Mink pockets

[NittanyLion]

When making a mink pocket set, how do you position the trap as far as where the dog is? In other words, is the dog of the trap in a 12 O'clock position? Is it at 3 O'clock? Also, where do position the trap? In the pocket? Outside the pocket? At the edge of the pocket?

Do you ever feel as if you missed a mink because the lever, or the jaws of the trap pushed the mink out of the trap before the jaws closed.

[trappnman]

While I don't use a lot of baited pockets for mink, I do use a lot of unbaited, shallow pockets.

On those, I usually have the spring going into the hole with coilsprings and with #2 dls have the dog pointing to the hole.

on passing trail sets- try to have the jaws going with the bank.

all in all- however the trap fits best.

[Computerhater]

Lion,

Probably 90 percent of the time I have the dog in the 6 o'clock position ( out in the water away from the bank ) just like I would do with a blind set. I figure that most mink are traveling the water's edge in either situation and I would prefer them going between the jaws versus over them. Occasionally I will put the dog back in the hole just a bit at the 12 0'clock position especially if I am able to make a small tight pocket. I took another bunny killer yesterday at a baited pocket. This pocket is a crevice between to large sandstone boulders. The water is swift there but shallow at the opening and it helps to keep it from freezing except in extreme conditions. The opening to this crevice is a little wider than I like so I put the dog in the 3 o'clock position and stuck the trap back in the crevice until the jaws were touching the rocks on each side. I even stood a small twig up by the dog to help guide the mink around it more onto the pan. Had to chop him out yesterday but it paid off.

As far as setting the trap back in the pocket, I don't normally do that either except in situations similar to above. I think especially in early season some mink are lookers and you might miss some if you placed the trap back in the pocket. I place the trap tight to the bank the same as if I was making a blind set.

Rarely, especially since I have more years under my belt, do I get a foot trap fired by a mink without catching that mink. Now I do toe one occasionally, ( Not sure what causes that for sure ) but as I sit here trying to remember the last time I knew for sure a mink fired my trap without me catching it, I had ice forming along the edges of the stream. Occasionally I'll get a fired trap and I can't tell who or what the culprit was but usually a mink will let off a little musk and I can smell it.

The mink or any animal for that matter doesn't always do what we want or think he should do or what 95% of the rest of his kind do. I think that is why we get occasional misses, toe catches, walk arounds, or total avoidances. S$$T happens.


Randy

[fishadict]

I like pocket sets and as I think about it, I position the dog differently depending on the stream I am trapping. The trap is positioned to get the mink coming between the jaws. I use mostly 1.75’s, because some of our coon look like small bears. One stream has hummocks as it is in a marshy area. The pocket locations tend to be in indentations, because of the hummocks. The dog is positioned at 10 or 2 away from me with the opening between the jaws pointed downstream. I then use weed stems as guides at the edges of the pockets. The other stream I trap has clay; sand banks and pockets tend to have a running shelf next to them. At these location the dog is at 6, towards me, just as if I was putting in a blind set. Again, I try to target the approach between the jaws. I have the trap pan outside the pocket to attempt to snag any looker. All pockets are set with cable drowners.

I can’t think of any misses due to mink. I do have coon that will flip a trap out of the way on occasion (I can usually see the tracks underwater). I have placed a second trap for a rear foot on a coon where they were hitting me a couple days in a row and usually have a coon there the next morning.

fa

[trappnman]

Randy- please tell me your method for keeping coon out of baited pockets.

[JLDakota]

NL, On the high majority of my "mink" pockets I make the hole the depth of my "cut down" tile spade (if possible), the width of the trap and higher then wide is ok. I normally set my traps inside the hole (pan 1/2 to 2 inches deep) with the dog at 2 oclock and the bottom lever hugging the right side of the hole. I set "in" the hole because I am not worried about whether the mink is walking by my set. I have a "huge" chunk of uncovered bait in the back (fish, rat or mink) emitting considerable odor and a visual picture of what Bud Hall called "the prize" is staring the mink in the face from about a foot away. The mink's nature will not allow him to not possess the prize. IMO, he can't not go in. As some have heard me tell, I once had a big buck drop an adult rat he was carrying to go in to get "my offering". His tail was floating and the rat laid in the pocket. (mixed double?)

I see no reluctance for mink to enter pockets during the early season and I attribute it to putting in such a big bait that they have to go in.

Once I have the trap placed "inside" the hole, I attempt to mold the mud at the entrance sides to make the opening slightly smaller/narrower then the original hole. This forces the mink over the pan regardless where or how he enters. It takes but a few seconds to do and has proven to me to be advantagous. This little tip of "squeezing in the door" was taught to by Tom Ross, one of the finest MN mink trappers I know. I have few to no toe catches and can't remember the last one. I have memory of very few snapped traps and contrary to written articles and books, in my experience with this set, it looks like any rat or coon that is drawn to the set does not just "look in" and go on by and as a result, also meets the same fate as the mink . JL

[dblcoil]

JL, Im with ya 100%. I dont think theres many mink that can pass by a baited pocket.I place my traps at the edge of the hole with the dog usually in the 10 or 2 oclock position. I put a lot of emphasis on bedding the trap down nice and solid. I believe this is more important than dog position. I dont feel that I miss very many mink who set foot in the front of my pockets. I like the larger traps ( 1.75 or #2). I always get a nice high catch. When I do get a snapped trap, its usually as from a coon. This is as a result of placing the trap at the edge of the hole. I personally dont try to keep coon out of my pockets, Ill gladly take them. But Id much rather carry a light weight mink out than a wet muddy coon any day.

[Computerhater]

Tman,

I can't tell you how. It's a secret. LOL I wish I knew how. I hope I didn't allude to that somewhere. I do miss several coon in my pockets each year as the coon like to reach in and pull the bait out but I still catch plenty of them. Coon and at times even the muskrats are a nuisance in my pocket sets but with enough time and patience the mink find them.

JL,

Good and interesting post. I agree 100% with the large bait theory.


Randy

[trappnman]

Randy- ok- I thought you USED to have a problem but you figured it out....LOL


One reason I lik unbaited pockets...

I defintely agree a big bait- a whole rat or mink carcass tucked under something- perfect!

[JLDakota]

Dblcoil,
When I started narrowing down my entrance after trap was in some many years ago I noticed that I didn't have any more flipped traps. I attributed it in my own feeble mind to be due to the coon sticking his hand in and finding the pan vs finding a jaw to tug on. I found that bedding my chain into the mud also helped limit my traps being pulled out by the ever searching paws of the coon. Now if its pulled out its probably my clumsy a.. that stepped on the chain and pulled it out.

I'd also rather carry out the mink and price wise for the time we got in them to put them up I'd still rather catch the buck mink.

Randy, As you know the theory isn't mine but adopted by me from Bud Hall. I'm thankful for having the opportunity to spend time with him on his line. Truely an eye opening and enlightening experience.

Steve, In addition to big bait in the pocket, I subscribe to wiring or pinning big bait under overhangs and under root systems and putting a trap in front of it. The tugging to possess usually results in a paw on the pan. JL

[Computerhater]

JL,

I've been thinking. Sometimes that isn't a good thing. LOL Since you set in the hole do you try and keep the bait as fresh as possible by changing it frequently? If your bait gets ripe do you ever see any evidence of the mink not entering the pocket?

The reason I ask is although I prefer my bait to be fresh I don't worry about it if it isn't. If I have a supply of fresh muskrats I change bait until I run out on a given day and then pick up where I left off the next day. A lot of the time my bait is probably 3 to 5 days old before I change it. I've caught mink on some pretty rank bait before but would still prefer it fresh. But, with me setting outside the hole I will still have a chance even if the mink just takes a look but doesn't want to possess the bait because it stinks to high heaven. I'm thinking about setting a few in the hole next year and was just wondering if I should make it a point to try and keep the bait extremely fresh or not.


Randy

[NittanyLion]

I might not remember the author for sure but, I do believe it was Bud Hall who wrtoe about this in his book "Mink Tales." He believed in big bait, 3/4 pound of carp, half a muskrat, or half of a mink. As I recall he did not worry about removing the old bait, he would add fresh bait every 5 days or so but he left the old bait in the pocket.

Some of you are talking about a miss. Could you please define miss, and how you determine if the miss was casued by a mink or some other critter. It would be self explanatory if there were tracks left behind. Lets assume there is no snow, and no visable tracks. These are the conditions you find on a lot of streams in PA were the stream bottom is rocky.

[JLDakota]

Randy,
I dislike the smell of rotting bait as much as the next guy and change it out more often then what Bud professed he did because I have access to lots of bait. I will pull it out and toss it in the water and replace it whenever it starts smelling. The bad smell never doesn leave the hole and I believe it is an attractant to the water animals. Putting fresh bait makes me feel I'm giving them something resembling a prize but it may or may not make that much difference. I get mice and shrews eating up my fish and leaving a stack of bones more often then not so every time I go to check pockets I have bait with in case. If the rat or mink looks like its still attractive (what ever that means) I leave it and if for some reason I feel its usefulness has been exceeded I change it out. If there is a good front coming I often change everything out.

To answer your questiion about mink being repelled by the rotten smell, I think not because I have caught many mink in pockets I could smell as soon as I got in the water. I feel its the shear size of the bait and volume of smell that forces him to enter. I have often thought that maybe he looks at the contents of the pocket, a mix of fresh and various stages of rotting bait as someones cache he has an opportunity to possess. Bud's possession theory has to a great degree shaped my thinking about mink and pockets so if I can rationalize things to coincide with it, I do. ;D Hell, the man has probably caught over 7500 mink by now, who am I to question his theories. JL

[JLDakota]

NL,
I don't believe I have many misses with mink at my pockets. Bud communicated strongly in his instruction on mink that he considered his pocket set was a 100% set and also said same in his book. He defined that as if the mink worked the pocket it was his. I doubt that I have many misses on rats either based on how they are forced to deal with the pocket. As I've stated before, I think the majority of the misses I have with coon who work the pocket are due to his hands moving around and finding the chain and jerking it out. Doesn't happen often as I make burying my chain a priority. JL

[trappnman]

define a miss please....

[JLDakota]

Miss to me is if something "visibly" shows (tracks, guides moved, bait position changed or missing or changed position of the trap from the way I left it,) they worked the pocket and they are not caught. If none of those things apply, I take it I didn't have a visit. JL