Voles

[bezzola]

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.

[sourdough doug]

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

[Grizzly Adams1]

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

[MountainTi]

Originally Posted by Grizzly Adams1

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

[Ackleyman]

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.

[Lornce]

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.

[The Cook]

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

[Prairiewolf]

Originally Posted by Ackleyman

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.

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.

[Grizzly Adams1]

Originally Posted by MountainTi

Voles and pocket gophers (moles) are different critters

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

Grizz

[gulo]

Originally Posted by bezzola

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.

Least weasels.

[antmai]

The destroyer sulphur bomb worked for me. Finding the damned holes is the hard part.

[Sundancefisher]

Originally Posted by antmai

The destroyer sulphur bomb worked for me. Finding the damned holes is the hard part.

The holes seem like they collapse in.

Mine are not going away anytime soon.

Next week I start cutting the grass super low.

[alpineguy]

We had voles for the first time in our garden. Unfortunately we have a low electric fence to keep the cats and dogs out so they had free run of the garden till I noticed the holes.
All good now though, dug the garden last week and killed some voles in the process. Fence is also down now so the dogs should dig out any i didn't get.

[vance]

In addition to cutting the lawn very low in fall, I also stopped applying fall fertilizer several years ago. Both measures have made my lawn less of a winter food source for voles.