PROPER SIZE TRAPS.
For mink I have found a No. 0 trap, if carefully set with proper
precaution, is as good and lucky as a No. 1 or 1 1/2 trap as some
trappers advocate, writes a Canadian trapper. I used a bunch on a
considerable sized lake one fall. The lake had numerous small creeks
and rivers falling into it. At the junction of these with the lake I
set my traps. They were all No. 0, selected on account of their
lightness, as there was a long carry to get to the lake from a
traveled route and added to the canoe, my gun, blanket and
provisions, the traps were somewhat of a consideration, and I
therefore took the ones of less weight.
I made two visits to the lake before it froze and got 20 mink, 1
marten and a female fisher.
Where I made a water set I saw that the water outside went down
pretty bold, and I always tied a stone to the trap and thus insured
the animal drowning.
Where I set on land I without fail attached the chain to a tossing
pole, thereby preventing the fur being damaged by mice or the animal
being eaten by some other.
Some may question the possibility of such small traps being for any
length of time in order as a water set, but I must explain. The lake
was of considerable size and the season the latter part of October.
Such a lake at that season of the year is not subject to any great
fluctuations in the height of the water.
I may say in conclusion about this particular sized trap, that on
that trapping tour I only lost one mink. I found the trap sprung with
a single toe in the jaws.
The trap had been a dry set one, and by reading the signs I found
some snow had melted and dripped from an over-hanging branch on to
the junction of the jaws. This had frozen (the trap being in the
shade) and prevented its usual activity. As a consequence it only
caught on as the mink was in the act of lifting his foot, so I was
satisfied it was circumstance and not the fault of the trap that
caused the missing of this mink.
The No. 1 Blake & Lamb and the Oneida Jump are the ideal mink traps
for me, says an Ohio trapper. When it comes to the snow set the old
Blake & Lamb is second to none. The only fault I find with this trap
is that the chain is not long enough, and this is the fault with
other makes of traps as well.
When I trap mink I use muskrat carcass for water sets. The favorite
food of the mink is crawfish, frogs and fish. Of course this kind of
bait can't well be found in the trapping season. When I find a sly
old mink I leave off both scent and bait, conceal my traps well under
the bank or places where it likely travels, and just leave the trap
there. If I don't catch it in a week I only go close enough to see
whether there is anything in the trap or not.
About mink, I think they are queer little animals. Sometimes they are
wise and sometimes they are not. I think the reason some of them are
wise is because they get educated on trap lore by getting their toes
pinched in some poor trap or trap that is carelessly set. I use No. 1
Newhouse for mink and lost only one mink out of my traps last season,
and I got one of his toes. I cover my traps so there isn't a bit of
chain or trap in sight, and use clean traps free from rust. I use
muskrat musk and mink musk with good success, but common sense is the
best.
I trapped over the same ground all winter and caught four mink in one
place and three in another. I see that some trappers think that the
scent of the mink will scare them away, but that is the best scent I
could find when trapping mink on rat houses. A large rat will make a
hard fight for a small mink if he has a fair show, and when a mink
gets into a fight he will throw out scent like a skunk. For that
reason I think scent is all right to attract mink to traps.
Now if you set a trap and use this scent with a little muskrat musk,
when a mink comes along he smells the musk of both mink and rat, and
begins to look around or rather smell around for the remains of the
rat to make a meal on. If you have the trap and scent in the right
place you will have another mink on your list.
Of course there are a few old fellows that are educated that are
pretty shy of anything that isn't natural to them. These fellows you
can catch in blind sets somewhere along your line. About the best
place I can find to catch mink is where they drill into a rat house
to catch rats. They smell around till they find a soft place on the
south side of the house and dig a hole just large enough to crawl
through, right into the rat's nest.