares the voles away! He recommended sprinkling it on the lawn just before the first snow falls or better even when it starts falling. He also recommended to pack the snow hard - like stomping on it- around the perimeter of your lawn- apparently, the voles can’t get into your yard under the hard packed snow.
I will be trying this soon, very soon, lol!

Blood meal will attract coyotes dogs etc.

I’m in the city but coyotes are very frequent in my hood. When you say “attract”- what do you mean? Like they will be hanging around my house on a front lawn all the time or they will be digging thru the snow trying to get to the blood meal dust?