SOUTHERN METHODS.
On reading the methods used by the Northern mink trapper one is
almost forced to the conclusion that the mink there is a different
one from those here, (in Texas), but of course such is not the case.
My limited experience in trapping mink here has brought me to the
conclusion that they are not afraid of human scent, or old musty
traps either. My opinion is that it is the disturbed surroundings
that cause them to shy from the trap.
I once set a trap in a mink run in rather rank grass at 6 P.M. and
the next morning had a No. 1 mink in it (poor color of course). The
trap was not baited or scented and was set without gloves. Of course
I did not tread down or pull up the grass to make a nice place to
set, but stood at the side and slipped it in the trail in a slight
depression. The mink did not seem trap shy although he had lost a
foot in a previous experience.
There are any number of mink here, but the catch is rather small
compared to the catch of other furs. I very often ask the trappers,
"why don't you go after mink, they will pay you best?" The answer is
invariably, "I can't catch them, I don't know how." "Why don't you
set your traps in their runs, or at the mouth of the dens?" Acting on
this advice he sails out, finds a den, leaves all his traps and other
plunder at it, and hikes out home for a spade and old Towser. They
both put in half a day, then give it up. Mr. Mink is not at home.
Can't trap them no how. Sometimes he accidentally gets one. Then he
goes after them right, tears and digs up every den he can find until
his enthusiasm plays out. By this time he has spoiled all, or a good
portion of his trapping ground, when if he had placed a trap at the
mouth of each den, and done it in a proper manner, he might have
caught twenty or twenty-five mink during the season.
Now and then you find a fellow who has a good mink dog and catches
$75 or $100 worth of them in a season. While this is all right for
the fellow that owns a dog, it does not fill my ideas of getting mink
pelts, as tearing and digging out their dens has a tendency to cause
them to hunt homes elsewhere. I have caught four nice mink at the
mouth of one den in a single season, and very likely I shall catch
some there this season. I do not cover the trap, nor do I use scent
or bait. I place the trap in a depression about four or six inches
from the mouth of the den; don't cock the trap up so that he can see
it twenty feet before he reaches it; arrange matters so he will have
to get over the trap to get in the den. When he comes next time you
will likely get him.
[Illustration: A YOUNG TRAPPER.]
Mink here use the prairies around ponds and small streams that drain
the prairies. Around rice farms is a splendid place for them. They
den in rank grass and sand knolls, and travel at night, in all kinds
of weather, and very often you see them of foggy mornings. They feed
on frogs, small fish, crawfish, birds, rabbits and the like, and very
often they visit the poultry yards. My advice to the Southern mink
trapper is, find where mink use, follow out their trails and runs. By
noticing these closely you will find the places where he is compelled
to put his feet or quit the trail. Here is the place to set your
trap. Take a No. 1 of any good make, set it and adjust it properly
and slip it in the trail through the grass, and be sure that the top
of the jaws and spring are level with the ground. Do this in order
that he can't see the trap until he is at, or in it.
In catching mink on the branches I very often use baits. When you
find a log crossing the stream, cut a notch for your trap, and smear
it with mud so it won't look fresh. It is the same with logs laying
up and down streams. On these sets I use bait and a slight covering
of fine trashy leaves. Put the bait under the trap, stake the chain
to the side of the log, then place on the slight covering.
In most sets in water I make them blind, but should surroundings
require, I bait. While I use a very small amount, I am not averse to
using bait where I consider it required, and can say the same of
covering for traps. As for scent, have never used any, but am of the
opinion it would be of great help at certain seasons.
Mink is about all there is to trap in this part of North Carolina,
and I have studied out a good many things about trapping them. I live
where the country is hilly and has a good many branches and creeks,
yet it is so thickly settled that mink are scarce. Up to within a
year ago there was scarcely any trapping done about here.
Everybody seems to have a spite against the little mink, and whenever
the dogs start one everybody lays aside everything to help kill the
pesky varmint, and whoever kills it demands a chicken pie, whether he
gets it or not. And for just such reasons as this they are very
scarce, and it is very seldom that I can find the track of a real
large one. I think they must get out of this neighborhood as soon as
they are grown.
I have to conceal my traps very cautiously to catch these small and
medium mink. When I am looking for a place to set my trap I select a
narrow sand bar where they wade down into the water. I then dig out a
place for the trap so it will set level and under water about a
quarter of an inch; I then take some large water soaked leaves and
cover trap, then cover leaves with fine dirt or sand like that around
trap. If the water is perfectly still, and nothing to bother
covering, I prefer a piece of wet paper, a little larger than trap,
instead of leaves.
I will say to those trappers who never use anything but leaves to
cover their traps, that they could not get many mink around here that
way, for I have tried it, and they would either go around trap or
jump over it. Always carry some kind of firearms; it will more than
pay for its trouble. Then too, it leads others to believe you are
hunting and they won't be so apt to see you setting traps, and if you
let as few as possible see you set traps you won't have to accuse
"Sneakum" so often. It doesn't matter what you are trapping, cover
your traps the best you can, and then it won't be a fine job; don't
leave any loose dirt, tracks or anything else around trap that looks
odd or unnatural; when you get your pelt, don't tear it off any old
way, take your time and you will get big pay for it.
In the following words I not only express my sentiments but the views
of all trappers I have conversed with on the subject, writes a Texas
trapper. Our mink are not at all educated. They are easily caught in
traps not even concealed. The mink, as we all know, is fond of having
food at all times, and when hungry does not appear to consider the
trap an impediment.
Many are caught in Stop Thief Traps in this community. I was the
first to introduce that trap in this section, and it has met with
favor because it deprives the mink of the privilege of gnawing off
his foot or leg. They are trapped both in water and on land.
I have always had better success trapping mink than other animals,
often catching them by their tails, which, by the way, is the best
kind to hold. If the mink here were trap-shy it would be better for
them, for there are very few of them that have not met the trapper's
fate.
[Illustration: LARGE SOUTHERN MINK.]
A Southern trapper writes as follows: When I was about fourteen years
old I got hold of a price list of raw furs and a kind of trapping
fever got hold of me and I purchased a trapper's guide, and when I
had studied it my father and I set to work to make some traps. When
we got them done I went down to a branch near here and set them the
best I knew how for mink. I tried him every way but never got a
smell. So I tried a year without success. Then I gave it up for
several years and thought I would have to content myself working in
the shop, as I am a mechanic by trade and not a trapper.
In later years I thought I would try it again as the mink were giving
the poultry around here trouble. So I set out again, and in the
meantime I received a price list and I noticed they advertised animal
bait for sale. I ordered a bottle of mink bait and thought I would
catch them. When I received the bait I found where an old mink or two
had a runway in a small branch. They would come up the branch every
night. I killed some birds and used some mink bait on them and hung
them over my traps. One old dog mink would come within six inches of
the bait and my traps and did not pay any attention to it. I had some
of my traps in water and some on sand bars concealed the best I knew
how, but I did not get him that way.
One evening I was at the shop and I told my father I was going down
to place my traps and see which was the smartest, the mink or me. I
had noticed he would go by my traps and climb up a little bank and
jump down over a root, so I set the trap there and covered with
leaves. I had four traps set close together, and when I went to the
sets the next morning I found him with a foot in each. He didn't dig
and gnaw everything in reach as he was too badly tied up.
I thought I would get them all now, but I never got any more till
last season. I wrote to the Oneida Community for a price list of
traps and they mailed me one, and sent an advertisement of the H-T-T.
So I subscribed at once and received the October number. In reading
the letters I saw Brother F. M. Frazier's letter headed, "Advice to
Young Trappers." I was impressed with the old gentleman's tone of
writing so I wrote to him and asked him for help, and explained my
difficulties to him. He gave me some fine sets and told me things I
never thought of or heard of before, although I have since learned
that they had been published in the H-T-T.
I purchased about thirty-nine second hand traps Nos. 1 and 1 1/2.
December 30th found me setting traps for mink. I carried out Brother
Frazier's plans and directions. I made thirteen blind sets, and on
Monday morning went around to see if anything was doing. The first
trap I came to was sprung and had a mink's toe in it. I felt pretty
bad, but that was more than I had gotten in a good while. So I went
to another trap, and before I got there I saw everything gnawed up,
and on going closer up jumped an old mink on a log near the trap. His
eyes sparked but I soon put an end to him, and I have been catching
mink ever since.
On February 1st I moved some of my traps down a river near here. I
made most of my sets in water and used rabbit for bait. I made
enclosures and put bait in back end of same and the trap at the
entrance. I noticed a hole near the creek that emptied into the river
and I set a trap at the hole. I have noticed that hole for several
years and had been seeing a large mink on that creek for eight or ten
years. I have seen his track where he would go in that hole every
time he would go along by it, but when I set my traps there I didn't
see any tracks. The next time I went there I found a large brown mink
in my trap, but it wasn't the "big one."
I didn't get any more there for some time, neither had I seen the big
mink track since I set my traps down there, but on going to my traps
one morning I saw that something was doing. When I came close I saw
that there was something big in the trap and had dragged the trap
back in the hole the full length of the chain. I took hold of the
chain and began to pull. I soon pulled him out as far as his hind
legs and he looked so big I let go the chain and he went back in the
hole. I pulled him out and put a 22 between his eyes and that settled
him. He measured thirty-two and a half inches from tip to tip on the
board. How is this for a large mink, brother trappers?