Can we get another mink thread goin'?

[Rick]

I'm a fox trappin', land lubbin', no Bottom Edge Set Video watchin', mink trapper wannabe. I catch a couple-few mink every year.....but just in my own weird way.

We get a lot of snow here, and if it aint snowing it's raining. Very rarely see stable water conditions for any length of time. Also never thought we had real good mink populations.....so any mink trap set usually has to sit for an extended period. I know that can be the case everywhere, but if you don't get a lot of mink traffic....more so.

So that being said....the conditions faced seem to rule out (or make very difficult) pocket sets, and alot of blind-setting techniques.

I would like to try and run a little mink line next season. Not a REAL mink line......but more serious than I usually am with them. My problem?.......confidence. Aint got it. My mind keeps coming back to this Bottom Edge thing, but I just don't know if I got the confidence to set a bunch of them. BK, you out there? Help me.

Couple questions for the guys that use the set successfully.

What's the deepest you'll set is? How deep would you say you normally find yourself setting?

The big one for me, can I set a 110 with confidence? Or is a single-spring 160 the way to go?

I really love them little critters, and would like to catch more of 'em. I just don't know what would happen to my psyche if I set 50 traps, got up the next morning and didn't catch nothing.

Rick.

[yota]

Rick,
Im purty much like you as far as the manner in which you catch mink and your first love.

However, unless things have changed in the last ten years, you have a very good mink population.

All I ever did was throw down pocket sets after the snows hit, even after ice up and a 110s under every undercut bank I could find.

ps, dont drive by a 6 in culvert eithr........

[Rick]

I don't know Buzz, I certainly think there's enough to make trapping 'em worthwhile. But I don't think we got 'em here like in your old stomping grounds....looks way minkier down that way to me. I can get into the same thing going South and East of me into Wyoming County.....looks very minky down that way too.

I had to go down that way yesterday. Thought I saw a set of mink tracks down in this little gully so I stopped. Went over the bank and seen where they been coming out of a hole in this little frozen stream and into a hole on the bank. Had a little path 'bout 15ft. long wore down through the snow. Geez....even I could catch one there.

I wrote it down in my notebook and took the backway home. Lot of nice little minky looking waterways down there. I'm just wondering if I have enough confidence in my mink trapping abilities to run down that way and set it all up.

Rick.

[Edge]

I'm no mink trapper Rick,but my intention for next year was to run an extensive BE line next season.I found tons of late water up here and was going to utilize that while not being a slave to busting shelf ice and re-baiting snowed in pockets.

However,its looking now as tho a move to Utah is imminent;at least for the winters,so,so much for the BE line.

FWIW,I was going to use 120's;gives me two springs for the lathe and stability,and a little more is required to fire the trigger so I wouldnt be resetting for the current all the time.

Edge

[JP]

I tried putting a 110 against the bridge wall this year. Looked at it every day and just laughed. The bridge was about 10' across and to be honest the set looked just dumb. Just a 110 sitting against the straight wall. Then, for about 3 days straight something would knock if off center. I had a pocket set only 8' away that never got touched. Well, to make a long story longer, after the fourth day of setting up that 110, caught a big buck mink. Anyone have any theories on why he didn't touch that pocket? Bait was good and he had to have walked around it every night for about a week. Also, anyone have any better ways to get that 110 to sit tight to the wall?
The second set I tried this on, the only way I could set the wall was to set it under 2' of water. Laughed at that set every day until I caught a female about a week later. Do any of you guys use a guide stick of some kind when you set this deep or do just assume the mink will be running on the bottom?

Last thing ( I promise) In reference to that scent post that steve did a while back. Got me thinking. Have any of you every tried to bait a 110 underwater, either in a tude or a hole in the side of the bank? If a mink really can smell underwater as some have suggested, it might make sense to try this out. I find their not to fond of sticking there head in a oneway hole on dry land, but maybe they would be more willing to do so underwater.
Anyway, Blah Blah Blah
JP

[Rick]

a slave to busting shelf ice and re-baiting snowed in pockets.

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. They must have mink in Utah?

JP, we've already established that I'm not a mink trapper...but the best way I've found to stabilize that trap is by propping big rocks up against it.

Rick.

[trappnman]

if shelf ice is your only problem- you don't have a problem. Shelf ice is nothing- business as usual.

by choosing current and location, you can keep a lot of blind and pocket sets open with shelf ice- unless the temp is constantly below zero.

and then you don't have shelf ice.

[Rick]

Steve, it would be easier to deal with any kind of constant weather. The weather here in early winter is terribly inconsistent. The biggest problem is constantly fluctuating water levels. The foot trap you set today under two inches of water is under eight inches tomorrow......or it's sitting up on the bank......or frozen into a block of ice.



I'm not saying a guy couldn't catch mink here in pockets or blind-setting foot-holds......but it would be a constant battle.....and not the kind of line designed for a guy with any kind of time constraints. That's what has me thinking more and more about the BE.

Rick.

[Edge]

No,Rick,the BE line was to be here in the UP,but looks like I aint gonna be..........

Edge

PS Shelf ice aint nothin....maybe not in the banana belt of southern Mn;but remember you are raking leaves or mowing grass when I am shoveling snow.

[trappnman]

Shelf ice means open water- and usually- a lot of open water. To me, and what has been consistent on most of these mink discussions- is shelf ice being defined as ice 1-4 feet from shore- with the middle bneing open.

While I have many creeks with no shelf ice- the majority of them I deal with shelf ice most of the winter. It can be dealt with actually fairly easily. Sevret is location.

Now- flucuating water levels- whole 'nother story. I agree blind sets hard to keep going, but unless you are talking changes of a foot or more- pocket sets can be kept working. And really- if the water is that high its in flood stage- and those BE sets are going to be 1) uncheckable and 2) full of crap.

Now- before BK wakes up from his afternoon nap and sees this- I know the BE set works, I catch several mink a year in what can be called BE sets- but its not the only option for SHELF ice. I just prefer my methods- as BK says, you can only kill that mink once.

Shelf ice with stable water..a blind set trappers dream. Thats what I look forward to-

[trappnman]

Steve, it would be easier to deal with any kind of constant weather.

boy Rick, when you think about it- isn't that the darn truth for any kind of trapping?

[Rick]

Yeah Steve, it does. Our weather here can be just stupid. Really, it'll make you laugh. But over the years on a land line I've learned methods and strategies to keep it running through all but the very worst weather.

But I don't have that kind of experience on a mink line. That's why I was hoping to get you guys talking about it.

Now- flucuating water levels- whole 'nother story. I agree blind sets hard to keep going, but unless you are talking changes of a foot or more- pocket sets can be kept working.

How?

Rick.

[trappnman]

High pocket sets is one answer- sets made up on the bank with slide wires going to water. Another avenue is to make deep upwards slanting holes at the waters edge- the trap can be slid back into the hole- and moved back and forth as the water goes up or down. A third option is to use the elbow set as Faler describes. Some don't like the set- but I don't know why- its an excellent set for flucuation water conditions with a foothold or a 110 at the bottom and a 110 on the bank hole.

smaller water also is a factor- the small feeder creeks and trickles go down much faster than the main creeks.

Some trappers like hern simply use a lot of 110s on dryland high banks during high water-

flood water and constant changing water is tough. We used to trap the upper mississippi pools and the water would change each day- my day would often have traps a foot or more out of water during the day- knowing that at night the water would be at the right depth.

Trapping consistintly changing water is tough to maintain- luckily, its not something I have to worry about once winter comes.

I run 25 or so BE sets each year- and when I had flood waters 3-4 times in Jan, they were as out of commission as any of my blind sets. While they handle small water flucuations better in a way- they aren't foolproof.

But I find that flucuations of 2-5 inches have really little effect on blindsets. You often hear that a trap under more than an inch or so of water "has the mink float" right over it. I don't find that to be true.

[Rick]

Well I sure wish Hern would chime in here. Most of my mink are caught in dry-land conibears. My way's fun but not real productive. If he's talking about little trails up on the high-bank.....just not something I see here too often.

Where's all the BE proponents?

Steve, a 2-5 inch water fluctuation would be something I'd have to deal with regularly.....almost daily......no problem? You catch 'em with 5 inches of water over your trap?

Rick.

[trappnman]

I doubt if I do- but for how long is that 5 inches the level? Probably not long- so you get them coming and going. the typical water level then would be 1-3 inches mostly. If it stays at 5- problem solved.

[BK]

Nap , yha I'm trapping and skinning Steve,.........

Rick,....... buy Ken Smythe's book and read it 4 times, it's very well written. Don't try to fix anything that's not broke, you will do well.......... Leave your foot traps home.
The biggest differences between the way he sets up and I do is I push my trigger wires close together.

[PAMINK]

I don't trap a lot of mink and don't pretend to. The BE set has treated me very good over the years.

Where I live the water is up and down constantly and pocket sets and blind sets are a nightmare to keep in operation.

When you set up a BE set and it looks too simple, you're probably doing it right. Use 110's - that's all you'll need. I use a window weight leaned barely between the jaws to support them. Attach about a foot of wire from the spring to the weight.Works like a charm.

The biggest buck mink every year come out of my bottom edge sets. Terry

Rick - I'll reach in right up to my shoulder if I need to. Water depth doesn't seem to matter too much.

[BK]

;D

[trappnman]

NL trapped the same conditions as Pa Mink, using mostly 100% blind sets and pockets- and he took a lot of mink.

BK- you know the winona pools- constant water flucation or at least it was in the 50-60s- and my dad trapped those backwaters using nothing but footholds.

Its all in what you are used to and what your forte is on mink.

I use them all but prefer footholds- for all my trapping.

[dj88ryr]

I had my best mink year ever, after watching Ninny the season before. 90% were footholds in blind sets and pockets, just like the Lion. But I am getting better at picking out BEs, that will be just another tool in addition to the footholds.