Mole Activity

Early every fall, mole activity picks up and we deal with tunneling around the golf course.  Currently, we are battling these guys on holes #3, 6, 9, 17 and 18, with more areas sure to pop up each day.  Getting rid of these guys is difficult.  First, they are illegal to kill in North Carolina.  There are no pesticides that can be used on them.  Second, they are mammals that feed on earthworms and grubs (if present, which they are not at HCC).  They are NOT rodents (like mice etc) and because of that, typical rodenticides don't work.  They don't eat the things that rodents do.  Our only method for removing them is physical removal by using traps or stepping the tunnels down until we see it move and then grab it.  That is much easier said than done!  I pay my staff a $10 bounty for every dead mole they bring me.  This started about 20 years ago and generated a lot of interest in killing moles amongst the staff!

Mole activity is always intense during fall and spring when the soil is more damp compared to summer and tunneling occurs at the surface rather than a foot or more below ground.  They are also eating more this time of year because they know winter isn't too far away.  Of course they don't hibernate, but they know food is scarce once worms start moving deep in the soil.

This week, you'll notice mole traps being set.  We'll keep doing what we can to eradicate this animals and minimize the destructive tunneling they are capable of.