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Tom Tangney's mole love: He is not alone

May 25, 2012 @ 12:43 pm

97.3 KIRO's Tom Tangney has a delightful column on how he stopped worrying and learned to love the mole. Tom is not someone I've ever heard speak fondly of gardening. As someone who has seen his lawn, I've not noticed any mole plaguing his property. So perhaps his love of moles is mostly from a lack of interactive experience with them.

My house, on the other hand, is frequently at war with the creatures. My wife looks at the piles of dirt they mound and looks to me as though I've failed to protect my property from violent intruders. Witnessing the destruction caused by these creatures makes me admire them as a worthy adversary.

It was not Cisco Morris who inspired me toward a deeper appreciation of the mole but a friend of mine named Gary. Gary's lawn was a minefield of dirt mounds from moles who must have enjoyed the riches of the soil under his lawn. His wife too was horrified and demanded action. Gary was thwarted somewhat by restrictions on mole traps. Back in the day, prior to the Disney brainwash that has afflicted modern society, you could kill the moles and move on. Now, it's a bit more of a problem.

But Gary learned their ways and found the means with which he could effectively kill them. But killing was only step one. See, Gary is a hunting partner of mine. When we hunt, we usually keep the hides and the meat and that got him to thinking... why not try to get more from the mole?

I first realized what Gary was up to when I walked into his motorhome and saw a fur stretched across a loop of wood. "Feel it," he said. "It's incredibly soft. It's a mole I got from my lawn."

I hesitated, but then thought, "Why not a mole?" I've felt deer, elk, bear, badger, coyote, lion, cougar, and wild boar so why not a mole?

Their fur is extremely dense and, as I was advised, incredibly soft.

Gary told me he'd been skinning and tanning all the moles he'd been killing. His wife thought he was going a little nuts, but she's indulging the hobby so far.

Is Gary crazy? You probably think so... unless you've ever felt the fur of the mole.

Mole fur jacket, 1910

(Image: Wikimedia commons, A woman who knows the value of a mole....)

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Comments (6)


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  • Drool wrote...
    How Many Mole Pelts....
    May 25, 2012 2:12 pm
    ...to make a nice mountain man trapper hat?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • WAMA wrote...
    Use for moles
    May 25, 2012 3:24 pm
    Neighor of mine used to give the ones he trapped to a taxidermy friend who after stuffing them would dress them up like little people. As for me, I use the live ones to aerate my lawn and eat the crane fly larvae and such. Moles are harmless creatures and if one is so obsessed with their lawn being disrupted by their hills that person has more serious problems than they know. As for the moles, as soon as they have exhausted their food source, they move on...to aerate other lawns and consume more pests. Add: the feces they leave behind in the soil also acts as a fertilizer. It's all good.
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  • 2112 wrote...
    How come I get the idea that WAMA
    May 25, 2012 5:04 pm
    Also has a yard full of weeds, blowing spores over the entire neighborhood, cause you know, weeds produce their own nitrogen so it is all good. Yea, I have that neighbor just upwind from me. Thank you for non stop job trying keep our yard nice.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Kosh wrote...
    The Only Good Mole
    May 26, 2012 8:59 am
    Is a dead Mole !!!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • roomtemp wrote...
    I hate moles...
    May 27, 2012 12:08 pm
    Been meaning to make myself one of these... A little propane and o2, and it's thermobaric time... Boom!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgztUzqaL3E&feature=related

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • R L M 456 wrote...
    All Moles
    May 27, 2012 3:48 pm
    Must DIE
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }