MINK TRAPPING ON THE PRAIRIE.
As there has not been much written on mink trapping on the prairie, I
will give a few hints for the benefit of young prairie trappers, on
trapping mink, says a Minnesota trapper. In the first place the steel
trap is about the only trap that can be used; there being no timber
over large portions of the Northwest and Canada.
I wait till ice is frozen over the runways and ponds, then I go at it
making a circuit of the runways. I find where the mink go out from
the shore to some muskrat's home, which will have a pole in it above
water. I set two traps there, then look around. Close by I will find
a small dump of trash made by muskrats, where the mink go to dung. I
set two or three traps so when set and covered with fine brush they
will be even with the surface and looking natural. I will then go on
shore which is generally flat, following the mink signs I will find
where they have dug into an old muskrat run. I put two or three traps
around here close together so when caught the mink soon gets in two
traps, then he is there to stay.
I use no bait when setting at a place like this; the first mink
caught smells the place up so there is no need of any patent scent.
Every mink that gets on that swamp, if it is not over two or three
miles long, will visit that place in one or two nights. At a place
like that I leave the traps all winter and will catch as many mink as
a trapper that scatters twice as many traps, one in a place, all over
the swamp.
There are one or two places in every swamp or pond where nearly every
mink will visit. It may be a hole in a bank or an old muskrat house.
You can tell it by the signs or by tracks in the snow. There is the
place, then you are sure of your mink.
I make small iron stakes to fasten my traps where I can get nothing
for a drag. I make them myself. Take a rod 1/4 inch thick, cut in
lengths 8 inches long, turn one end when hot over the ring of trap
chain, sharpen the other end. I only lost one mink last winter by
gnawing his foot off. A fish is good bait for mink, also fish oil and
fresh rabbits or birds. When buying traps, buy the best, they are the
cheapest in the long run.
Some trappers buy the cheap traps and lose enough fur the first
season to pay for good traps.
I find that it pays to stretch and care for furs well. I have bought
furs that were not worth one third price. Mink were stretched 6
inches wide at tail tapering to a point at nose, being 8 inches long,
when they should have been 16 or 20 inches and 3 to 4 wide. Again I
have got them that they were stretched so tight you could see through
them.
[Illustration: CAMPING OUT.]
Some trappers claim the mink is very sly and hard to trap, others
that he is very easy to trap, and that they could catch an unlimited
number if the mink were only plentiful in their locality. I always
like to read anything I can find on this subject, says an Illinois
trapper. Sometimes I find methods that I have used with good success,
methods that I think would be good, and methods that I think would
never work in any locality. Not like the muskrat, the habits of the
mink are almost the same in all localities, but changing some in
different seasons of the year. In Central Illinois along with the
change of seasons, we have wet and dry seasons, and good methods of
trapping in the dry season will not work at all in the wet.
When I first started trapping mink I met with very good success, not
due to any good method, but as far back as I can remember I have
always been a lover of nature, and I was not a stranger to the habits
of the mink. And I will say right here to all young trappers, and
also to some older ones--learn the habits of the animal you wish to
trap, and if you are half a trapper, success will be yours. I have
learned many things that I never knew before I trapped for him, but I
would not trade what I knew before for what I have learned since. I
am going to try to make plain to you, brother trappers, some of the
methods we use here in Illinois, and I believe these same methods
will work in all localities.
This section of the country is cut up with small ditches and small
creeks, ideal places for mink and muskrat. In the dry season all the
tile ditches and small creeks have very little water in them, and no
better places can the mink find than a dry tile or an old muskrat
den. Here they will live until the water drives them out in the
spring.
When setting the trap at a tile, if the tile is too large, a couple
of sticks stuck in front of the tile will narrow the opening, and a
trap set properly in front of the tile will be very apt to catch the
mink going in or out of the tile. Always see that the jaws of the
trap rest firmly on the ground and that there is no danger of dirt or
sticks or even grass getting in between the jaws of the trap, for if
it does you will lose your mink even if he gets caught. A mink that
has once been caught in a trap is doubly hard to catch, although I
have met two exceptions to that rule, and will say that they were two
of the blindest mink I ever trapped.
Fine grass, dried willow leaves, rabbit fur, or most any light
material that will not interfere with the workings of the trap and
will not make too great a contrast to the surroundings, will be good
to cover the trap. Always be careful not to disturb the surroundings
too much, as a mink will notice this quicker than the scent you leave
on the traps when you set them.
A good rule to follow is--always set your trap facing the way you
think the mink is going to come, never sideways if possible to set
any other. In setting at an old rat den, if possible always set the
trap a couple of inches inside of the den and pull the spring around
so a mink going into the hole will not step on the spring.
If you catch a female mink first, always reset the trap, as the
chances are greatly in your favor of catching the male soon, and if
mink are plentiful in your locality you may catch as many as a half a
dozen males if in the running season. If you can find where an old
rat hole leads down to the edge of the water from the top of the
bank, a trap set in the lower end of this hole will catch nearly
every mink that comes along. They very seldom miss the chance to
explore a hole of that kind. The old trapper that told me about this
set said that he caught twelve mink in one season at a place of this
kind, and all in the same trap, a No. 1 Newhouse. It had been a wet
season this year I speak of, and I will tell you how I trapped mink
in January and with six inches of snow on the ground.
The ditches and creeks all had water in them and were either frozen
over or covered with drifted snow. My best set was to set a couple of
traps in the warm water that came out of the tiles. A mink is a great
lover of water and will play in a place of this kind for half an hour
at a time, and two traps will almost catch him. Whenever there is a
small air hole in the ice he will investigate, and if you place the
trap directly under this hole he cannot very well miss getting
caught. For this set the water should not be over four inches deep.
After the mink makes a hole through the snow drift he will always
follow the same hole, will come into and go out of the water at
certain places, and a trap set at any of these places is almost sure
to catch.
As a scent bait, I use the matrix of the female mink taken in the
running season, and for fresh meat bait I use rat, but I prefer the
blind and water sets, and do not use the others until these two have
failed only in the latter part of February and March. With slight
changes I believe these sets can be used in most localities.
My experience in trapping is limited to one season, the last, during
which I trapped 39 mink, besides the five that left their legs in
traps and four taken by thieves and dogs. But my success has been so
much above that of others who have tried to duplicate my luck, that I
want to give some pointers to some who have not had satisfactory
results in trapping mink, says a South Dakota party.
This is a well settled prairie country, with one small creek running
through it, and an occasional slough. Game of all kind is pretty well
cleaned out. In fact, it was not generally known that any number of
mink existed here. Being quite a hunter with nothing to hunt, I
conceived the idea to trap a mink, and before I got through I found
the sport more enjoyable and profitable than hunting. I had no
trappers guide to help me, and it took me three weeks and more than a
dozen trips to my traps to catch the first mink. But during that time
my experience and observations were teaching me fast. And later when
I saw a trap at about every hole in the country with seldom a catch,
it amused me.
My receipt to a beginner is--get three sizes of traps, No. 0 to set
at holes, No. 1 to set in water or path, and Stop Thief to set over
holes that the others cannot be used at, or for sure catch when you
know mink to be in. See that your traps have strong springs, and that
when set fine the pan is on a level with jaws. All traps should be
alike in this respect. Now to prevent them from rusting as well as to
take the scent off, heat them enough to run some wax over them.
As to where to set them, you must find some signs of mink near water,
tracks in sand, droppings, or best of all, used holes. Now remember
you have to deal with some of the most intelligent but superstitious
and shy of animals. I kept one at my house for a while and found him
more intelligent than a cat or dog. They get bold and careless some
times, but not very often. Their holes are frequently shallow, and
they are suspicious of one's presence. The less you frequent the
place and tramp about his paths, the better. Avoid the hole if
possible.
First choice is to set the trap in shallow water on his runways,
sticking up weeds if necessary to make him go over the traps. The
next choice is where he goes in and out of the water. Next in dry
path and last at his hole where he is the most suspicious of
disturbance. Water set is the best and easiest, but even then the
trap should be covered with light mud.
On dry land you should leave the place looking as natural as before.
At the hole use a small trap, Blake & Lamb is the easiest and
quickest set. Remove enough dirt to sink the trap to a level. Set
trap with jaws never crossways to the hole. Have jaws rest so that
jaws will not tilt if stepped on. Now see that pan is set just about
right, not too easy, and now you are ready for the most important
part--to cover--so it will stay covered and spring regardless of
freezing, thawing, snowing, or blowing, and not to clog the jaws with
rubbish. It is too tedious to get the mink over the trap to have
something go wrong at the critical moment. I use brown tissue paper
or the fuzz from cattails, which I sprinkle with a little fine dirt
or rubbish at hand, the chain having been previously staked and hid.
All should now be left looking as natural as before, and one's tracks
obliterated.
A well set trap will not reveal itself to the game or to any other
trapper. A hole set trap should not be approached unnecessarily. Mink
will seldom get in the first night, and it takes too long to reset
them.
Mink will stay in holes several days if they fear danger. I had one
stay twelve days because there was a Stop Thief trap over the hole,
but I kept it there because there was a steam visible at the mouth of
the hole, and I got her. I have used scent to some advantage, not to
draw but to detract the mink's attention, but as to baits I have
faithfully tried them all from muskrat to a frog, and I have never
known a mink to approach any of them no matter where, when, or how
left, except if left by themselves.
In the fore part of the winter I caught about all the males, perhaps
because they were bolder. Later I got the females. The largest mink I
got stretched 42 inches from tip to tip, and his hide on a five inch
board was 24 inches. He was light brown. No. 0 held him by two toes.
In fact, I never lost a mink from that sized trap. Those that chewed
out were caught up too high.
My experience in trapping is altogether in mink and in a prairie
country, and it has always been a great pleasure and very profitable
for me, says an Iowa trapper. As I have said, trapping mink is a
science which few trappers understand, and can learn only by long
experience and close study. Any one taking two or three dozen traps
and stringing them out, setting in holes and ditches, can catch a few
mink. I know men who have trapped for years and claim to catch lots
of fur, but it makes me smile to see how they set them; they simply
don't know their A B C's about trapping mink.
[Illustration: MOSES BONE.]
The time that I have put in trapping mink for the last 37 years has
paid me bigger money than anything I ever tried; of course I mean
buying and shipping at the same time of trapping. Counting ten hours
as a day's work, I have cleared from five to twenty dollars per day.
Now as I said several years ago, I have no secret or I would let
brother trappers have it; I use no scent whatever but fresh bait,
which is all that is necessary.
You must learn by experience where and how to set your trap. That is
all the secret any mink trapper has. The method for setting for mink,
rats or coon are all the same, can catch either in the same trap.
Water set is my way of setting and far better than any other I think.
In ditches or streams where the water is shallow enough to set your
traps in where the current runs against the bank; then scoop out a
hole 8 inches into the bank. I have used a butcher knife to dig the
mud out with; the water must flow into the hole, which should be two
inches deep. Cut a forked stick, one prong one inch long, the other 6
or 8 inches long; sharpen it, run your bait on this, put the stick in
the back of the hole which fastens your bait.
Now set your trap, turn the spring to one side, fasten the chain the
handiest way you can so it is secure. I never had a mink cut his leg
off and get away. Now stick up weeds or sticks on either side of the
hole so the mink can't get the bait without stepping on the pan of
the trap. The current should run strongly over the trap so as to keep
the water from freezing, for there are very few nights after trapping
time sets in but that the water freezes in still water. I sometimes
dam the water to make it run strongly over the trap. Everything about
the trap should be left looking as natural as possible.
In cold weather I go on the same principle. When everything is frozen
solid I use a hatchet cutting a hole in the bank; use ice or chunks
of wood to make a lane to set your trap in, and throw your bait in as
far as you can get it. Of course you cannot fasten it.
To show how well animals can scent a bait or anything of that kind I
will relate an incident that happened several years ago. There was a
fresh fall of snow and being warm the skunk were out of their
burrows, and I was tracking one going southeast course. All at once
it turned square to the left going some thirty feet and came to an
old dried up mole covered with the snow. He nosed around it a while
and then went the same direction as before. That showed plainly that
animals can scent their game.