Author Topic: Mink trapping problem (Read 2743 times)

ncmountainman · « **on:** February 27, 2007, 12:57:16 AM »

For a good many years now I have had to try to trap with essentially one arm tied behind my back by the hound hunter related regulation problems here in NC. There is currently no state regulated season for raccoon in western NC and ridiculously low limits in the rest of the state. The NCTA has a proposal for a western coon season that we supported. We are still waiting to hear the results on that. I have been looking hard for ways to prevent the hordes of coon from trashing out so many of my good mink sets. I have at times turned loose well over a hundred in less than a week from both mink and rat sets and rabies is getting very serious here. I realize that this is probably more of a unique problem for me and many trappers welcome a coon catch anyway. It is to the advantage of the serious mink trapper to save the good harder to find mink sets from being destroyed by coons as well keep a coon catch from turning mink away from nearby sets. I do make some blind sets in places that are less likely to catch coon along with using more 110s. Lately I have been experimenting with using additional overhead fencing to make coons go over or around some blind sets and that does look promising so far.

I would appreciate any tips or info that that would give me more of an edge on dealing with this problem. Right now Im at times losing more than 60% of my better mink sets.
David

trappnman · « **Reply #1 on:** February 27, 2007, 02:50:25 AM »

around here, using 110s would eliminate just about all of the coon. I.ve had coon snap 110s, but nevre caught one. Our coon are big- 20 lbs almost average and for sure are average in late winter trapping.

You might have success doing what I do, but without traops. If coon are that big a bother, mighht work.

I trap coon and mink on my mink lines. I have a 3 day check on drowning sets, but don't have the time of conditions to set every set up for drowning a coon.

So I make my coon sets, usually deep pockets or pvc pipe on drowners, then make my mink blind sets in between them.

when its cold, and the volume of coon is lower, this works very good.When it warms up late Feb or so- you just have too many coon and too many HUNGRY coon to make it work.

ncmountainman · « **Reply #2 on:** February 27, 2007, 05:51:21 AM »

Thanks Trappnman. The only time I catch coon in 110s or 120s are either in a coni box or the very occasional foot catch. I have had gray fox stick a paw into a 110 while they were messin around rat dens. You do have a larger coon there. I used to see about a 15 lb average here with some going larger in the old days. I am trying out a dozen of the #50 victors that I will have ready for next season. I may load up pretty good on them while they are still making them.

I guess if we get a western coon season with enough of a limit to make it an effective strategy I will have to go back to gang setting coon on either side of a gang set mink location. I used to make 3-5 coon sets above and below several hot mink sets and only a few coons made it through. Heres one example of a good mink location that I set that way a long time ago. At this location I set both ends of a crossing log above a good culvert and made pocket sets for everything else except for the two log sets and the two blind culvert sets for mink. The catch was 13 coons, 1 gray fox, 3 possums, 1 muskrat, 1 groundhog, and 3 mink out of a total of 8 foothold sets run daily for one week, some of them on drowners.

As you say we have come to the same conclusions.

Thanks for the good input Trappinman.

Seldom · « **Reply #3 on:** February 27, 2007, 11:00:51 AM »

Though I’m a faithful student and proponent of Tman’s blind, mink setting principles there is also a time and place to use a bottom edge set or a deeper elbow set with a 110.

IMHO I certainly wouldn’t pass up a single mink blind set location but I’d be paying extra attention to where you can use submerged 110’s and learn the how & the why of using the sets I’ve mentioned.

Flexibility is the key.

ncmountainman · « **Reply #4 on:** February 27, 2007, 11:33:16 AM »

Thanks Seldom, I like the elbow pocket but I havent tried the submerged version. Which way works best bait and/or lure or just blind set? Should I maybe throw some dry grass down in there for added interest? Mink work tunnel systems and old half caved in beaver dens with underwater entrances. Those sets do well when I can find them. I have considered shortening the handles on a light weight set of post hole diggers for making elbow pockets. Ill bet they would help make the underwater version a lot quicker and easier.

I have Ken Smythes book and some extra 110s, 50s and stabilizers put together so Im planning to have a serious go at that next season. Many times I have seen sign in places on the bottom close to the bank or where something has been working in under bridge retaining walls.

I hear ya on the flexability. Adapt and overcome.

I appreciate the info Seldom.
David

Seldom · « **Reply #5 on:** February 27, 2007, 12:14:26 PM »

From working on a trapping project for a number of years where I was required to only use bottom edge and submerged elbow sets I can say they both should have their time and place in any mink trapper's arsenal. That's what flexability is.

I've tried several different setups for the elbow set but the one that works for me at my locations is simply covering a natural, submeredged entrance with a bodygrip. You'll have to do a little studying and come to your own conclusion of what works for you though.

ncmountainman · « **Reply #6 on:** February 27, 2007, 12:27:36 PM »

Thanks for the replies. I have paid my dues on a lot of this stuff just like you guys have but I know I will always be learning. I am in something of a bind with the way things are now and figured that by checking with yall I might get a little more of an edge in dealing with these problems so I could have a better chance to really get things going again. If I dont get some relief on these coon regs soon Im probably just going to quit turning them loose and just start laughing and shooting.

I like the looks of that new mink trowel that J.C.Conner is making. I switched to using tile spades a long time ago but that one looks like a real good one. I had to go back to using the pack again because they took the state right of ways away from us here, so extra weight and having to carry all that stuff over log jams is more of a consideration for me now.

trappnman · « **Reply #7 on:** February 27, 2007, 01:04:18 PM »

oh I agree Seldom- I was thinking he was already using BE sets with th 110s.

next yar, am setting a new loop- and I want zero coon, zero anything but rats and mink- so will be setting 100% BE sets. BK wants to come and look the new loop over- that would be a good thing!

Newt · « **Reply #8 on:** February 27, 2007, 04:04:37 PM »

The Botton edge set works.
Also try set'n the bottom of streams. Where the mud or bottom is concaved Or the sand and gravel is shined up from animals swimm'n there.

Hey there seldom

ncmountainman · « **Reply #9 on:** February 28, 2007, 12:25:00 AM »

Thanks Newt, Ill give that a try. I like to streamline my mink trapping with about a half dozen sets especially when Im running the longlines, but things havent been so streamlined lately with all these coons that kamikaze into my sets. I turned loose 11 out of 11 blind mink water sets in a 20 yard stretch on the big river one day along with many more in that area. How many could I get in a season if I tried to, 2000?

My longest mink line so far has been 300 miles. I see coons in my sleep sometimes. We are fortunate thanks to the NCTA to have a chance to fix that problem, hopefully before any more pretty young school teachers get bitten by rabid animals. We wont give up. Are you going to be able to make the NCTA Spring Fling? Im looking forward to hangin out with Jimmy and the rest of the guys. There will be some good demos and good times there from what I hear so far. If anyone is interested in going to that just let me know and I will be glad to give info and directions. Its posted in the NC forum. I hope everyone has had good seasons. Im looking forward to next season whether its tough or not. I still love it anyway.
David

Seldom · « **Reply #10 on:** February 28, 2007, 02:47:20 AM »

Hi ya Newt, you "Champeen Snare Maker & All-around Good Guy" you.

No matter which forum I'm reading, when I see that one 4-letter word I'm drawn to it like a moth to the flame. What is that 4-letter word you might ask? It's "NEWT" for cryin out loud!

ncmountainman · « **Reply #11 on:** February 28, 2007, 05:57:37 AM »

Trappnman Im not gonna give up on our blind sets. Those are proven longliner sets that can be made in a reasonable ammount of time by an experienced mink trapper with an eye for location. That gang set strategy will produce a lot of fur without spending the whole day tied up running around looking for perfect locations. Those other sets are good and I will punch in some of them along the way too. I appreciate the info. It does help to know that good experienced longline trappers see things the same way and that it looks like Im heading in the right direction. I will be hard charging next season and not be letting any mickey mouse problems get in my way.
Thanks
David

trappnman · « **Reply #12 on:** February 28, 2007, 06:13:50 AM »

if you have that many coon- good luck with footholds.

I've never found any set that is out of the reach of early of late coon. Mid winter a little different here- coon aren't really hungry, and aren't really all that inquisitve..

While I make good money on coon, sometimes I long for the 50s and 60s when you made a rat/mink set and never even considered an incidental coon catch. Back then, guys with outstanding dogs would take 25-30 in a VERY good season, and thats hunting 3-4 times a week- hard.

Seldom · « **Reply #13 on:** February 28, 2007, 07:33:37 AM »

Steve, it’s good to hear that you haven’t given up on the BE set. I personally don’t know BK but I have followed his posts whenever you guys get a good discussion going on mink. I’d bet a dollar to a donut that he’ll put the “why” to the set and things will click!! Heck, when the bunch of you got together out in PA a few years ago there was probably a lot of “why” clicking going on.

trappnman · « **Reply #14 on:** February 28, 2007, 08:11:51 AM »

BK always told me- if he had open water all year, he probably wouldn't make many BE sets.

I catch mink and rats in BE sets every year... but my hearts in footholds.

Going to the BE exclusively in the new territory- lots of state land, more people.

I'll be like a shadow in the night...LOL

BK could defintely shorten the learning curve.

ncmountainman · « **Reply #15 on:** February 28, 2007, 08:49:35 AM »

I hear ya Trappinman. I have been working state land for cats the last 20 years or so. Theres plenty of that here. Some of those high up cliffs and places aint for the faint hearted.

I have been checking some gameland coastal marshes with the mapcard topo maps, satellite aerial photos and have the NC game land maps on disk. I should probably check with Boggy on that before I get there with a pile of stoploss in that wilderness of cattails. I cant wait to see it though.

The ability to be a shadow in the night and slip around like a sniper in the day does have its advantages.

Good luck on that new territory. Let me know how it goes sometime. I live for setting up new places. My father told me long ago I should have been a mountainman back in the 1800s.

jim-NE · « **Reply #16 on:** March 01, 2007, 01:34:02 AM »

Blind sets for mink with a #110. Find some creek-side roots, or a brush pile, or debris from flooding, etc. and punch a small hole through the debris if no natural hole through it is available. Keep the hole about as small as your arm. Pruning shears work well for this. Make the hole right at the water level or right where the water and edge of the bank meet. Look for any mink tracks also and follow them until you find a nice tight spot for a #110.
I also take my shovel and a couple jabs into the bank until a chunk falls in the water. The gap between a vertical bank and this chunk should be about the width of a #110. Can lay some debris across the top to make a tunnel, then put a #110 inside well stabilized.
I catch a lot of my mink around here in blind #110 sets, and I prefer small tiny ditch-type creeks where the water flow is no wider than the #110. A few sticks on each side to fence it down and the #110 is stabilized right in the tiny flow.

ncmountainman · « **Reply #17 on:** March 01, 2007, 09:40:04 AM »

That sounds good Jim-NE. I have to load up on 110s again. I tried some of the Sleepy Creeks and the good long handle stabilizers from the Snare Shop and like them both.

Im getting into making more tunnel sets again. I like em. I started making longer rock tunnels and put the foothold inside. It does take a while to stack em up with rocks. I will be using more open top rock tunnels out in mid stream or wherever mink work through shallow rocky places out from the bank. Some of the rat sets in those type places started hitting real good on mink for me. I havent tried digging them out of the bank like that or any tunnels with 110s except for leaning a few rocks over them, but I will. Looks like the tile spade will be even more handy next season. I did make one of those drift pile sets a while back. It was in a long deep section of a very good mink creek. The whole area was really hot. There was a set of tracks going into a long hollow beneath the roots of a fallen sycamore. It was tough using the tile spade on those roots but I opened the back end and although it was a long stretch I could just barely get a 110 back in there. A week later that set hit on a big one. That is a real deadly set and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more of them. I will pick up one of those good ratchet type hand pruners. Heres a quick way to make vertical structure if there is a soft crumbly bank. I find a large flat rock and shave the bank to fit it in then blend it so it dont look interesting anywhere people hang around like bridges. One or two footholds and a drowner if needed makes a quick setup. If I cant stake the bank end of a drowner I use a smaller rock with a wire harness behind the big rock.

Thanks for the info. Im making notes on all this stuff.

trappnman · « **Reply #18 on:** March 01, 2007, 10:28:25 AM »

best stabilier I've seen yet for 100s for BE sets, is the type that go onto a single rebar stake. I can set the trap up at the truck, and when you see the location just push in the rebar. You can go either vertical or horizontal with the rebar.

ncmountainman · « **Reply #19 on:** March 02, 2007, 01:09:13 AM »

The smallest size I have seen advertized are for 160-330 at the CDR Trap Co. They would be great w/Boggys good single spring 160s. I would like to have some 110 size that clamp on T-bars or stakes. Hook me up on a source for those if you will Trappnman. I can make some things but I believe I would rather buy those if they are commercially available. I really like the idea of an adjustable clamp on coni stabilizer.

I used to be a set up man in a machine shop and did purchasing for a while too. I have found good local prices on quantities of material to make drowner rods. I will speed set them over the side of the whitewater kiyak where its tough to use a stake anywhere but on the bank and almost impossible to anchor the deep end. To be able to easily retrieve the catch and avoid situations like where I had to dive in for a tangled otter on a slide wire would be good too.

ncmountainman · « **Reply #20 on:** March 03, 2007, 11:48:41 AM »

Waaaaaaassssuuup Trappnman? Did I wear you out asking too many questions of did you just run into something good looking?

trappnman · « **Reply #21 on:** March 03, 2007, 02:14:51 PM »

ask away!

RdFx · « **Reply #22 on:** March 03, 2007, 02:30:30 PM »

Come on , Steve tempt him like trying to lure that ol buck mink into your 1 1/2 coils

ncmountainman · « **Reply #23 on:** March 04, 2007, 01:14:58 AM »

Hee Hee. Come on. Im better than that. Steve is real good, but I would still just slip across the ridgetop like Albert Johnson or something like that.

I could tell some stories that would curl the hairs on some peoples heads. Steve there arent many like you around here. In fact their scarce as hens teeth. I suspect its that way in a lot of places now. I met a guy name of Ken Toups back in the early 80s. He showed me some things back then and it didnt take long to see that he was real good on everything and slick on the mink trapping. Unfortunately cancer got him a little later on just like we lost Kirby Avery a while back. Every time I wash off and smooth up the bank under a bridge to read fresh mink sign I think of Ken back in the old days.

ncmountainman · « **Reply #24 on:** March 04, 2007, 04:35:00 AM »

FYI
7oaksfarm on the NC Trappers site is getting into making up drowner rods to sell both in a 6 ft. size that I need a lot of for general water trapping and longer 12 ft. ones for beaver. They will be the good welded type with washers and good locks. He uses them on his own lines. I havent seen them yet but I have talked to him for a while and I believe they will be excellent. John is making the complete setups for prices only a little above the cost of the kits at trapper supply companies that dont include the rod. If anyone is interested he can be reached on the NCTA site where he has that posted. Arrangements can be made to meet him at the Spring Fling and probably at the NC annual convention.

RdFx · « **Reply #25 on:** March 04, 2007, 05:49:03 AM »

When it comes right down to brass tacks, alot of VERY good trappers one doesnt even know or hear about unless one meets them on the line or sees their sets. Some of these trappers are loners like the mnt men and dont belong to any association or like to talk to many people. They go about thier business and keep things about what they do quiet!......But each to his own and if everyone was like that trapping would not be here today. Education is the key and teaching our young people.
Now after all that speel a mink trapping equipment hint: Go thru all your traps your going to use for mink or any othe animal and especially for mink. Make sure trap pan falls on its own weight. If screw and nut holds pan, loosen so pan will fall of its own accord. Then adjust the tongue that holds dog fwd or backward so pan is level or just below trap jaws when set. If trap pan notch is too deep, one can file the notch so it has less depth and provide you with a faster set off when target animal steps on pan. For mink especially when swimming or when water depth raises , this is important as mink have short legs and can swim over set trap pan easily. I dont set my traps more than 3 inches under water during regular water levels on streams ect. IF..... i know storm or alot of rain is coming i will then set trap so pan is just covered with water.. this is trial and error and comes from knowledge of a streams water levels after rains and years of trapping on those locations. Good luck

Bogmaster · « **Reply #26 on:** March 04, 2007, 06:24:22 AM »

Lee, you can't use them in Wisconsin,but colony traps work well on those little water weasels.Gonna have to reinforce the doors,as the big males can blow the doors right out.
Tom

RdFx · « **Reply #27 on:** March 04, 2007, 07:08:14 AM »

HUH, Tom!?? You must on another train of thought. I didnt mention colony traps but earlier during start of our trapping season, colony traps were being brought up to the legal department and THOUGHT they were legal but with extensive legal digging, NOPE they arent.. I know of people that have caught mink in colony traps and having stronger doors is good with the big male mink. Tom you mixing Moundmaster again and on a BVR high?

.........

Bogmaster · « **Reply #28 on:** March 04, 2007, 09:30:20 AM »

I know you didn't mention them---that's why I brought them up.A very good mink and rat tool.
Those in wisconsin,designated as fur farms,can ,I believe use colonies.
I have a couple batches of moundmaster in the works.
Tom

RdFx · « **Reply #29 on:** March 04, 2007, 11:38:01 AM »

Oh, okay Tom, i verstcha now! Yes the colony trap works well where you can use it. I believe the WI TRappers Association will be trying to get it legal, probably take 2 -4 yrs though. Yes , WI fur farms can use them..... should be able on rest of WI. Dont know specifics of why law was passed, no one seems to know right now. Nothing like the smell of bvr castor drying, i have a bunch right now haning on wires about 20#s.