BAIT AND SCENT.
The mink is very hard to catch, as all or most all experienced
trappers tell us, so therefore we must believe them, says an
experienced Canadian trapper. Some say that mink are afraid of human
scent. In one sense they are but in another they are not, as I will
prove to you in the following paragraph:
While I was trapping on Twenty Mile Creek in Ontario I had an
occasion to go my rounds very early one morning. I had not gone far
before I ran onto a large mink track, and as the snow was only here
and there in small patches I did not follow it. I returned the same
way to get a skunk I had hidden, and on reaching this particular spot
I saw as before, my tracks going one way and Mr. Mink's another. I
never thought any more about it until I came to the next patch of
snow, and there were his newly made tracks beside my own, and some
were discerned in the same prints as I had made, so that must prove
that he wasn't afraid of human scent there. If that mink had been
afraid of human scent he most certainly would have avoided my tracks,
but as it was he saw me coming and hid somewhere until I was past.
[Illustration: NORTHWESTERN SKINS.]
I do not say that a person can drop a trap down anywhere, set any old
way, and catch mink; but I do say that it all depends where the human
scent is. If a man sets a trap and handles it with his hands or any
other foolish thing, he will catch but very few mink.
My way of setting a trap for a mink is this: Find a den or hollow log
in the vicinity where mink tracks are seen. After you have found the
place where you intend setting your trap, set it in the following
way: Cut a hole in the ground at the entrance shaped like a straight
stemmed pipe, only make it large enough for the trap to set in
nicely. After that, set the trap, twisting the spring around to the
same side of the trap as already excavated, and taking the dirt you
have the pan, placing the trap in the place you have taken out, cover
the trap with it, being careful not to let any lump or pebble lay at
the base of the jaws, as it prevents them from closing tightly, and
your mink may get away.
For bait, take the tail, front and hind legs of a muskrat, also a
small piece of flesh, or better yet the entrails, and place them in
the hole, being careful not to set it too close, but close enough so
that the mink will have to step on the pan of the trap. It is better
to have it too far back than too close, as you then run a better
chance of getting your mink. Also have some musk or some reliable
scent, and put a few drops on a stick a short distance from the trap.
After all of this be very careful in brushing out all signs, and make
everything look as natural as possible, depart, and I know from
experience that you can catch a mink, providing you follow the
directions above.
In order to trap very shy animals use no bait of any kind, but set
your traps where they are sure to go and you can capture the shyest
mink, says a Maine trapper. The places where mink are sure to go are
into holes, dens, hollow stumps and logs, and to make a success you
want a trap set at all the places. If there isn't any, make some any
time in the summer for the coming season.
The right size and best kind of trap for mink is the Blake & Lamb No.
1. Have them free from rust and foreign odors, as mink have keen
smelling organs; boil them in ashes and water, also boil them again
in a kettle filled with fir or cedar twigs, and after they are dried
and when hot rub them all over with beeswax, and when set cover
carefully and fasten to something movable.
In the fall of the year use no scent, but in the spring when they are
running around use their own musk, mixed with fish oil and salt to
preserve it. This is my way to trap mink without bait, and I have
captured large numbers of them.
I claim that animals are their own best scent. If experience is worth
anything I am sure of it. About the first trapping I ever did (1877)
I ran out of mink bait and came across a rivulet running into the
main creek and mink track in plenty. Well, what was I to do? I must
set a trap. I took a piece of the hind quarter of a mink. Being a
green hand at the business I did not know whether it would work or
not. But the next time I visited my trap I found out the plan was a
success, for I had Mr. Mink safe and sound. Ever since I have had
occasion to use the same for bait.
Another illustration I will give which proves beyond question that
this theory is a correct one: In 1878 I set a trap in a hole in the
bank, the water not freezing all winter, but ran a stream over the
trap, out of the hole. I used no bait. But I believe I caught every
mink coming that way. Every mink caught of course would freshen up
the place with his musk. The result was 15 mink. I believe other
animals are the same; but skunk and civet are not so particular what
they eat; anything half decomposed or rotten will answer.
The civet is very troublesome when they find your mink trap. In
setting in water (he will not go in water if he can help it) he will
make a hole at one side and get your bait in spite of you. At other
times he will crawl over all your stagings and reach in, like a
monkey, apparently as limber as Indian rubber, and get your bait. In
dry land sets they walk right into your trap and you can get rid of
them.
[Illustration: TRAPPERS "SHACK".]
A few words about scent. I never did believe in mixing a lot of stuff
together as some say, says a Canadian trapper. Now if a mink is
attracted by the odor of fish oil or the scent of muskrat musk or of
blood or the scent of the female mink, that does not say that we
should mix them all together and expect it to catch every mink that
comes along. Would you expect the mink to distinguish the smell of
each of these substances when they are all mixed together? If we like
chicken, sweet potatoes, chocolate cake and mince pie, would it make
it better to mix all these things together? I don't think we would
like it.
As for the fox, the very best scent or decoy is the matrix of the
female fox, as has been described so often, but it is hard to get.
Next to this I think comes skunk essence and it should be sprinkled
around quite freely, as the fox is not afraid of it, like some
trappers are, and it also helps to kill the smell of the iron of the
trap. Now don't think by this that you should rub it on the trap.
Just sprinkle it around the trap.
But none of these scents will attract an animal as far as some seem
to think, and I find that one of the most important things is to find
where animals use and set your traps near these places. Of course you
must study the nature and habits of your game or you will not know
how to set the trap after you find the place. Then set your traps
carefully, work hard, keep your eyes open, use reason and good sense,
take care of your furs and you will be successful.
For mink I use a No. 1 or No. 1 1/2 trap. The latter is preferable.
For scent that obtained from the scent bags of the mink or weasel,
mixed with anise oil, is the best decoy I ever used, says a Minnesota
trapper. This scent is found near the root of the tail in two round
bags about the size of a pea, and is a yellow liquid smelling very
strong.
After setting the trap I scatter feathers around and over it. The
mink, seeing the feathers and scenting what he supposes to be a
weasel, will dig up the whole works looking for something a weasel
has overlooked, and he is mighty lucky if he don't get in the trap.
Canned sardines make good mink bait, and the sardine oil is good to
mix with the scent in the scent bottle. Skunk scent and feathers
attract and allay suspicions of all bird eating animals.