Locating the ant nest is the most direct way to eliminate the colony.

Tracking technique: Pick the most densely populated foraging trail and trace it backward in the opposite direction of the ant traffic until the ants seem to disappear.

If you trace it to a wall crack, underground cavity, or the base of a tree, that's the nest entrance.

Use the "bait tracking method" — place a small drop of honey or syrup on the ant trail, wait 10–20 minutes, and then observe the direction the returning worker ants take after feeding; following the return path can give a clearer view of the nest direction.

Nighttime tracking can also be effective — some ant species are more active at night.

However, in most cases, the ant nest is located outdoors (under lawns, beside tree roots, under paving stones, in the neighbor's yard), and locating and destroying the nest is extremely difficult in practice — which is precisely why gel baits are so effective: they don't require finding the nest location; worker ants themselves will carry the toxic bait back to the nest and feed it to the queen and larvae.