Here's a weird one for ya!

[Zsnake]

OK,
I am losing my fight with the voles in my yard. I have tried poison...didn't work. I have tried spraying chemicals on the yard that are supposed to kill the bugs tha voles feed off of. Another $200 down the tubes. I'm told that the electronic devices meant to drive them away are just a scam.

Sooooo.. I got to thinking, how's about buying/renting/borrowing a heat sensor (like the cops use to see the perp through walls), getting the exact location of the vole underground, then blasting him/her with a firearm?

Question.....how far will a round penetrate into soft earth? YES, I know that it depends on the consistancy of the soil and what caliber of tool I would use, but in general...anyone have experiance?

If it works, I may even start a business!

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[tiwee]

Cats work? How about dogs? They bring us a little prize every now and then.
Firearms cannot be discharged in our city. Don't know about yours.

If you are in the country, the coyotes, foxes, hawks and owls will notice your population and take care of it for you.

We have some king snakes around our place. They keep the copperheads, mice, frogs, toads, and lizards policed up pretty well. The darn things are getting big judging from the molts we find. Sometimes I wonder if the owls are hanging around to catch the snakes.

[buckeye .45]

I assume that by heat sensor you are talking about some sort of infra-red (IR) weapon sight. I have never seen one that will look through walls and show you people on the other side, maybe they do exist, but in the handheld or weapons mounted variety, I've never seen one with that kind of capability. Also the ground retains heat, even after the sun goes down, so your working hours would be limited if you found one.

As far as shooting into the ground, that would depend on how deep they are. I know that a properly built sandbag wall does a pretty good job of stopping rifle caliber rounds, so anything over a few inches, and you probably aren't going to get the rounds deep enough.

Just my thoughts on it.

[jbum]

Nuke em

[tiwee]

Nuke em

Until they glow then shoot them in the dark.

[Zsnake]

tiwee...yep...I'd rather have the snakes! LOL They don't dig up the lawn.
BuckeyeLCPL....not a sensor ON the gun, a hand held thing to locate where they are. The ground above the little Bas....s is pushed up and soft, so the bullet should penetrate fairly freely, but then again, that's what I'm asking here.

[zacii]

Try a bunker-busting bomb.

[rottkeeper]

Try a bunker-busting bomb.

[Superhouse 15]

We carry thermal imaging cameras on all of our engines and squads at the FD. They are sensitive enough to see footprints behind someone walking, and you can watch someone pass gas. It can see heat differences through drywall, but not well at all through water or glass. It depends on the heat difference between the critter and the ground and the sensitivity of your TIC. My MSA TIC can see less than a 10 degrees of change through drywall. Of course your local FD might not want to lend it to you, or if they're like my guys, they might enjoy the show. Best chances, weekends or evenings when the brass is off duty

For the average joe, they cost too much. If you can afford one, you can afford to pay someone to treat your yard.

[Rock and Glock]

Here's a fun solution:

Pest Control - Moles, Gophers, Burrowing Rodents @ Rodenator

The only effective solution I ever found was to let my Dobie dig 'em up and eat 'em. :) No Chanute.

[PointnClick]

I'm sure that I've seen this movie before...

[rodc13]

A vole is a varmint. Like a gopher. Remember the wisdom of Carl Spackler:

"License to kill gophers by the government of the United Nations. Man, free to kill gophers at will. To kill, you must know your enemy, and in this case my enemy is a varmint. And a varmint will never quit - ever. They're like the Viet Cong - Varmint Cong. So you have to fall back on superior intelligence and superior firepower. And that's all she wrote."

"I have to laugh, because I've outsmarted even myself. My enemy, my foe, is an animal. In order to conquer the animal, I have to learn to think like an animal. And, whenever possible, to look like one. I've gotta get inside this guy's pelt and crawl around for a few days. Who's the gopher's ally. His friends. The harmless squirrel and the friendly rabbit."

[F350]

Several years ago I bought a thing that hose clamps onto a vehicle exhaust pipe and then has a garden hose attachment on the other end. Clamp on exhaust pipe, screw on garden hose, insert other end of hose in tunnel, let vehicle run for 10 minutes. I had a bad problem and new voles would come in every 2 or so weeks but it was no problem to take care of them too.

[retsupt99]

Old farmers usually know how to get the job done, and here's what I've been told...bits of broken glass to the rescue...

Yes, it works! Moles are hemophiliacs, or bleeders, drop some pieces of broken glass in a tunnel and upon retracing their steps...

[Pro2A]

You could always pour gasoline down the hole and light it. I vaguely remember my dad doing that in Maryland. We didn't have a problem after that.