We've recently had a problem with a mole (or maybe more than one) in our front yard. In addition to the raised tunnels in the mulched side areas, tufts of dirt started showing up on part of our lawn. At first, we were hoping that we could maybe engage in some non-lethal methods to make the moles go away, but Internet research suggested that ultrasonic speakers, smoke, and other such methods were not particularly effective.
So I headed down to Home Depot and bought some of these brutal but effective traps. My dad happened to be in town and has dealt with gophers, so he had a good idea of where to look for the tunnels. The traps are so robust, though, that he wasn't able to overcome the spring's tension to set it, so I armed the traps.
We hadn't had any new tunnels or dirt clumps, so I thought maybe the moles had left, or perhaps the trap worked. I uncovered the first trap and found it still armed, so I replaced it and moved on to the second trap.
Success! It had gone off, so I put on some gloves and pulled it out. Sure enough, there was a mole crushed in between the trap's jaws. I felt kind of bad, as it was a fellow mammal, and how was it to know that it was disturbing our yard? And yet, there it was, tunneling freely one moment, and then the next, BLAMMM!
Oh well. I still have to clean the trap (it wasn't really bloody or anything, but I should disinfect it all the same) and then reset it in case there are any more moles around.