Mink Trapping Part 7

Some trappers say it is hard to catch mink, others say that they are as easy to catch as muskrats. Now which is right? I believe here in Washington that where there are lots of quail, rabbits and other wild fowl that the mink is harder to catch with dead bait that he would be if game was more scarce. But that ought not to interfere with the mink being hard to catch. When he can get a warm meal he would be a fool to take cold and sometimes stale meat.

I will tell you the way I catch them when they refuse dead bait.

First see that there are no broken links in your trap and that the jaws close together good, for many trappers never look to this and thereby lose a valuable pelt, and worst of all it teaches the mink to be more careful next time.

Now that you have your traps in order, go to some small stream where you see fresh mink tracks. Go up until you find there is a log across the creek, and nine time out of ten you will see where the mink go under the log, and now there is the place to nab him. First block up all s.p.a.ce under the log so as to force the mink into the water, stones, stick or anything handy is good to stop their runway. Now set your trap in about two inches of water. If it is too deep shovel in some dirt and if too shallow dig a trench. Then fasten your chain to a sliding pole and your set is complete. Splash some water on the ground where you have stood and you have a good set that will catch mink.

Some say that mink are afraid of iron. Well in some cases they are, but in others they are not. For instance a mink goes out in search of food and comes to a wire fence or a railroad track. I do not think he will shy of that for he is used to the smell of iron and rust at that place. But jam an old rusty trap in his den and not cover it or set a rusty trap under old rotten bait. I don't think any mink will get caught there. I catch as many mink with bait as without it, but when I bait I bait with strictly fresh bait. Muskrat, quail, rabbits and fish are all good baits. When I bait with muskrat I use the glands for scent and fish oil when with fish. But have the traps free from rust in all cases.

Go along a stream where the mink frequents and look for holes in the bank, most of which are made by the muskrat, and set the trap just on the outside squarely in front of it, says an Iowa trapper, Never set inside the hole. Now the reason for this is that the mink will very often just take a peep in and then go on, in which case if the trap was set inside you would fail to get him. When if it were on the outside you would stand a chance. Then turn the spring to one side and set the trap so the mink will step between the jaws and not over one, for in stepping over them the jaw strikes the foot and throws it upwards, catching by the end of the toe or failing to catch at all.

Cover trap lightly and carefully, being careful not to get anything on the jaws to hinder them from closing on the foot.

Another good set is at the root of a tree which has a small hole in it. Set the trap the same as at the hole in the bank. Still another is where the muskrats got an opening through the ice or frozen bank.

Mr. Mink is always looking for such places and is very easily caught at them. I caught six mink in one week at a place of this kind last winter, and would have caught still more if the water hadn't spoiled the place. A good way to kill a mink is to strike him on the end of the nose and stove towards the eyes. This will kill them quicker than pounding their heads into a mush, and then the head is easily skinned.

In regard to mink being afraid of human scent, that is all nonsense, says a Maine trapper. They are no more afraid of human scent than a skunk, and every trapper knows that a skunk is not. Now the way I catch mink mostly is in ditches and springs and runs at the head of marshes and around rivers and trout brooks.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A FEW DAYS CATCH.]

Find a ditch and pick out a narrow place and where the bank is quite steep on each side, so that when a mink goes up and down he will have to walk on the bottom of the ditch. Now get some dry sticks and begin on each side and stop up the ditch all but in the center, the bigness of a Blake & Lamb trap, have the sticks ten inches high and put them very close together, because a mink will go through a very small place.

Scoop out a hollow where the trap sets and be sure to set the trap with spring pointing straight up or down the ditch, because if it sets crossways and he steps on edge of pan, the jaw will knock the foot out of the trap. Now don't forget about setting the trap right and be sure to stop every little place so he will have to go over the trap. Do a good job and you are sure of your mink. You don't have to have any bait when you set this way.

Always keep your eyes open, look into every hole and ditch, and when you see mink tracks in a place that is the place to put your traps. I never fail to get them when I find signs of them. For the benefit of those who haven't a marsh or ditch this is another way that I use, and know it to be all right. Go along the brook and find the roots of an old tree in under the bank. Build a coop with sticks, bark or rocks, cover it over with stuff to make it tight. Make it eight inches long and wide enough so a trap will fill the entrance.

Remember about the spring pointing in or straight out. Hollow out a place for trap, and cover trap, chain and all, with fine dry gra.s.s or leaves, and have the trap set level with the earth. Now for the bait, shoot a red squirrel and cut him open from one end to the other and hang him up in back end of coop, and you will get them if there are any around there.

I have used all kinds of bait including muskrats, fish, birds and chicken heads, but find squirrel to be the best. I have caught more mink with this bait than all the others put together. In setting traps for any animal be sure to set your trap as near as possible where they are in the habit of traveling. Some set down anywhere and think they ought to catch everything that comes along. You can read lots of ways of trapping but you can't learn it all. Experience and practice is what teaches any one to be a successful trapper, and when you learn anything yourself you know it to be a fact.

A mink, like a man, prefers dry footing when traveling up stream, says a Wisconsin trapper, and will always run along on an old log if they can, in muddy places or across small bays along the bank of a stream. Find a place where a mink makes small detours around soft places and lay a chunk of log about 6 inches in diameter across the place. Put a trap on the end of it. Arrange it so he will have to make a long jump on the up stream end to reach hard footing. He will naturally put his feet as near to the end of the log as he can so as to make the jump, and you will have him. Use no bait or scent and leave no signs of your presence. Make the place look natural.

It was while running a line of traps up Deer Creek last November that mink got to disturbing my muskrat sets, says an Indiana trapper. Mr.

Mink would wait until the muskrat drowned, then he would spoil the pelt. As usual, he got in his work rainy nights. One morning I found a rat pretty badly torn and I began scheming at once to catch the sly chap. I observed a shallow sand bar out in the middle of the creek, just in front of my set, so I laid my plans at once. I cut out a piece of sod one-half foot square, placed it on the sand bar; this made the water over the sod two inches deep. I now took the muskrat and placed him in the center of the piece of sod, putting his head under the water so he would not appear dangerous, as a mink is afraid of a large muskrat. I fixed him so that one half was under water and the other half above. I left the fur on, you understand, so as to make it appear more natural.

I now took four Newhouse No. 1 traps and placed one on each side of the rat, staked out in deep water, full length of chain, so anything caught in one trap would not disturb the others. I covered the traps well with water soaked leaves, the gra.s.s on the sod helping to cover traps some. You will observe that the traps are well concealed, being two inches under water. It is well to drive stakes out of sight under the water also. The next morning the set was not disturbed, but the following morning, it having rained some that night, I expected something was doing, and I was not disappointed, for on approaching the set I saw distinctly outlined beneath the water the dark forms of a mink and another muskrat, caught in two of the traps.

One mink I caught by placing an old rotten piece of wood on each side of a muskrat slide, close to the water. I then covered it over with the same material, leaving an opening at each end; then I placed a No. 1 Newhouse trap under the water at the mouth of the tunnel. Mr.

Mink simply had to go through this runway, and of course was caught and drowned.

CHAPTER XV.

SALT SET.

A good many trappers, both amateur and professional, speak of mink being hard to catch. I can't see it that way, says a Pennsylvania trapper. Really they are as easy as the water vole or skunk with me.

I simply set all my traps bare, no covering whatever, you clog your trap when sprung. I lost a good many by so doing, so now I set bare at all times for both skunk and mink, and I get my share of them.

I use both bait and blind set; water set I think is the best, that is, in bitter cold weather when the ice is thick. My way of making, I call it the ice set, is to take a piece of oil cloth or an old buggy top cover will do, and put about five pounds of salt in same and sew up; have it about two inches thick. Don't make it too solid, leave it loose enough so you can work the most of the salt around the edges to bed trap in. Now puncture with needle to let fumes of salt through; cut a hole through the ice at the edge of the water, sc.r.a.pe out hole to bed salt in; but first put a stone in the hole, and bottom and side it up with stone to keep the mud from clogging the needle holes.

Now you will wonder what the salt is for; simply to keep the ice from freezing the hole shut. I had nine of that kind of sets set last winter and trapped seven mink. The hole will never freeze shut.

Always set trap under water.

Last winter I complained to my better half that I had better take my traps out of the run where I trap, as I couldn't make a water set because my traps froze over night. She said, why don't you put salt around your traps? That put me to thinking so I got an old piece of oil cloth and got her to make four for me on the sewing machine; I put a five pound sack of salt in each one.

The best place to set is on the inside of a curve. In slack water you will have to keep moving your set as the water rises and falls.

Undoubtedly that is the best cold water set I have ever tried, and it has been a complete success with me.

I use the cubby set for mink. Before severe weather sets in I take two boards six or eight feet long, lean them against each other V shape, put water vole carca.s.s (rabbit, chicken or fish is also good) in center and a trap at each end, about one foot from end. I also have the hollow log set. It is on the same principle as the cubby set. A cubby is easily built. You can make them out of stone if you can't get boards.

CHAPTER XVI.

LOG AND OTHER SETS.

My advice to all young trappers is, study the nature and habits of your game and you will be successful in taking all kinds of fur bearing animals. Here is one of my methods, writes a trapper, of taking mink around swamps and lakes where there are shallow springs that never freeze up.

The bait house: This should be built in about two inches of water, as follows: Get some sticks about one foot and a half long and drive one end in the mud in the shape of a horse shoe, with the tops leaned together and a door left in one side about three inches wide. The pen should be a foot wide. Now get some moss, gra.s.s or weeds (the moss from an old rat house is best) and cover over well. Lay a chip or chunk of wood back of the house and place a piece of fresh muskrat on it. Set the trap under water on the door with spring pointing to one side. If there is deep water near by the drowning wire is the best way to fasten traps, and if water is shallow fasten the trap to a long stone of about eight or ten pounds weight and place back as far as the chain will reach from the house.

There are certain springs around all lakes and swamps that a mink will visit every time that he comes that way, and if a house is made at these springs and kept baited every mink can be caught.

The bait hole: This is a good method to use along creeks and rivers before the water freezes over in the fall. Find a steep bank a foot or more high near the water and dig a hole back in a foot deep and about eight inches high and level with the water. Scoop the dirt out in front of the hole about two feet wide and two inches under the water; but don't get the hole so low as to let the water back in. Let the water come up to the mouth of the hole and set a No. 1 steel trap square in front of the entrance with the spring pointing away, and fasten so the mink will drown.

The log set: Find where an old log lies in the water, stick chunks of wood in under the log on the bank so the mink will have to pa.s.s around in the water under the log. Set trap, a No. 1, in an inch of water square under the log and stake out in deep water as far as possible. If a little bait is sprinkled on each side of the log it will hasten the capture of the mink.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THREE LOG SET.]

The ditch set: Early in the season the mink are great rovers and explore every ditch, hole or hollow log near the stream, and a trap set in the ditch in shallow water will often get one. If the ditch is too wide, drive a row of sticks across and leave an opening for the trap. Set the trap in the opening and fasten it back as far as possible.

The dry log set: Mink have a habit of pa.s.sing through every hollow log that lies near the stream and if one can be found like this it is a good place to catch them all winter. Put some bait back in the log and set your trap in the entrance. Cover the trap and chain with powdered rotten wood, sprinkle it all around near the trap, and fasten to a drag or small pole.

These five ways are the only methods I use. Sometimes I set a trap for a few nights where a mink travels around a small bog between the bog and the bank, and very often get one in these places.

In setting for mink on land I go about it in this way:

First, I prepare my traps by boiling in hemlock boughs. Before setting my trap I dig up the ground with a trap hook. Dig a place two feet across and set the trap in the middle and cover lightly with fine leaves, putting some under the trap to keep it from freezing to the ground.

Don't be afraid to dig up the ground thoroughly, as a mink will always stop and investigate such a place. Have your hook long enough so you will not have to walk on the new ground. Fasten your trap to a springy bush or brush-drag.

After the ground freezes you will have to shelter your traps. I have used the following ways with good success:

Take two good sized chunks of wood and lay them about six inches apart. Set a No. 1 1/2 trap between them at each end, put your bait between the two traps and cover it with small brush and gra.s.s. If you can find an old hollow log it is a good place to set. These two sets you can use all winter.

Red squirrel, chicken, rabbit, partridge, muskrat or turtle are all good baits.

When you get a mink or rat alive let it bleed around your trap. It is also a good plan to hitch a string around your bait and drag it from one trap to another.

A man that follows the woods has some queer experiences, says a Pennsylvania trapper. Some eight or ten years ago I was hunting the Allegheny Mountains. It was in January and we were camped on the Elk River. There was a light snow on the ground. My trapping partner told me he would show me how to catch mink with the land set. Taking our traps we went down the river until we came to some logs that lay across a hollow. In some places the log was from three to four feet from the ground, and other places it was not over two feet. Sticks and limbs had lodged against the log, leaving small openings. In these open places we set our traps, covering them over with leaves.

We caught several this way.