It’s now time to put these creatures out of my misery. The picture on the left shows the little trails they eaten in to the yard underneath the snow over the winter. They snip off the grass at the roots and line these trails with the grass. After raking the dead grass out of the trails, the picture on the right is how much dead grass comes up. So, the plan of attack is (and I’m pretty sure the voles can’t read this, but who really knows?) : we’ve raked out the dead stuff and mowed the grass quite short, as recommended. Next is to put special poison down in to their holes. In the picture on the left up near the concrete is one of the big holes going down to their lair. Then we’ll be putting out about fifty traps — also the recommended quantity. We’ll have to keep the grass short to encourage the remaining critters to leave and go somewhere else. I’ll have to keep up the attack through most of the summer. Then, this fall I’ll be putting down a special spray that keeps them from coming into the yard. These are prolific little beasties — they have a litter of 7-8 every 36 days. I’d bet there are hundreds of them in my yard — but not for long!