Mystery Dirt Piles

[Big Dog]

My neighbor and I are experiencing some mystery piles in our yards that we can't figure out. Yesterday I saw Luna sniffing something in the front yard and was too far to see what it was. As I approached, it ended up being a pile of fresh dirt (18" diameter x 8" high), no hole opening or rooting/scratching markings. As I was standing over the pile it came alive. Appeared like something was digging underneath and about to break ground. Now Luna just got nailed by a skunk last week so I didn't do any rooting. Showed the wife the pile breathing but nothing ever broke through. I let it be, grabbed a .22 and checked it out occasionally while I was working in the garage.

I saw birds approach the pile, I guess for fresh worms but nothing ever surfaced. Later in the day my neighbor came over and I told him about it and he said he had about 8 of those piles in his yard (I have since found another in our back yard). Neighbor went on to say he's knocked the top off of them and he's never seen anything in or under them. Sure enough, I went and got a shovel and nothing. No visible hole and it appears the ground is solid except for loose dirt that when scraped out makes a concave dish shape under the pile, under that solid ground. No tunnel paths either.

WTF?

 

[JEV]

Any Taliban living in your neighborhood? Could be IED's. Grab an AR-15 or equivalent, and empty the mag into the "breathing" pile the next time you see activity. This can be done at a distance, but be aware the IED may go off...if that's what it is.

 

[squerly]

Moles?

 

[Big Dog]

Moles?

After searching, it very well could be. I have never seen these in all my years in this state. Lived at this location for 14 years and have never seen them.

The only thing I thought were moles where those that you can actually see the tunneling from the surface of the ground. I've never seen these piles.

 

[Cowboy]

I have got Voles and Moles in areas around the house that leave the normal tunnels and some which also have openings which is the difference between voles and moles. My point is I know WTF they are and how to tell the difference.

That said, we now have the same damn thing you described Dawg in the pasture out close to the pond and I have no friggen clue WTF they are either. But in the last month the size of the area they started out at covers 20 times the area and now some holes are visible off to the sides of where the mounds are.

They are to small to be ground hogs/woodchucks, and do not look anything like what we have up by the house. My first thoughts were prairie dogs but we have never had them in this area before.

Otherwise I have no clue but I hope someone here does. I put the pulveriser on the back of my tractor the other day and smoothed out as many mounds as I could, when I was done 100 or so holes were visible and they all ranged about 3 inches in diameter. If we dont get any more rain today I am going to try to gas them out and see what happens.

 

[XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq]

Sounds like moles to me. Skip the .22 and use a .410. Shoot at the angle the dirt is pushing out while the dirt is moving. Then dig up the ground and you should find the mole.

You half to walk softly when the dirt is moving or they go deep in the ground. You can't run up to the mound.

Road flares is the latest trick that seems to work well for keeping them out of your yard. Dig up a deep tunnel. Get the flare going then cover up all the holes where any smoke starts to escape. The flare will contaminate the tunnels and keep the moles away for quite a while.

 

[Cowboy]

I went out to see if any new mounds have showed up since I pulverised the mounds and no new mounds yet. But there were a half of dozen holes that have been active (fresh dirt inside) .

They are definatlly not moles, because the tunnel system is nothing like moles. So i am betting on voles, I just havent had the mounds in areas around the house because the voles were using the exsisting mole tunnels I think.

I put gas cartridges in where I noticed fresh dirt inside and the gas did not seem to stray to far away from each area, so thats why they spread so quickly I think because they are moving from one area to another as the food source runs out. ( mostly grubs and earthworms from my understanding).

I will add use caution when using the gas cuz I never noticed any tunnels under where I had my cart parked, but i got a lil shot of gas myself getting the fuck out of there. Just because you cant see the smoke dont mean the gas aint coming out other areas. FYI the product I pictured is some nasty shit so plan ahead a little better then i did.

 

[thcri]

We got moles too. Some will burral tunnels and some will just make a big mound. Where our bird feed drops this winter they made three mounds about 30" in diameter.

 

[Cowboy]

The important thing to know is the difference between voles and moles as the are very different in their living habits as well as diets.

This is a perty good article on the subject.

http://totalwildlifecontrol.com/cri...les-moles-gophers/identification-differences/

 

[squerly]

This requires an explanation...

 

[Cowboy]

This requires an explanation...

Simple thats the area in front of my HD cart where the mounds were before I flattend them out, the area where there is barely any greenery.

That appears to be what they are feeding on leading me to beleive they are voles instead of moles. I sprayed the entire pasture just last month with insecticide so I dont think there is any insects, grubs or earthworms left to feed on. I hope thats explanation enough.

I'll update if I find any new mounds in the next few days and try to get some pics of them in case I didn't get the bastards with the gas.

 

[squerly]

No, not that. This...

 

[loboloco]

Squerly, Cb is too cheap to feed a horse. That's his replacement mount.

 

[Cowboy]

No, not that. This...

Yes thats 1 of 4 vintage of our Harley Davidson golf carts. We cant afford them fancy RTV's like most here have.

 

[squerly]

Ahh, i see. Well they sure do look better close up than in that first picture. Hell man, the first picture looks pink and I was having trouble with the image of you, cowboy hat and all, riding around in a pink cart.

 

[muleman]

Ahh, i see. Well they sure do look better close up than in that first picture. Hell man, the first picture looks pink and I was having trouble with the image of you, cowboy hat and all, riding around in a pink cart.

You never seen his dancing outfit!

 

[muleman]

Them rodent bombs work pretty good. So does the backhoe. Stuffing the holes with cat litter and tamping dirt in after it works for ground hogs out in the fields.

 

[Cowboy]

Just thought I would update, no new mounds or holes so it looks like the gas bombs took care of the problem for me, at least in the pasture.

BTW Dawg the holes I did find were not in or under the mounds but off to the sides in the thick weeds or grass a couple of feet away from the mounds, really hard to see if you dont try to kick the grass aside. I did notice before that there were allways two holes real close together for each mound though.

I hope you had some luck figuring out your problem.

 

[Big Dog]

Just thought I would update, no new mounds or holes so it looks like the gas bombs took care of the problem for me, at least in the pasture.

BTW Dawg the holes I did find were not in or under the mounds but off to the sides in the thick weeds or grass a couple of feet away from the mounds, really hard to see if you dont try to kick the grass aside. I did notice before that there were allways two holes real close together for each mound though.

I hope you had some luck figuring out your problem.

Yep I have discovered holes in the ground away from the mounds. I haven't done anything as yet to eradicate. I'll be busy sawing up a tree that fell last night in the front yard during the storms .............