Major vole problem

Last summer, my neighbor told me she had rodents digging trails and holes all over her yard, and askled me if I was having a similar problem. I wasn't at the time, but boy have they moved in this fall and winter. I have identified them most probably as Townsends or Oregon voles. They ate up my beets and left the tops flopped on the ground. They gnawed on the pumpkins right before Halloween. The have holes and trails all over my yard and are branching out from the vegetable garden now that I don't have much growing there. Does anybody know of effective ways to get rid of them? What kind of traps are most effective and what to bait them with, or any other advice would be appreciated.

You could try planting the Gopher plant (Euphorbia sp.) which stings their eyes when they dig into the roots. It can be a bit invasive but might help. I can't remember if voles have eyes or not. I guess you could do a nice planting of various Euphorbias in a border.

I sure would like to know too. I've had them ever since I moved here. My cat practices "catch and release" with them, then I have to chase them all over the house. I catch them in an upside down clear plastic bowl then release them in the woods across the street. Durn cat is so proud of herself! I'm sure she's amused by my antics too! LOL

Here is some info.
http://gardening.wsu.edu/library/tree012/tree012.htm
In one of my classes the Agent did mention that mouse traps did work well to cut the population down. Also he mentioned that the poison gas was really effective but you need to also find all their active holes to place them in.

Katy, you catch them and then release them!!!!
You have got to be kidding me! Across the street!!!! They do mosey on across the street somehow in life.
I guess I may be cruel but moles and gophers are one things that I do not keep alive. They do way too much damage to my yard.
But lucky me so far, I don't have any so.....
Apparently, planting garlic is supposed to help get rid of them. So plant some around the edge of your lawn and see it that helps.
Carol

A good mouser (cat) does the trick for us.

Well Carol, after chasing the cute little dickens around the house for a while (cat interested but aloof, dog barking encouagement) I grow sort of fond of the critters. What else could I do? The woods are very nice and after being traumatized so badly I just hope they've had enough of us! LOL

Moles are actually kind of cute and very soft fur. Gophers are cute too but...... They do way too much damage to stay alive in my place!
Your kitty pics are so cute tho. That gray cat looks like a great hunter tho.
Carol

daisyruffles, Voles not Moles. Voles are tiny mouse-like creatures that are pretty fast on their feet. I don't think their eyesight is so great though cause it's easy to corner them. Since KittyMoose decided I wasn't getting enough excerise and started bringing very alive and healthy ones to drop at my feet I guess I've become a bit of an expert on them! LOL We didn't have them where I lived before. This is a new game.

Thank you all for suggestions and experiences. I have a dog who tries to go after the voles, but he is rarely successful. He is good at catching some smaller creatures that have (shrews? I think). I can't get a cat because of the dog, who does not like other pet animals in his space. It sounds like cats are good vole catchers, however and a good option for the dogless gardener. After further reading (thanks for the link GardenGuy) I have decided to try trapping, using both mouse and rat traps to see what may work. One of the voles my husband managed to whack under a board was pretty big, though not quite as large as a rat. I got some traps yesterday and set 5 of them this afternoon using peanut butter and apple chunks as bait. I put boards over the traps, which are below ground level in the vole runs, so the dog is less likely to get into trouble with them. I can't use poisons because of children and pets, both mine and neigbors'. I might try the euphorbias or garlic as a deterrant once I have hopefully gotten the poulation lowered.

Three words: "Jack Russell Terrier" = No more voles, rabbits, moles, rats, mice, or lonely nights.

tiffanya, your cat looks like one lean, mean, critter catching machine! I'm afraid it's all a game to KittyMoose. She loves to stalk but when she catches something she either lets it go or brings it home to Mom. She's a Manx and they were bred to be retreivers so I guess that's just her nature. The only things any of my Manx ever killed were rats, and then quickly and ruthlessly! And I think because they were seen as threat, not prey.

He is a lean, mean, critter-catching machine! And to think that he started out as a housecat...LOL...that was fine with him when we were in an apartment in Seattle, but once we moved out to Sumner to a lot backing up to a greenbelt, he just had to get outside. So much for my little Silver Abyssinian housecat! He's gotta go out and hunt every day or he goes absolutely nuts...he paces the house like a caged lion.

I wish my goofy dog was as effective as your fine pets at catching these things, but I love him anyway. For the record, I tried 3 different kinds of traps. The mouse trap caught one, but did not kill it, which I had to do before tossing it in the woods (I'm not letting them go live). Another managed to struggle out of the mouse trap and got away with the bait (apple chunk and peanut butter). The black plastic rat trap was a nice buffet holder and the vole took the bait, not even setting off the trap. This one is the easiest to set without accidentally snapping your own fingers, but is also the most expensive at $6 each. I did catch a rat with it a few months ago. I think the voles are too light to trip it. The ordinary rectangular wooden Victor rat traps have done the most consistent job and have caught 4 more voles. I don't have any idea what my total vole population is. One place I read you can start off with just a few and have more than 50 in less than a year, so I may have 45 more to go.

I had never even heard of a Vole until I moved to my new house. (never gardened much either. I just bought something (a spray) that claims to get rid of armadillos (huh?) beavers, birds, cats (I have one) crows, chipmunks, deer, groundhogs, etc and voles. Since I have moved into this house I have had to hire a spider guy, a rat guy, a mole guy (he actually calls himself The Mole Guy,etc. It gets pretty expensive but when I saw my new 1/2 acre of sod being destroyed by the moles I decided to get an expert. Back to the spray.It's Shot Gun Repels-All Animal Repellant. It's supposed to cause mild irritation to animal's nasal passages and trigger a natural instinct to escape/avoid and leave the area. I'm about to start a large raised area for a vegetable garden but am having small mesh wire put on the bottom to keep voles from coming up under. Hope it works. As for the spray I have only sprayed it on the new mole hills so far. I'll let you know how it goes but so far my dog is sure intersted in the smell.