ILLINOIS TRAPPER'S METHOD.
I for one will say that the mink is a very shy animal, but I do claim
he can be caught if you study him and set your trap in the right
place. I will suppose that you are trapping along a small stream. All
you need is plenty of traps, a belt with a small hatchet attached, a
small caliber pistol, and a pair of hip rubber boots. A pair of these
boots are as necessary in a trapper's outfit as the main spring is in
the watch or clock. Be sure to have your traps in good working order.
Oh yes, I forgot the scent. This you can make yourself by cutting up
a couple of cats and muskrats in fine pieces and let them rot good,
then add some fish oil and four or five different kinds of oil that
you can buy at a drug store. To make this scent all the better you
had better put in about one-half pound of limburger cheese. Now then
you got her to smelling just right, and every mink that gets a whiff
of this perfume will say, oh joy, and hike off in the other direction
as fast as his legs can carry him. I took a little bottle of this
great scent with me once on a trapping trip. I carried it in my coat
pocket. I was leaning over some roots setting a trap when the cork
came out of the bottle--well, you know the rest. I never need to hunt
for this coat when I want to put it on, for it always makes itself
known.
You are now ready to set your traps. You might take a couple of dogs
and several small boys to help track up the ground. This the mink can
see and smell, and it makes them easier to catch. Now then with your
traps on your back, get down into the water, and be careful when
going in and out of the water and not make tracks in mud and on side
of bank.
The place to set your trap is on the edge of the water. Walk along in
the water and examine every hole just even with the water's edge.
Some of the holes may come out several inches under water. Set your
trap here in water 2 1/2 inches deep, turn spring to right and cover
trap with a muddy leaf, fasten trap with a stick run through ring,
and have chain stretched out in deep water as far as it will reach.
You will see that you haven't touched a thing but your trap and
stake. As for the trap, the running water will clean it of any scent
you may have left on by handling, but the stake I splash with water
and wash a little. If in setting the trap you touch or step on the
bank, wash out your tracks with water.
Now then move on, and if you come to a tree on the bank that has lots
of roots just even with the water, examine it close, for here is a
good place for a mink den. If you find a hole set your trap as
before, being careful to leave things as they were. A place where the
bank guides the mink into the water is a good set. If you set a trap
and have reason to think that the mink will walk around it, then
stick up small sticks and little bushes so as to make a fence to
guide your mink into the trap. A mink is not afraid of it, for he
sees bushes in the water, and it will not scare him a bit.
The way just spoken of, of sticking sticks across the water, is a
very important way to catch mink, and I advise all trappers to give
it a little more thought. If you trap along a ditch or very small
stream just try it. Stick your sticks across the stream just like a
little fence, leaving three gaps, one at each end and one in the
middle. Set your three traps in here, and I bet you will get nearly
every mink that goes up that stream. Of course, stand in the water
while you are doing all of this, and your success will be doubly
better.
When you put out a line of traps where there are mink, hide every
trap as carefully as you can. Suppose you set a trap uncovered at
what you suppose to be a muskrat hole, you don't know but what some
mink might come along, and on entering the hole he sees the
trap--well, it don't take him long to leave the place. Then boys, the
very next hole that mink goes into he will look for another trap. You
don't need to fool a mink very often until he becomes educated, and
then catch him if you can.
[Illustration: TRAPPING DOWN STREAM.]
To catch mink successfully you must have open water. I very seldom
set for mink when water is all frozen up. Did you ever notice that
you made your best catch of mink on a snowy or rainy night? Now, why
is this? It is because your tracks and scent were either washed out
or covered up by snow. A mink is not a hard animal to catch if you
have water and weather just right, and you are careful about setting
your trap. But he is a very shy animal, and boys if you are not
careful to study his habits you will pay dear for every pelt you get.