Voles eating unharvested sunchokes over winter

Last winter the voles or field mice found the naturalized patches of sunchokes. They ate 90% or more of them. The chokes are slowly regrouping.
Has anyone found a trick to keep mice out?

Is most cases they come back no worries- but for me- I have reed canary grass which actually chokes the sunchokes out! My chokes don't spread out of their patches.

Moth balls? Or is that even safe?? I've used them with luck on your fruit trees, but feel weird about it as well! Thanks!

I used to have J.A. coming out my ears, making a pest of themselves and doing their Dr. Evil impression (trying to take over the world!).  Now, I can't grow one to save my life, between the voles taking the tubers over the winter and the deer stripping the plants all summer.

If someone figures out how to deal with these rodents, larger and small (deer, I've concluded, are just rats with hooves), PLEASE let me know.

Here is some good info on voles in Oregon: http://www.opb.org/programs/ofg/segments/view/1678

Cats do well against rodents. Abundant supply means you have to worry less about them going after birds, lizards, snakes, etc. Last year our two subsisted solely on one shared bowl of goat's milk daily, plus all the mice, voles, and gophers they could root out. So long as they're fixed and don't target beneficials, I think cats can play a vital role in a homestead/permaculture environment. Someone was asking in another thread about cats being a detrement to a healthy habitat, specifically pertaining to animals that are predisposed toward killing birds. I've heard thrashing a cat about the face with the fresh kill will break it of the habit.. ours were so soundly scolded (verbally) when they eyed the chickens and, conversely, so well doted upon when they'd nabbed a rodent that they caught on pretty quickly as to what was fair game.

i totally agree that cats will get the rodents (not the 4 hooved ones) under control..our deer tend to PLAY WITH the kitties though, but our big boy cat did take down a tiny fawn one time, only temporarily but they both were having fun

I got a better idea, forget cats, traps.....ehhh.  Blow them sky high and have TONS of fun doing it!  Yeah, you can buy a product that injects explosive gas in the hole and blows them to smitherines!  I bet your kids and neighborliness will beg to do it for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXY8Fj0OE-Y

around here the voles and gophers that find the sunchoke patches. end up creating new patches all over the place, wherever they drop a piece or whatever they do. great for the permaculture farmer. bad for anyone with rows or raised beds.