Mink and Bait

[NittanyLion]

I am your basic blind set type mink trapper. By that I mean I seldom use lure or bait in making my mink sets but I do use the pocket set and I count that as a blind set when not using lure or bait. On the rare occasions I used bait I had some success that contradicts what I read in many of my 30 some odd mink method books I have.

Most method books tell you to keep the bait fresh, changing every few days during mild weather.

About five years ago, I quartered 6 or 7 muskrats and took the bait along on the line next moring. I was baiting about every other pocket set with them. For the next 6 or 7 days we had very mild weather for that time of the year, and during that time I do not think I caught a single mink in the baited pocket sets. By this time the bait should have been real ripe. At that point, the weather got colder and for the next week those pocket sets started to produce mink. I do not recall how many, but I am sure I caught at least 8-10 in the baited pockets without using fresh bait.

A couple of years ago I was within 3 mink of having a personal best for the season. Problem was, my vacation was over. I decided to leave about 5 locations out near my home that I could check before or after work. As I recall, I had one pocket set at four of the locations. A week went by without any mink, and I only caught a rat or two. One evening I was skinning a couple mink I had frozen. I skinned out two females, cut them in half and baited four pockets. Remember, these sets had not produced any mink in over a week. The following morning after I baited the four pockets I caught two mink. The second moring, I caught a third mink in a different pocket set from the previous two. Having reached a new personal best, I pulled the traps and called it a season.

I realize these two indidents do not prove much. I would like some input from other minkers on their success or failures using bait. Do you keep it fresh, or let it get tainted like I did?

[trappnman]

I'm like you NL- well, except I warn freinds about hot wires...but otherwise we are peas in a pod....

I never have been a big bait trapper for mink. I know that baited pockets work, just never used them much- I prefer blind sets and like you, a hole without bait is just another blind set. Probably them an reason I never used them much- never had a lot of success with them.

I think the places where pockets work the best- are places that freeze up real quick- the slow water, the very small water- places where litters were born and raised.

I have never had such dramactic results as you did- but have noticed, at least it seems so, that bait has more value HERE it bitter cold. I have used stefs bait, used rat/mink chunks, etc- and it does seem to give a line that little bump- but only when the weather is bad and deeper snow.

Perhaps in the early season fresh baits might have more value, but like Jim have noticed no real difference in fresh, froze or stinky baits in winter.

Food of any type has to smell good to an animal that has to eat on a daily basis- even if not edible, the smell has to intrique.

Having said the above, all in all- I personally don't feel bait makes a difference in the overall scheme of things-

[thebeav2]

Bait has It's place, and that Is when times get tough and then that's when the old mink will take what he can find. Other wise I think bait Is a waste of time and will catch you more coon then It will mink.
Blind sets and hole sets with lots of eye appeal.

Beav

[JLDakota]

I need to preface what I write by saying that when it comes to my mink trapping, I am, during the early part of the season, a road trapper, covering many miles and as many waterways as possible in loops that put me close to home at sundown. When I'm road trapping waterways, I'm a pocket setter first, so when I jump over the bank into a creek for the first time, I'm going to have a cut down tile spade, some long chained traps with Tbar stakes and a bait bucket. I'm going to slap in at least a couple pockets as and where common sense and experience tell me. I'm not going to spend alot of time trying to pick the right place as usually I can landscape to make it right. If I see an appropriate place for a blind set either on the edge of the water or in the grass (coni) that can be convieniently set up I will make a written note of it and set it up the next time. If its a location I 've set up previously, I will usually know where I'm going to put in the pocket and if there are blind sets I have found previously that need to be set up. My first priority is getting my baited pockets in.

I subscribe to the notion that if I'm going to take the time to dig a deep (12" where possible) pocket, then I'm going to take the time to put a "big" chunk of bait (usually fish, but muskrat or mink carcasses are used as available) in the back of the pocket to provide both the maximum odor and visual attraction possible. I live on the river so I have access to all the fish (rough and otherwise) I could possibly want so there is no sense, in my case, to be skimpy. Bud Hall once told me the mink has a need to "possess things", to "capture the prize". He said give him something so big that when he sees it he can't resist and he's yours.

Previous to Bud providing me with the above insight, I will say I was one who "skimped" on bait as if it were gold instead of just fish. I put a small piece in the back of the pocket and expected I had provided enough enticement should a mink happen by.

The largest single thing IMO I've ever done which dramatically changed my mink catch was to increase the amount of bait I used. Now, even if I didn't have an unlimited access to fish, I would do what I had to do to to procure appropriate amounts to cover my needs.

As to the changing of bait... I don't go out of my way to change bait. I do if I feel like it or if it gets dragged out but its not an issue with me. The smell and the visual still attracts the mink and he will try to "possess" the prize. I have caught lots of mink on bait that made me turn up my nose from 20 feet.

I feel that when the marshes freeze up in my areas and the bucks are forced to hunt the remaining open water ways (springs, tiles, flow controls etc) it is still good sense to be using big baits if you are still using pockets as the cold reduces odor significantly. If you have something for him, advertise it. BTW, I'm an inside the pocket setter. When you have a "prize" sitting in the back of the hole, the mink will go in. Setting inside the hole allows me to keep my trap working a little longer when the ice starts trying to freeze me in. When its too much hassle to keep pockets open due to ice, I then go to mostly blind sets in grass (conis) and edges of open water as tracks and trails show me how they are using the particular area. This is a more laid back time for me as most competition has pulled for the year and I have it to myself. I can take my time and enjoy events that unfold and experiment with ideas. Jim

[CoonDuke]

Now I am far from a minker as all of you know but this theory of mine makes sense to me...

Bait is used because it puts out an odor. Some trappers say that bait offers sight appeal which may be true but how the h*ll is a mink going to know what a chunk of fish smashed into the back of a pocket is??? You aint gonna convince me that a minks EYES tell it it is fish...his NOSE does!

Salmon oil gives off the odor of fresh salmon. The odor of salmon oil will not change much and I doubt it will go rancid.

So, if a trapper would want to use bait to add an appealing odor...why not use salmon oil or fish oil to give the same effect of fish in the back of the hole?

If you are worried about "eye appeal" i'm sure a piece of polyfill soaked in salmon oil looks like a chuck of fish as much as a chunk of fish does.

Ninny, remember those two mink you caught at that set I made at the hole in the rock pile...if you remember I lured it with salmon oil.

With that being said, since nobody makes muskrat oil I guess trappers are still stuck using fresh muskrat. But, I always wondered how liver would work for mink???

[JLDakota]

CoonDuke,
I agree its his nose that brings him to the hole but IMO its the visual sight of the huge piece of fish (scales etc.) that confirms to him its fish and something he attempts to "possess". I attempt to always have scales or white flesh showing, not a muddied up piece of fish squashed in the backof the hole. I can usually place the piece in the hole and push it to the back with my spade without it ending up looking like a glop of fishy smelling nothing. Also, if I can see its a piece of fish from 2-3 feet away, IMO any mink worth his white throat patch is going to surely know from a foot away. If it smells like the last fish he ate and looks like a piece of fish.........lol Jim

[CoonDuke]

Jim,
I agree. The way you do it would give good visual appeal. The thing is that most trappers use a muddied up peice of fish jammed into the back of the pocket. Some even hide the bait with a grass plug.

If Bud Hall says mink like to grab the bait then it probably is so. Johnny Thorpe says the same thing. My point was most trappers defeat the purpose of bait when they either mangle it or hide it. They might as well just use fish oil.

[foxtail]

I have my doubts about visual attraction for mink being what it is cracked up to be.
Mink have small, beady little eyes which can't collect near the amount of available light as the other critters with bigger eyes. When you look into a deep pocket, there is little light in the day, now couple that with the lack of light during night hours when the mink are most active, and you should see my point.

I feel that a mink hunts with his nose and his ears.
I am not a large numbers mink trapper by any means, but I have noticed that the bait sets seem to draw a large number of mink in. If I see a place where the mink tell me to place a blind set, that is what goes there. If that is not likely to happen or there is little for blind options, I put bait in.

I have found that mink carcass works great for all of the furbearers I target. (and some I don't)
I suspect that the mink is smart enough to know that if there is food, free for the taking, he had best get it while the gettin is good. Or he will make sure that he knows what it is and where it is for later if it is still there.

Mink may not be as smart as Eienstein, but they aren't as dumb as the Klingon either.

[Stef]

The weird thing is that when trapping mink in boxes guarded with #120, the highest success rate trapping them with this method, is to hide the bait.

Stef

[foxtail]

Thanks to Stef for reinforcing my point.

[k9]

I am not a big mink trapper, however I like to catch one now and then just for the heck of it.

I notice that a lot of you use the old mink carcass trick. Do you catch a higher percentage of males with this method?

I have about 8 ounces of mellow mink glands that I put up about ten years ago. Nice mellow minky musk odor. How would you big numbers mink guys use mink gland lure at a pocket set? Grass tunnel?

I put it up thinking I'd use it for coyotes but haven't used it yet.

[Clefus]

hmm Stef Ive gotten a few mink in my #160 coon boxes....but the bait is exposed...may give that a thought in the future..

Im no minker but when setting specifically for them I blind set but have picked up more last year in a coon "pocket" I make with bait....it is mainly odor 'n eye appeal with the hole not really a "big" bait set...I am leaning towards using less bait and more lure this year and am anxious to see the results of mink in coon sets...

[k9]

Also a couple years ago you mink guys really got to going on Dobbins forum. Better info then ANY mink book was divulged in that conversation. I kick myself for not archiving that on a disk. Did any of you copy it before the forum changed?

I checked into getting archives of that and some of the coyote stuff, and found it is lost in cyberland. Shame! If any of you copied that thread I would like to know.

[Computerhater]

Mr. Lion,

I used to be strictly a blind set man for mink with just the occasional baited pocket. Over time I have evolved, and now I try and make at least one baited pocket set per location. Record keeping and successes and failures have led me to this point. When I took instruction from Charlie Dobbins the one thing he kept stressing was to catch the mink on my terms not on the mink's terms. I showed him a lot of my line and the locations I was using to target mink. He liked them but most times said, "Why are you walking this far?" "Catch him closer to the road and get on down the road to the next spot." My response was that there weren't any good blind sets close to the road. He showed me various sets and different ways to make pocket sets and said if there aren't any good blind sets close to the road make your own set and location and catch him there. That is one of the reasons I now use more baited pockets than I used to.

The successes I had once I started using more convinced me I was doing the right thing. Here is another example that has convinced me to use at least one baited pocket per location. I had a location where I had set up the bridge walls with blind sets and had a bottom edge upstream from the bridge. All of these spots had caught mink in the past. I threw in two baited pockets further upstream from the bottom edge set - one on each side of the creek. One morning I start up the creek and go under the bridge and I see mink tracks running down the middle of the creek in the silt under the water. Why wasn't he on the bridge wall where every book says he should be and where my traps are waiting. Oh well, he will be in the bottom edge set. Nope, but guess where he was. He was floating at one of the baited pocket sets. Went by 3 blind sets but the baited pocket got him. I've seen mink go nuts over a muskrat in a trap. The bank looks like 50 mink ran up and down it that night. That muskrat was worrying that mink to death. Make a pocket, throw the rat remains in the back, and 90% of the time he is waiting for you in the morning. I think they do want to possess a large bait to some extent.

Back to Jim's question. I use muskrat, mink, and fish. Yes, I do try and keep it fresh BUT don't fret if it isn't. I've had similar experiences to yours with smelly rotten bait that didn't get changed when I wanted it to. If I'm going to make a pocket that I want to use bait at, I don't wait for cold weather. I bait it from day one. I know there are lots of opinions on when bait is effective and do somewhat tend to agree that it is more effective the colder it gets, but i still catch mink with bait during warm spells. I agree with JL Dakota about using a large piece of bait. I will use half a muskrat or mink or a large chunk of fish. Salmon oil works also. I use it for a change up. I occasionally use mink lure with mink musk. Does it scare the young and or the females? I don't know. I'm sure on occasion it will but I have caught lots of mink at sets that were all musked up by the previous visitors. I went with Eric Space on his New Jersey mink snaring line this February. The one thing that Eric said that really intrigued me was that his sets get better and better with each mink. He said all I have to do is get the first one and the rest are easy. Believe me some of those spots smelled to high heaven of mink musk but yet he catches many many mink in the same sets.

I think we all have our ideas and opinions and it seems most of them work very well.


Randy

[foxtail]

K9, thanks to Steve, I was able to look up this--

web.archive.org/web/*/trapperman.com

Some people can open the topics.
I am not one of them.

[JLDakota]

Foxtail,
Obviously then, those who use big chunks of bait probably only get the mink that are hunting during daylight hours. Looks like I'll have to start setting with empty pockets so I can get some of those night time mink. Seriously though, I believe his beady little eyes see better at night then you are giving him credit for. All critters that roam the night are able to see and get around quite well with the equipment they have.

K9
I do catch a higher % of males with the female mink carcasses but I have always attributed that to the fact that I don't start using them til late season.

CoonDuke
I agree with your last paragraph as they have unknowingly negated the visual factor.

Randy
There is a significant amount of useable info and learned wisdom in your post. I also think your time with Eric Space you will find was most benificial. He too is one who dispells the myths and is a man whose knowledge is worth paying for. I have his video and have had several conversations with him. I intend to visit him on my next trip out to see my son on the East Coast. Am looking forward to it. Is his mink snare quick or what? lol Jim

[trappnman]

More mink ramblings....

Actually- I believe that mink have very good eyesight- I think that their main hunting style is the flush and pounce on them mode. Watch a mink on the creeks- their eyes go everywhere and whatever grabs their interest is investigated.

I also know without a doubt, that in winter at least, mink really work those 2-3 hours before dark. Many, many times I have broken off good ice- and with temps in the teens and colder at nighht, I know that this trap will be froze over in a few hours- and come back next check, chop ice and pull up a mink.

For me also- all my pockets with bait have to be on drowning slides- with a 3 day check, I can't afford to have a coon sitting there.

Never considered size of bait- but in later winter, when I do have some success with baits- its a muskrat or mink carcass tossed under a bank.

I've always been of the belief that there are only so many mink to catch on a creek- that is- a good trapper will catch about the same no matter what is used for sets.

Do baited pockets have an advantage over blind sets?

I have never seen it. In fact, my typical set up is a baited pocket set- a bunch of blind sets than another baited pocket. So the blind sets are between the pocket sets.

I catch very, very few mink in these pockets. Now, I don't put the trap inside the pocket- but I do use a narrow mouthed pocket. In fact, catching mink in the pockets is of such little concern to me that most of my winter pockets are now pipes.

Am I that good a blind set trapper? Maybe. A lot of mink trapping is simply having years on the same creeks- you KNOW where the mink go.

If I was a cold rolling a long line, I'd maybe set more pockets- but on my creeks, I have no doubt that I am catching about the amount of mink I should be catching.

While perhaps pockets can be put in closer to the road- I like walking little portions on cricks in winter- plus, I positively LOVE walking by some guys empty pocket set, going aroud the bend and taking a mink out of a blind set. The other trapper doesn't even know I am there.

I had 1 set, at a location I take 3 mink from about every year plus a rat or two- and after I had the set in, a guy puts a pocket about 15 feet up stream in shallow water. My set was under some grasses in a little rock tunnel (same set every year-) and the mink would go down in deep water with a wire on a rebar stake pushed flush to the bottom. I again took 3 mink there- never saw any action the pocket.

I think that guys like Gerald, JLD and you Randy- that do take a lot of mink in pockets- would take as many if just using blind sets.

I've not been convinced that in early season (at least) bait makes a pocket set more productive. I think that the pocket itself is the attractant.

The northern trappers that use pockets many times only have a few weeks or even days to run their lines before freezeup-

The drainage canals, the irrigation ditches, the small, slow water many of these trappers trap is perfect for producing and rearing mink- hence the 500-900 mink seasons you hear about.

In these early days, maybe baited pockets might produce better- I always thought that pockets took a lot of little mink- young and females- Simply cause there are more of the familys still on the smaller waters early.

In warm years when the freeze is late, many times I've taken 3-4 young mink and momma in 2 checks on small streams-

My water doesn't really produce a lot of mink until later on.

Something to consider- moving traps will put you into more family groups- but leaving a line set up will, over the course of the line, give you more males

I don't think it matters what you use- use what you have confidence in-


I' ve got that mink thread on hard drive-

River Rat- I'll send it to you in a few days- way behind on stuff!

[Computerhater]

Steve,

I usually only have a couple weeks to trap every year. The last few years with one exception I have been able to extend my time off from work an additional week or two. Part of the move to a few more pocket sets was the fact that sometimes I would only get one or two cracks at a mink before I had to pull my line for the season. I wanted to give myself every possible opportunity to catch any and all passing mink. I wanted to try and cover all of the bases if possible. Dry sets up on the high bank, blind sets in the water's edge and why not offer a baited set or two also - just in case. Seeing how a few mink reacted to finding a muskrat in one of my traps or seeing tracks of mink that missed my PROVEN blind sets helped to convert me somewhat.
Lots of things over time convinced me to make more baited pocket sets.

But, I still would rather make blind sets and I do make them wherever I find them. I still catch a lot of mink in blind sets and would never pass one up. I think. LOL I also enjoy walking a little ways from the bridges and do so frequently. When Charles was out with me though I was taking him to locations 100 yards or further from the bridge on occasion. Those were the places he was referring to when he said catch them on my terms. I trap some public ground in which there are 3 other trappers chasing mink. I do a fair bit of walking there and it is well worth the effort.

I agree with you Steve that trapping the same creeks every year lets you know where the mink are going. Makes trapping them a little easier - USUALLY. LOL

Yes, moving traps will put you into new family groups but leaving them set will definitely allow you to catch more of the wandering males. Especially so when breeding season is approaching. The trick, which is hard to do with our 24 hour check law, is to leave one or two sets and move on to fresh territory. I envy you and your 72 hour check law.

J.L.,
Yes, Eric's snares are fast. If you get a chance to run his line with him for a day don't pass it up. He had invited me for a couple years and this past Feb. I made the time. What a system and very different from the way I trap. A perfect example of someone being able to overcome the handicap that was placed on him by the antis. Eric was a great host and the hospitality he and his wife showed me was fabulous. They took a smelly trapper that they only knew from conventions and invited me to come into their home and stay with them for a couple days. Well worth the trip.



Randy

[trappnman]

Yes, on mink, a 3 day check check is nice. Under ice sets have unlimited checktimes- it allows you to run 2 lines with a skinning/day off or 3 lines.

This year, We'd like to hit water on opener- running a quick 4-6 day line to take off a few coon. That line will be a 24 hour check will all pocket sets- I'll try bigger baits and the trap in the pocket- I'll still take the coon with guide sticks- it wil lbe interesting to see what the mink total will be- then we will pull and I'll go back to the creeks in another 4 weeks or so. Its probably been 7-8 years since I trapped early water.

So we wil lhave full time cooyte/coon line on land, plus a good waterline out- wonder who wil be running which....I got the "feeling" I'll be doing the darn water and Lori will run the yotes line- that will get her blood pumping first day out alone with yotes.

[JLDakota]

Steve,
You've pretty much nailed it. There are different styles and approaches. (More then one way to skin the mink) and surprisingly after awhile we all incorporate many of the same type sets to our situations. Like you referenced, familiarity based upon time on ones locations make things somewhat predictable as to sets and expectations. Don't get me wrong, I love the areas I know intimately, but usually wait to hit them late season for traveling big males.

When I do early season water, I only consider myself an average at best water blind setter. I see and set the obvious initially early in the season, but am in more of a hurry to cover as many different waterways as possible. I add blinds as I feel appropriate during future checks. As familiarity with individual waterways grows over years the game gets easier. I find that late season light snow show me probable blinds for the following season.

I do use a lot of drowners on locations I'm familiar with but initially, on unknown water I often just use an extra tangle T-Bar on long chained traps the first time over the bank.

As to taking the whole or large parts of family groups early by concentrating on what is their home area, I have seen in some locations that happen, but in the grand scheme of things I don't see where over the years its had any long term affect in the areas I trap. Over the last several years I have stayed away more from early water nearly completely and worked harder on land coon and and reserved most of my mink efforts on the late season male mink. It's possible that by only pursuing and targeting the the big males one may be helping the population more then one would think. Something that I have given serious thought to recently is a statement made by Eric Space, an excellent snareman from NJ in which he states he feels the late season harvest of old males has as large/huge an affect on the yoy mink as anything, as they kill and eat every young mink they can get their teeth into.

Bottom line to me is when I'm doing water, I'm after all three (mink, coon and rat) and if there's a pocket going in, there's a gonna be a chunk of something in the back. I must also learn to do the white pipes. I've heard so much positive about them that common sense says they should be added to my bag. I tried them some time back and never became attached to them. Its like anything else, if you don't have immediate success you wonder what the hypes all about. For example, the first 3 bottom edge sets I ever put in after reading the BE book had 2 mink and a rat the first check. You couldn't have convinced me that Mr Smythe hadn't just revolutionized the way I was gonna trap mink from then on. I still think its a great tool and look for applications, but treat them alot like blinds, in that they have to jump up at me. lol

BTW, Steve, congratulations on the success of your site. As I told you when I first logged on to it, "it was about time you got your own site". I don't post alot, but I try to visit at least once a day. Thanks for making that possible. It has allowed for the providing of lots of good info to all who spend time here. Jim