In the past I baited traps with nuts and covered multiple traps with large cement mixing trays that I moved around my nursery through Nov. into Dec. , but this year a skunk kept taking the bait so I got tamper resistant poison bait stations, but the skunk still took poison out of the stations somehow so I had to trap and kill the skunk even though the poison would probably have done the job (bait is intentionally slow acting so anecdote can treat accidental poisoning). The pine voles will come up for the bait or poison if timed right, from my experience. 012 was a tough year... for me and all the wildlife searching for any available food.

athenainwi, would love to rent your dog for a weekend. We have two dogs and feral cats around here (not mine) and still have a huge problem. A young falcon was sitting on the fence last year, I said to myself "hmm that's cool", just about that time it launched itself off the fence and snagged a vole and landed in the cherry tree about ten feet from my viewing spot. I was sad to see it leave after it finished it's lunch. Would love to find a "cure all" for these buggers

Hi Roberta! A few years ago, I had some apple trees completely girdled at ground level by mice under snow cover. I tried inarch grafting on three trees in an effort to save them. I mangled the first one and it did not make it. The other two are fine. They did however loose at least a year of normal development. Even if your trees are completely girdled, they may leaf out and look OK for a while because the roots can still get water to the top of the trees via the xylem. Although the roots cannot get nourishment from the leaves via the phloem, established roots should have some reserves... so you still have a little time to learn about grafting and attempt to mend the trees this spring. In my area, May would be the optimal time for bridge grafts. HereÂs one article you may find helpful. NC Co-Op Ext: Grafting and Budding Nursery Crop Plants Google Search:bridge+graft+apple Regards, PoseyPlanter

Voles are cyclical in nature and are worse some years than others. Unfortunately the recommended treatment is using anticoagulant bait. You get it from the county agricultural commissioner's office. It's basically grain laced with warfarin. They recommend putting it into short lengths of pvc pipe so that only the voles can get in there and eat it. I've used it and it works well, but I don't have dogs. You could call the ag commish's office and see how safe it is for dogs. The population will peak in the fall, then crash, and you should be ok the next couple of years, whether you control or not. Here is a link that might be useful: orange county ag commishioners office