Sunday History Question

[Asa Lenon]

What renowned mink trapper of the past claimed in his mink trapping book that he wore a suit and tie while checking mink traps so passerbys and theives wouldn't suspect what he was really doing?  :grin: Ace

[RayA]

Dang Asa  I remember reading that yrs ago but the name must nota stuck LOL  RayA

[RdFx]

All i will say is his last name starts with a G.    LOL

[RdFx]

Another tip is  G mentions  to put the mink trap up inside pocket set tunnel after it freezes to get  some more working trap time in minking as it water doesnt freeze over trap inside tunnel as heat fm surronding  ground keeps water from freezing over trap  a little while longer.

[OldCoon]

I heard that statement before, Ace.   But I'm surprised the subject even owned a suit and tie.  LOL  But that was when a large male mink would pay the month's rent.   Everybody and his dog was a mink trapper.

This guy had a raft of kids but I don't know if any followed him into trapping.   He spent his last years in a nursing home.

Come on guys.   Make some guesses.

[RdFx]

Your right on that OldCoon.... Yeppers the suit and tie was a ploy that worked plus  G would take on a partner and one would drive and for long hours just setting so they could get a long line out in good spots.  When one got tired  he would sleep and other would keep going and vice versa... they pounded  the steel in hard and made good money in short time when the mink were paying good.

[Asa Lenon]

Next clue: JCG resided in Iowa, advertised using a picture of a barn wall full of mink pelts and was inducted to the Trapper & Predator Caller Hall of Fame in 1982.

PS-Don't think I would want to trap in a suit and tie!  LOL!  :lol: My dad used to have a fit back in the 40's and 50's about the suit and tie story along with the picture of a barn wall of mink pelts.  Dad run an add it the FFG magazine stating "Trappers Beware-Don't be fooled by pictures of ranch mink and furbuyers sheds." JCG had a fit about the ad and threatened to sue Dad and the FFG magazine for printing it.  Dad wrote back this simple letter "Dear Mr G, if the shoe fits, put it on." LOL  :lol: Ace

[yottey]

J.Curtis Grigg of Hopkinton  

[Asa Lenon]

Bingo again Yottey! :grin:

I have a question for Old Coon, RdFx and any other experienced mink trappers. It has always been generally accepted throughout the trapping fraternity that mink do not like tainted foods, that baits and lures must be kept or formulated with fresh products  to consistently attract mink. Now, the famous mink trapper J. Curtis Grigg wrote before he died in a nursing home that his noted, famous mink lure was formulated in a base of rotted down walleye.  What do you guys think of that?  Ace

PS-Its your turn RdFx for a Monday history question?

[Wackyquacker]

Abe Lincoln.   Gee hope I'm not too late.

[yottey]

His lures were made the same way he lived his life!Enough said. As far as bait goes for mink I feel fresh is best! and for lures give me ratglands with a smidge of mink glands plus a few other ingrediants, definetly nothing rotted!yottey

[OldCoon]

The lure's base was rotted down walleyes?   Well that's only the base and other ingredients were obviously added.   With each addition the product would undergo changes.   Remember he was not using rotted down walleyes to attract mink but only the essence of it with other additives.   This comes under the heading [in my book anyway] of tincturing.   EJ Dailey compouned most of his lures from tinctures.

I must admit though Ace that J. Curtis's statement does surprise me as most mink lures begin with mink or muskrat glands, mink urine and  then dashes of weasel musk and the like.

[Asa Lenon]

Thank for your opinion Old Coon!  I would assume that as you say, Grigg added mink musk, muskrat musk and his possible secret ingredients to the rotted Walleye base, making the lure appeal to hunger, nature and curiosity. The fact still remains that the hunger call he claims to have used was rotten fish rather than the accepted practice of keeping mink lures and baits fresh. If the added ingredients somehow nullified or diluted the rotted walleye, then there would have been no purpose in using it to begin with or bothering to rot it down.  Ace

[Newt]

Yes- "but" in LURE MAKING 101

 Dont meat,glands,fish and  some oils.When rotted down or aged.Change there smell? and creat different reactions animal behaveral ? (urenating,rolling and such)

 And  when rotted or adged in a     1-open air enveroment
2-air tight place
3- or  buryed
 Dont these same meats,glands and some oils take on a different oder all together ?
 
And dont adging the lure. After its been formulated. Change its oder ?
Sometimes to something totaly different ?

[Asa Lenon]

I think your correct on all counts Newt. However, Grigg wasn't a chemist or analyst of any sorts so why would rotting the base be necessary to achieve something special. The idea of the fish in the first place would be to appeal to the hunger element of the lure so it would work in pockets without bait and certainly the keen nose of the mink could decipher that odor underlying other ingredients plus detect that it wasn't fresh. The fish odor had to be quite dominant or any trash fish wold do rather than finding enough Walleyes to make barrels of lure. Ace

[coyotero]

Asa  Is it possible the base of rotted down walleye was rotted down past the"sewer gas" stage? Also weren't most lures based on rotted bases in those days because they didn't know how to stop/fix the scent to keep from further decomposing?

[Asa Lenon]

Good point coyotero, Grigg may have been more primitive than professional in his lure making.  My Dad was well aware of preserving fish and shrimp fresh as a base for his mink lures as far back as the 1920's. But then again, it appears Dad was way ahead of his time on most everything concerning trapping.  Ace

[OldCoon]

Ace, your family goes way back in the lure business.   Remember when the term 'lure' wasn't so widespread?   They used to call it scent or decoy.   And you never had a formula.   What you had was a recipe.

But as was noted most everything began with something or another rotted down.   I might add here a lot of it went from bad to worse after that.

I always believed [but I'm not professional lure maker] that every time you add something to your lure's base you change that product.   Some of these changes are radical others are subtle, but they are changes all the same.

As was noted J. Curtis was a bit tricky so when he wrote "rotted down walleye" did he mean the actual rotted down fish or was that an his way of saying fish oil [made from walleyes] without actually saying it?

Now if in fact it was fish oil he was speaking of I have several lure formulas here that call for fish oil [mostly slamon or trout oil] as the main or base ingredient.

Must have been good walleye fishing out there in Iowa somewhere.

[Asa Lenon]

Your probably right Old Coon, Grigg probably meant rendered down walleye referring to rendering down for the oil rather than rotted down. That would make more sense to me!  Thanks!   :grin: Ace