Our neighbors warned us when we moved in. While walking around the neighborhood it isn’t hard to spot their tunnels. Our lawn had been vacant but when the snow melted we discovered the damage that had been taking place underneath the cover. Voles!

A YouTube search quickly revealed the following video. The technique seemed easy enough so I decided to give it a shot.

I went to Home Depot and bought a pack of mouse traps, a short piece of brown downspout (instead of white so it would blend in with the ground better), and some snips. Using the snips I cut the side of the downspout to create the opening that goes against the ground. I also cut the spout to a length slightly longer than two mouse traps next to each other while also leaving some room for the vole hole in the middle. I shortened a metal hanger and used that to keep the downspout secured to the ground. I used drywall screws to keep the mouse traps secure.

After three nights of trying the traps remained empty. Each night at least one of the traps was triggered by something but no vole was caught. I wasn’t sure how long the tunnels had been there since they were covered by snow, or even if the voles were still around. Then on the fourth morning I checked and… success!

I’m not sure if there are more voles to catch but I’ll leave the traps out for a few more days and see what happens. This fall I’ll fill in the tunnels with sod and re-plant the grass.