MANY GOOD METHODS.
Last winter I knew of at least eight trappers who were trapping for
mink along the same stream where I was trapping, and while all of
them combined caught four mink, I had the good luck of catching
thirteen in my traps and I shot one one morning, making fourteen in
all, says an Ohio trapper.
I wonder how many readers have ever heard a mink scream when in a
trap? I think it is the most blood-curdling hair-raising noise I have
ever heard; it is equal to the scream of a panther. I had great sport
last winter by sending some young boy trappers out to track a mink to
his den. I told them that all they had to do was to follow him to the
last hole he crawled into and then set their traps, but after
following him for about three miles they came back discouraged and
disappointed. They said he had gone into about one thousand holes,
but had always come out again, and such was a fact.
I don't know how they do in other parts of the country, but here it
is next to impossible to track one down; it looks as if they never
stop. I have followed them for six miles already and they were still
going on; I don't believe that they have any regular den or hole
after the breeding season is over; you just have to catch them on the
run.
One evening last fall I was sitting on the creek bank fishing when a
very large mink came up the creek by me and he was a curiosity; his
tail was just as white as snow. I tried awfully hard to get hold of
him last winter, but failed. I presume he never stopped until he
reached the north pole.
I have two methods for trapping them; one is to find a hole along
some stream, an old muskrat or woodchuck hole is best. If there are
no holes it is an easy matter to make one. It is a well known habit
of the mink to be crawling into every hole he comes to, and I have
known them to go one hundred yards out of their path, just for the
pleasure of investigating an old woodchuck hole.
After finding a suitable hole for setting your trap, throw a piece of
muskrat liberally doped with equal parts of oil of peppermint and
sweet oil back in the hole, and set your trap at the entrance; use a
little care in concealing the trap and sprinkle a few drops of the
above oil over the trap, and you may be sure of having the pleasure
of skinning the first mink that comes along.
I have caught them as far as two miles from any stream in my coon and
fox traps, so that goes to prove that they do not stay along the
streams altogether.
Another method I use, and the one I consider the best, is to go along
the banks of some stream, where you are sure that mink are in the
habit of traveling, then get four old boards, six or eight feet long
and six inches wide, (if necessary logs can be used instead of
boards) then stake them down on their edges so that they will form
the letter X, only instead of crossing them leave a small opening of
three or four inches like this X for the mink to run through, then
set the trap a few inches either way from the center, or two traps
can be set, one on each side of the center. They will never jump over
the boards, but instead they will guide them over the trap.
After an experience of 34 years in trapping mink I presume I can
give a few points, writes Mr. Moses Bone, of Iowa, that may help
younger trappers who wish to trap mink. The mink is very cunning
and hard to catch in a steel trap unless you know how and where to
set, which is about the only secret there is in catching mink. I have
had people write to know what scent I used and how I set traps. A man
can learn better methods as long as he traps--experience is the best
teacher--and unless he is willing to work hard he will never make a
successful trapper of any kind of game. A trapper simply wants to
shoulder his traps early in the morning and travel ten, twenty and
perhaps thirty miles a day; he must foot it, for no other method of
traveling will do. The writer has done it many times, starting before
daylight and not getting home until after dark.
As before stated, my experience as a mink trapper began 34 years ago,
my brother and I trapping together, and we began putting out our
traps the first week in November, 1867. There were very few trappers
then and mink were plentiful. In four weeks we caught 101 mink and 50
muskrats. The mink were mostly in prime condition and brought
$300.00. Rats at this time were worth 25 cents each.
At the beginning of the trapping season my brother in one night
caught 15 mink, the largest catch I ever knew. In 1873 I caught 10
mink in one night, but it took two days to visit my traps, walking 60
miles. In 1878 I caught 15 mink in one hole where the water ran all
winter, and I never had to bait the trap as the scent was enough to
attract every mink coming near. In the past three years I have caught
90 mink within a mile of home. Several years ago I caught 8 in one
place.
I use steel traps, not so many as I used to, as trappers are numerous
nowadays. Water set was always my favorite way of catching mink,
setting about two inches under water, in a spring, ditch or where the
water ran swift, otherwise the water will freeze over. Of course when
very cold weather comes, dry land sets must be resorted to. I always
use No. 1 steel traps. No. 1 1/2 is better for skunk or coon. For
bait use chicken, rabbit, or still better, muskrat, but they must be
strictly fresh.
In order to make mink trapping interesting one must make it pay, and
where there are plenty of the animals the scientific trapper can make
it pay, for they are about as easily caught as any other game when
you understand your business. Mink fur is not good and prime before
the middle of November in Iowa and states in same latitude, and it is
useless to catch them earlier.
When you see signs of the mink set your trap as near as you can get
to a spring, ditch or running water with a steep bank a foot or more
high. Here dig a hole in the bank 6 or 8 inches inward and low enough
to let the water flow in. Now get a forked stick, cut off one fork
say an inch long, leaving the other 6 or 8 inches long. Sharpen the
end of the long fork and run it through your bait (remember bait must
be fresh) up to the fork. The bait is now fastened on the stick and
run it in the bank back in the hole as far as you can.
If any mink comes along they will find it. Set your trap near
entrance, but always in the current. Take weeds or sticks, say a foot
long, stick them in the mud, making a lane so the mink must pass over
the trap in order to get the bait.
If you wish a good scent to draw mink in the spring of the year,
collect the scent bags of the muskrat and preserve them in alcohol,
to which is added 5 cents worth of oil of cumin if you like. I
discarded all scents, however, 30 years ago, finding nothing better
than fresh bait, the more bloody the better. The mink has a good
smeller. For dry land set I go on the same principles, but cover
traps with leaves, grass or fine rubbish.
This method is very successful for mink, and in fact for almost any
fur bearing animal that travels up and down a creek, says an Illinois
trapper. The first thing to do is to set your trap near the shore so
it will be about two inches under water. Stake the trap or fasten it
to a drag, just as you like. The trap should be a No. 1 1/2 or you
can set two or three No. 1 traps together. Now after the trap is set,
get some weeds or brush and begin at the trap and make a V shaped
pen, leaving an opening where the trap is about ten inches wide if
you are trapping for coon. The brush or weeds, whichever is used,
should extend several feet from the trap in either direction.
After you are through it should be like illustration No. 1. This, we
will suppose, is for catching animals coming down the creek. Now go
down the creek a few rods and set another trap, but have the narrow
opening of the pen pointing up the creek, as in the illustration No.
2, which will catch an animal traveling up the creek. If these pens
are made right, then a mink will walk into the pens and through the
opening nine times out of ten instead of walking around them. Try
this method once and be convinced. These pens should be about a foot
high.
[Illustration: NORTHWEST TRAPPER AND MINK.]
If brush is used it should be fine so it will lie close together so a
mink cannot pass through. If there is danger of the creek washing the
brush away, then fasten it by driving a few small stakes in the
ground to hold it.
Remember that no bait or scent should be used. If footprints are left
on the ground, then splash water on them. Remember that half of the
pen is on the shore and the other half is in the creek, providing the
creek is a wide one; this depends on the width of the creek. It is a
good idea to trap on both sides of a creek; one is sure then of
catching an animal whether it goes down on one side or the other.
This is the only method I use and it has proven to be successful.
If a mink is hungry and finds bait that has been left for him he will
pay no attention to human scent, while if he is not hungry he will
not take the bait be it ever so fresh. A mink will sometimes make a
trail in the fresh snow by passing several times over the same route
and then never use that trail again. I have known otter to do the
same.
I caught two mink last winter in a ditch, setting trap in the water.
The first night I caught a medium sized mink and the third night I
caught a small one, and would have caught every mink that went up
that ditch if it had not frozen up and snowed so during the time that
I could not keep the traps properly set.
If a person sets out a line of traps in this country, Iowa, while
there is snow on the ground, he is simply going to a great deal of
trouble to give them to some one.
In trapping mink I watch for signs, and when I locate a mink I
consider it mine and it generally is, while if you bait up a trap
somewhere that you may think is a good place to catch a mink, it
often happens that you may make a good many trips to your trap before
you get a mink, and you may say to yourself that it is human scent
that keeps them away, when perhaps there has not been a mink near the
trap. My advice to young trappers is not to set where a mink may go
but set it where you know he is going, and you will find it no trick
to catch mink.
I have many different ways of trapping the mink, says a Pennsylvania
trapper, as I set my traps only where I see their signs, and as the
signs are often different, and found in different kinds of places,
one way is not enough. I use Blake & Lamb No. 1 traps mostly for
mink. I never stake a trap down except in water set. On dry land I
fasten to a brush clog.
If one sets only where he sees the signs, and only sets one or two
traps for each mink, from one to two dozen traps are all that are
required. In fall and early winter I set my traps is natural
enclosures in old drifts, in hollow logs, under roots of trees, etc.,
baiting with fresh muskrat, fish, rabbit, chicken, mice or birds,
using fish oil or muskrat musk for scent.
I do not believe in using mixed scents. In late winter and early
spring I set traps in the same kind of places but without bait, using
the musk of mink for scent. The mink is not looking for food then,
and such scents as fish-oil and muskrat musk are not as good as the
musk of the mink itself.
The traps should always be covered with some light substance, which
will not look out of place. Never smoke your traps, boil them in
walnut hulls, maple bark or sweet fern. Mink may also be caught by
tying a rabbit in a shunk of a hollow log, blocking one end shut and
setting his trap in the other end.
When streams are open the shyest mink may be caught by putting
several small live fish on a string and stretching the string in a V
shaped enclosure, in shallow water, setting the trap at the open end.
Mink are easily caught by setting the trap at the foot of a steep
bank which they use. If the trap is properly set, the bank will guide
the mink into the trap.
There are many other ways of trapping the mink, where the signs are
different, and found in different places. An experienced trapper can
trace a mink for miles, where another person would not see a sign. A
trapper must be able to read signs as he would read a book. As to
human scent, that is all nonsense. The scent will not hang to the
trap or bait more than a couple of hours.
I find a stream where mink frequent, look for tracks either in or out
of water, close to edge, however, says an Arkansas trapper. Now don't
set your trap on a track thinking you will get a mink, but look for a
slide; mink have a slide same as otter; don't set on slide but go
above slide along bank where water is not over four inches deep. Set
a No. 1 or 1 1/2 trap, cover spring, don't disturb bank but just lay
a small pole, attach your trap chain to this, cover trap and chain
with old wet leaves. Don't take your hands, get a stick and rake the
leaves over it, and do not let any one cause you to think that mink
are not afraid of human scent. Be sure to crowd your trap against
bank as a mink travels close to the bank. This is one way.
Another is, find a tree that has the earth washed away from the roots
to the water, it being right against the bank, look in the shallow
water around roots for mink tracks, if any, set trap. Again crowd
bank with trap and you may expect mink from under that tree.
Another way is in looking along the bank of stream you will notice
small holes straight back in bank just under water, extending back
perhaps 4 or 6 inches; a mink did it. Look a little further and you
will see a hole extending back in bank. It may be 6 or 8 inches
across, extending back to 4 to 8 inches. Every time a mink travels
this stream he visits these holes. He dug them to get crabs and small
fish to bed in them. He catches them on his rounds. Now set a trap at
mouth of hole and you can get a mink.
[Illustration: NORTHERN MINK TRAPPER'S SHANTY.]
I have used bait. When I do I prefer red bird or woodpecker. Fix your
bait always so mink cannot get at it without crossing or getting over
trap. I believe this is sufficient, however, an old trapper or an
experienced one needs no pointers, he will get the game.
Two years ago last fall I had a line of traps consisting of a few fox
traps and the rest mink traps, about fifteen in all, says a Maine
trapper. My partner, Dan, was a very young trapper, having caught
only a few mink and skunk. I would rather have trapped alone, but as
I was just starting in I thought I would rather have some one with me
that knew a little more about it. So one November morning we started
out all aglow and pushed on by the cool morning air we set the above
named traps and returned home very tired and weary, but the thought
of bringing back a fox or a nice mink the next day gave me more life,
and I retired happy enough for my day's work.
The next morning we were up early and made our rounds, but to our
great disappointment we found that we had only a skunk and a striped
one at that, but we didn't lose heart at that but kept right on, now
and then changing a trap or two.
At last one morning my partner said to me, "I think I have found out
what the trouble is with our trapping." "That's good," I said, "tell
me about it." "Well," went on Dan, "you see all the traps we've got
set on that brook are along the banks. Well now the stream is all
frozen over tight so that nothing can get into the brook from the
outside, so I don't see why a mink coming, up that brook under the
ice--for under the ice they must come or we would see their tracks
somewhere along the bank--can smell the bait on the outside, so what
I think best is this: Take an axe and cut a long hole about 8 inches
wide clear across the brook. Now get some sticks about 3 or 4 feet
long, it all depends on the depth of the water, and drive them into
the mud, beginning at one side of the brook. Now drive until you get
to the middle of the brook, then do the same on the other side,
leaving a place about the width of the trap in the middle. Care must
be taken to get sticks near enough together so he can't get through
only just at the middle. Now if the water is very deep so he can't
get through only just at the middle, we can build up until about to
the surface or say 4 inches from the surface. Now set your trap on
the thing you have built up, and just between the posts, and I think
you will have him."
This advice was acted upon at once and the next morning we had a fine
mink measuring about 28 inches. The next morning we had another and
in a few mornings another, and so on until we had caught just nine
mink from that place.
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 space 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.
[Illustration: 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 grass 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 grass 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.