The cover is made by cutting one of the sides from a rain gutter downspout and then cutting to whatever length you'd like. The pile can then be covered without setting off the trap.
Voles that are caught are set out at a place where I know hawks to visit in my backyard near a wood pile and are usually gone within a day, if not eaten by hawks, then perhaps a stray cat. I won't show the actual "capture" here . . . you'll just have to take my word for it that it works. :-)
This technique can also be used to catch voles in the yard where they'll often travel along the surface eating the base of the grass, kinda like a beaver cutting down trees. The blades aren't usually eaten through and will fall over both sides of the vole's trail forming like a little tunnel. Eventually the blades die and one is left with a lot of plain dirt trails where there once was grass. When using in the yard, one should make the "gutter cover" plenty long to keep birds and small animals out, and also weight it down for the same reason.
Voles that spend most of their time above the ground (even though they will burrough for worms in my compost piles), should not be confused with moles that spend most of their time beneath the ground feeding on roots, grubs, and worms. Voles look like a mouse with a short tail, in fact they are often referred to as field mice in North America as mentioned in that Wiki-linked article above. My compost pile has had no moles.
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