Something a little different - Weasel Trapping

[primetime]

Now I'm not going to become a long liner weasel trapper, but it would be cool to catch a few while checking other traps. I say weasel, but ermins are what I think we have, maybe both...

What do I need to trap some weasels. I know weasel boxes, but are there other options. Anyone got any other ideas for weasel boxes other then wood. Cheap and easy is what I'm looking for. Bait, Lure, Locations...

I've got an old abandon farm house and buildings that has tall grass all around it, that I'm sure has to have some weasels. So let's talk weasels for a bit.

Later - PT

[dj88ryr]

PT,
When I used to trap weasels, all I ever used was a Victor rat trap, the wooden ones. Drill a hole through the wood, so that you can nail the trap to fence posts and along buildings. Nice bloody bait is all you need, those rat traps kill them quick, make sure the trap is firing down..LOL.

[primetime]

Neat Idea - How would you fasten the bait? How did you keep other animals from firing the trap like coon?

[gunner]

I did much the same and just built an open bottom box -well 3 sided with a top- open at the bottom and placed over the trap off the ground. just be sure as trap fires down there is enoutgh room for the trap to come down inside the box.

[dj88ryr]

primetime said:

Neat Idea - How would you fasten the bait? How did you keep other animals from firing the trap like coon?

I used wire to attach the bait, I would prewire before leaving the shed, then it was just a matter of nailing them up and setting them. If a coon or some other critter fired the trap, all they would get was a nice whack on the snout... ;D

[primetime]

So how well did you do weasel trapping? What were your best locations and how many would you usually take per location in a winter? Would a chunk of muskrat work? Or what is the best bait... Maybe a muskrat heart or liver or something? Also do you need to salt the bait to keep it from freezing?

So many questions...

[dj88ryr]

I trapped around old homesteads, and abandoned farms and buildings.
I never salted the bait, and it would get cold in NH.
I usually used chicken entrails but would not hesitate to use muskrats innards either.
I usually took anywhere from 15- 40 per season. Probably 2-3 per location, usually just the cream and move on, they weren't my main target, so my move would be dictated by my other catches, not just the weasels.

[conibear]

Primtime weasel trapping is in my blood I love to trap them they are ez to trap and worth more most years than muskrats and we have alot of them here. I have tried alot of things for weasel trapping but love the 1 1/2 longspring i put electrical tape around each jaw so when you catch them in between the jaws they sometimes fight and with the thin hide they have get cut so this helps with that a 100%. Know for cubbys I have used old coffee cans. and 1/2 Gallon milk carton just cut out the end were you pour from etc,etc. But I have went to all wood cubbies there ez to make and ez to put out and check traps. For bait and lure I went to all beaver flesh just freeze and put it back in the cubbie I have a longer screw drilled through the back of the cubbie, that comes in side that i put the flesh on with using a screw they have to really work to get the flesh of. And for lure skunk mixed with Vaseline just take a q-tip and put lure on it and put it on top of cubbie weasels have good smeller. And as far as habitat I find around here at least is cattail Marsh's with culverts going to another marsh, wood piles or brush piles,old houses, willows are my best. It's kind of like cat trapping set on track. I hope this helps.

[primetime]

Would a skunky coyote lure like Cachottier work?

Would you mind giving dimensions of your box when you get a chance.

Also do you skin them like a mink, or do you freeze them whole.

Hopefully I'm not the only one that is interested in this.

Later- PT

[conibear]

PT yes any skunk type lure will work use what you like I just like using skunky lure.As for cubbies I make mine out of old scrape lumber I have a couple of friends that do construction for houses so I get all there used scraps. As for dimensions on my cubbies I make mine 16 inch's long by 6 to 7 inch's wide I have a hole drilled in one end so the weasel can go into and on the top of the box I have the wood just nailed half way so the top can slide to the side to open and check traps. Sorry pt it's hard for me to explain without showing you pictures and I do not know how to put them on the computer yet. But if you get the Trapper predator caller mag they have in this issue a great way to make great cubbies for weasels. And yes I skin everyone they are ez to skin just be carefull with the tail thats were the money is at they will dock you half or more if the tail is gone. Skin them just like mink and you can buy weasel stretcher and for a wedge I use a pencil. And the most important the gland save the glands I use a scalpel, my wife is a RN nurse so she got one the doctors use for surgeries and they work great for taking of the small, small weasel glands I hope this helps.

[lumberjack]

Conibear-funny you should mention cattails and culverts,thats exactly how I caught one the other day,a 160 trip wired in a trail thru cattails at the lip of a culvert none too dry I might add.He would have definatley been swimming had he made it past the trap,or to enter it,I dont recall which way he was going.

[trappnman]

good luck on those weasels- I've taken 4 in my life here- I don't think we have many except in select areas- sure don't see much sign of them.

[conibear]

Lumberjack great job on the weasel. I catch alot of them in culverts when everthing if frozen over but not just any culverts there seems to have to be alot of cover around the culvert Grass, cattails, willows etc, ect. I have a weasel living in a wood pile by my skinning shed who gets feed really well with scraps from fleshing I can't trap him he is just to cute and helps kill mice around.LOL

[musher]

What do you do with the glands?

I stretch them on female mink boards if they have any size to them.

Large coffe cans, with the bottom dented out, will accomodate rat traps. You drill a hole in the plastic lid so the weasel can get in. The can keeps the birds away.

The best place to catch a weasel is where you don't want it. In a marten set! There is a lot of them this year. I picked up 7 incidentals last run.

[conibear]

Musher all I have ever done is cut them and stored in a old ice cream pail and froze them and then sell them to a dealer they are a hot item. There are alot of weasel around this year to more than usally. I started on nov 5 and took 65 already off to good start will get even better this weekend when our fisher, cat and marten season starts thats when I hit them hard while running my cat, fisher and marten line. And trap weasel until march 1st. We don't have many marten around here so I don't use any 120's but I can imagine how the weasels would plug up a good marten set.

[primetime]

Lots of interesting information here! Anyone else got anything to add? I'll be getting a few traps ready and I'll see how things go. I've seen about as many weasels as I have mink in my life. They are just something you don't see much of, but you know they are out there. An ermine in the snow is a neat sight. Almost impossible to see unless you know he is there.

[Darcy Alkerton]

Primetime,

I use wooden cubbies with Victor Pro rat traps. 2 in each box with the bait in the middle. Quite often catch doubles here. When they are really bothering my fisher sets I use the Egg Trap with a muskrat heart on the trigger. Leave it on the ground at the base of the running pole and the fisher cannot get into it so the next time Mr. Weasel comes to steal my bait, he is mine. Just make sure you do not forget where you set the Egg Trap as when it snows everything is White! The past couple of years I have used a couple dozen Koro traps also. I freeze a mouse in the pin trigger and it is a sure catch every time. Just a couple of options that work for me.

Darcy