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Post by BK on Jan 10, 2007 19:22:19 GMT -6
In the past I've always felt confident in the fact that when I gang set mink using the bottom edge set on a given bank I almost always connected with the trap set furthest downstream first. I proved this to myself time and time again, if the traps were looked at the next day this held true,....... if the traps had set for several days and I doubled or tripled it was the mink or rats furthest downstream that had cloudy eyes indicating those were the first to bite the bullet. This gave me a warm feeling,........... Here's where it gets thicker,.........I set a 160 above a 110 in a gang set and it connected first, well I told myself sh@!! happens. But none the less I didn't forget it, so I tried it in a number of places, and it happened again. This was on creeks large enough I don't feel they came from the other side.
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Post by Freak( Jim V.) on Jan 10, 2007 19:28:21 GMT -6
Mybe , the mink were dodging the 110s, sometimes change can be eye opening.
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Post by NittanyLion on Jan 10, 2007 19:34:52 GMT -6
When you say it happened again do you mean a number of times or just one more time? Were the mink you caught in the 160's big bucks?
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Post by BK on Jan 10, 2007 20:37:37 GMT -6
Most every mink I'm catching now is a buck now Ninny,........it happened 1 more time. I guess I gotta fool with this some more, to figure it out.
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Post by lumberjack on Jan 11, 2007 5:37:23 GMT -6
Isnt it possible he was heading downstream?
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Post by BK on Jan 11, 2007 5:57:06 GMT -6
Lumberjack I can decipher that by the way they are held in the trap.
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Post by trappnman on Jan 11, 2007 11:03:22 GMT -6
I think you should sell all your 110s and buy 1.5 coils.. Obviously, your whole system is falling apart around you even as we speak.... ;D
I've heard several guys say that they prefer 220s under water, because they feel a mink simply goes around a lot of 110s.
how many times just using 110s, have sets other than the first one connected?
do you say if you have 5 sets in a row- the mink is always in set #1? (assuming all others untouched)
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Post by mustelameister on Jan 11, 2007 11:27:28 GMT -6
Remember when the #210 (single spring bodygrip) was available? Now there was a BE trap.
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Post by lumberjack on Jan 11, 2007 14:12:12 GMT -6
I dont understand the dilema here, are you saying a bigger trap is the way to go? Im sure it is possible they could at any time start skirting the edge at any given place, even above a bottom edge set, maybe he was distracted. Here in my area in Pa it is very rare to find many bank structures to gang set be's.
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Post by BK on Jan 11, 2007 19:08:04 GMT -6
Three sets in a row Steve,...........and if the first one down stream is good to go I almost ALWAYS find that is one has connected FIRST. Often the one farthest up stream might be clogged with crap but hey,......... that's one of the reasons I set three to begin with. One out of 17 is coming from up stream, the first several hundred mink I took in the BE set taught me this,........(it took four years of notes to come to that conclusion). I have drought here real bad this year and less than 1/4 of the mink I normally have to work with,.........this makes it real hard to figure out this 160 dilemma. Let me offer this it has my undivided attention.
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Post by trappnman on Jan 11, 2007 22:06:02 GMT -6
bk- my mink numbers are way down also- and we had no drought. BUT- rat numbers way up
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Post by BK on Jan 15, 2007 19:41:43 GMT -6
So Steve what do you attribute your low mink numbers to? Here I write if off to the terrible drought and dry ponds in the area, plus the fact I came onto dead coon at the waters edge (I'm thinking destemper),...........and understand that can affect the mink too. Any guess about your increase in rat numbers?
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Post by Steve Gappa on Jan 15, 2007 20:11:41 GMT -6
I just don't know bk- part of it I am sure, is no snow. We just got snow last night, Wed will be my first water check with snow.
Should be a small bump if nothing else.
Lee has said others have complained about no mink this year.
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Post by thorsmightyhammer on Jan 16, 2007 6:58:55 GMT -6
Quite a few mink up here this year.
I am surprised a little that yours are down Steve.
We are historically dry up here as well.
The increas in rat numbers could be attributed to the low mink numbers.
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Post by NittanyLion on Jan 16, 2007 19:20:02 GMT -6
T-Man, did you get that "bump" with the snow?
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Post by trappnman on Jan 17, 2007 19:10:08 GMT -6
No.
but it was forming ice night after last check, plus double digit below zero since... even me had a lot of ice to break today. But stable temps now, so open ice shelves should stay open- next check is going to be as good as it gets.
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Post by NittanyLion on Jan 21, 2007 15:44:43 GMT -6
Give us an update BK.
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Post by BK on Jan 21, 2007 18:43:45 GMT -6
Ninny I have real low numbers of mink to work with on the line that I run from my home at this time of year, so I'm reluctant to to jump to any conclusions. But today,.... "from the road",......... it appears that the 160 might be a better trap for the BE set. Let me kill another 25 mink, and I can better answerer that question.( that won't happen any more this season)
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Post by NittanyLion on Jan 24, 2007 18:17:13 GMT -6
If I remember correctly Smythe mentioned in his book that he likes the 55 bodygripper for mink which of course is smaller than the 110. I think it will be intersting to see if the 160 is indeed a better trap for the bottom edge. I realize a few mink will not allow us to jump to conclusions but I think it is a REAL possiability the the 160 would be a better trap. For the past 5 or 6 years I've picked up a few mink in 110's on a ledge that runs along the bottom of a bridge. The ledge is above water level. I really think I should be catching more mink than I am. Next year I plan to set some 160's at these locations to see if they produce better.
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Post by mustelameister on Jan 24, 2007 21:20:11 GMT -6
Bob Noonan and I were kicked back at an NTA convention one year talking about trapping books, the authors of these books, and the "knowledge" contained therein. At the tail end of the conversation, Bob looked at me and in summary said . . . "You know what they say?" "Not sure," I replied. He stood up, looked skyward, then back down at me, and stated quite apocalyptically . . . "The pen is mightier than the steel."
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