Garsum Plunger Mole Trap Gopher Trap Reusable Quick and Clean Kill (4 Mole Traps)

We have had mole problems for years. Tried everything available. Smoke, poison worms, car exaust, granules, insecticides and even a propane bomb one time (don't try it). A Tomcat trap killed some(3). I was pleased with it. But it broke because it is plastic. This metal one is the same principle as the Tomcat so I bought it. Heavy duty steel with strong jaws. I didn't do any ground prep. Just stuck it in the run and mashed it with my foot. The next day I got one. I have trapped a total of 4 this year. My wife called me the great mole hunter. Now I am searching them out. Very gratifying to kill them because of all the damage they do to my yard of 3 acres. It is now 8/1/2024. May 2024–the trap still works great. So far I have killed 6 this year. I would recommend a different brand. I now have 5 traps from various brands. The best one is made by wire tech. It costs more. The cheaper ones break and bend. Cheaper is much harder to set. Hint is to make sure that the ground under the trigger is pushed in deep or it won’t set. Also flatten all the runs (I use a 4x4) so you can see where the moles are active before you set the trap. Just push them in the ground with your foot. No digging. If you don’t get results in 2 days you need to move them. July 2024-Got one today. 12 this year. Have a new one to hunt now. I put 5 traps in one area. Almost always results the next day. One I got in only 2 hours. If not by the second day I flatten the area and go back the next day and set the traps. I always, always have success. Make sure you spend extra and get the good trap. It is worth the money!

This is by far the best mole trap I’ve used. It works incredibly well! I’ve already decided to buy a third one so I can set multiple traps around my yard. I’ve caught 9 moles this year using these traps.

This is a Wylie Coyote kind of invention. It has a big dramatic promise but ultimately it's more likely to cause problems for the preditor than the prey. The main problem is that it has such a stiff trigger mechanism. You have to hope the gopher or mole is just really persistent about bumping into the metal disc that triggers the trap. When intentionally triggering the trap (in order to move it because it never went off after there were gophers all around it) I had to find a pretty hearty stick and really jam it in there to get the thing to spring. It also doesn't really help that you have to identify exactly the right place to put it in order to center it directly over a tunnel. This is not as obvious in practice as the instructions would suggest. Then the idea of the trap - sticking it into the ground closed, then opening the scissor against a spring force, relies on the concept that setting it more or less clears a path for the thing to close quickly. In practice, the dirt closes in around the path and slows down the scissor just enough that I would imagine the average gopher would be able to avoid or survive the killing action. Finally, it's ugly. It's a big, shiny metal contraption that sits mostly above ground in your yard. I got just one to try it out. I can't imagine how tackey it would look to have three or four set up in your yard. All in all, I feel like a dope for buying this.

When the trap was brand new, it worked great. Now that we've had it and used it for while, it doesn't work so well. We only occasionally at best catch a mole even though we're setting it exactly as we did when it was new and working so well. I did notice just recently when I set it off that the blades didn't go completely shut. After doing some research for another mole trap, I won't be buying this one again.

I purchased a set of the silver and set of the black-coated scissor traps by Garsum. I separately reviewed the black ones (which rusted so bad that they became useless). This current review is for the silver version, which works quite well. I've owned them for a few yrs now, and I caught multiple moles with them over multiple seasons so far, and they have not rusted like the black-coated ones did. The only issue I have with them, is I have to periodically check & adjust the position of the trigger and spring so that the trip plate can move freely to trigger the scissors (as it should) when a mole bumps it from beneath. I do this adjustment by carefully sliding the metal spring and cross wires one direction or the other until they are "centered" better on the cross bars so that the hanging trigger's sensor-plate hangs in the "empty" part of the stabilizing plate where it is supposed to be instead of getting "hung up" on the stabilizing plate if triggered. Before I figured out how to do this, the hanging trigger plate was sometimes not positioned correctly and could "hang-up" and not move smoothly. It has to be able to move smoothly for the trap to clamp shut quickly and effectively. With the periodic adjustment as described above, I have found these work just as well as the Mole Tek eliminator, which is a very good brand as well. (Don't buy the black-coated version that Garsum sells--it will rust despite the black coating and will become useless.)

It took me some time, but I finally caught a mole with this trap. There are a few essential things you need to know about how to use the trap: 1. This WILL NOT WORK if you can't find the mole tunnel(s). You can't just set this anywhere in your yard and expect it to work. I tried doing that next to a molehill and it sat untouched for a month. After a month, I was mowing the lawn one day and felt my body weight sink into the soil a little bit. I looked down and sure enough there was a small mound of dirt. I felt around the area with my foot and was able to determine a rough "line" of soft soil, so I knew it was a mole tunnel. I set the trap over the soft row of soil and it caught the mole within 24 hours. 2. The small metal disc is what triggers the trap. When a mole goes underneath the trap and pushes soil upward by tunneling, the soil presses up against the metal disc and triggers the trap. 3. The "jaws" of the mole trap need to be placed perpendicular to the length of the tunnel, not parallel. A lot of people make this mistake, and it will not be able to catch the mole if you don't follow this step correctly. Do these things and you shouldn't have any trouble catching a mole yourself.

This was super easy to use. It is VERY rugged. Some of the other items appeared to be cheaply made. This looks way more sturdy in person than it already does in the photos. It is rock solid, heavy, and feels like I will be using it for the next 30 years. I could put this thing in salt water for the next year and I would expect it to still work. The instructions are not even needed. There is just one way to use. I got it in, put it into the ground within 15 minutes, and within (not sure when it triggered) 2 hours which is when I checked on it, GOT'EM! Now my lawn will cease getting destroyed. Just put it on the boundary tunnel between my property line where they were coming from, just in case another crosses the boundary line again. I put grub killer down from Bio-Advanced too, so they don't want to come into my yard.

This is a heavy duty trap and it works. The issue is trying to set it. You step on it. The plunger always wants to go to the side and gets caught on one of the springs. I always have to stomp down on it a few times before it will stay set. It like to pop back up about 2-3 times before it will stay set. It was getting on my nerves so much that I went to tractor supply just to see what they had. And sure enough they had a different one there. I bought it and love it. It has a chain on the top you stick it in the ground and pull up on the chain to set it. Very simple and works just as good. So I don’t use this one anymore.

No good teeth to lond