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mink
Mar 19, 2007 19:09:24 GMT -6
Post by thebeav2 on Mar 19, 2007 19:09:24 GMT -6
Mountainman get one of those caluking gun type setters you will just love It. I use to have two lost one this past season.I will be getting another one.
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mink
Mar 19, 2007 22:24:31 GMT -6
Post by mountainman on Mar 19, 2007 22:24:31 GMT -6
Thanks Beav Ill do that. I expect to go heavy on the 330s next season. I have about broken the last setters I have. I left the other set too far in to be worth going back for em. Im glad we are getting better things to work with now.
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mink
Mar 20, 2007 0:46:35 GMT -6
Post by mountainman on Mar 20, 2007 0:46:35 GMT -6
Nittany Lion, Steve, I have run the different check systems too and pondered on it many times. In the early season when I run a lot of good muskrat water I would favor the 1,3,5 system for a lot of areas. Since I cant legally do that with footholds I go with blitzing them using at least double the normal number of sets and can knock out some creek sections in 2-3 days often with a decent number of the mink and beaver. For late season mink I prefer to gang set and run a split line when I can. Its easier and cheaper on the gas. I have had sets so hot I couldnt hardly stand not to check them like the one that caught a mink a few minutes after I set it and got two more that night.
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mink
Mar 20, 2007 10:06:44 GMT -6
Post by frenchman on Mar 20, 2007 10:06:44 GMT -6
I run mink sets on a multi-species line and check no more than once every 3 days.
my thinking is:
1- Bodygrippers rule 2- Water levels take footholds out of comission fast 3- Grapples suck if you have coon (cause many won't wait for you) 4- It is a game of low maintenance. Find good location, try to find ways to catch mink so that few other critters can get in, then wait. 5- If you spread your visits even more (where legal), avoid bait. Bait brings coons, skunks and bait thieves (mices, rats, etc.). Blind sets become almost the only way to go (dry or under water).
ps. I am no expert minker, and man, I am still dreaming of catching 100 mink so I love (and study) this post!
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mink
Mar 20, 2007 20:47:35 GMT -6
Post by mountainman on Mar 20, 2007 20:47:35 GMT -6
Overall I would have to say the bodygripper is the most foolproof trap for all weather mink trapping. Many trappers are going to using more of them because of that and having good results. I have used them for a good while in bank trails, undercut banks, caved in beaver dens, notch sets, ledges, fence sets in boggy areas and in tunnel sets against vertical structure with good results. The BE set is next on the list.
There are a number of high percentage foothold sets for mink like for instance resting places and blind water sets against vertical structure where I will keep them working as much as I can.
I will use bait at times but in this area its always the YOY mink except where a muskrat has been killed in a trap. Now that there are so many coons here I use very little bait except when the cold weather has the coons denned up.
I do get some XL mink with good mink gland lure and a natural looking pocket set. By mixing the lure into melted vaseline it is more waterproof so the set doesnt have to be approached for a long time except to keep the trap from being silted in. Some of those sets make catches as much as a month after being made and the water has risen several times.
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mink
Mar 21, 2007 6:00:49 GMT -6
Post by Steve Gappa on Mar 21, 2007 6:00:49 GMT -6
Luckily, our mink season is opposite our rainy season.
I'd agree 110s hold up better to random and frequent water flucuations.
but in floods, both are out of commission.
I remember the first time we went back to the marshes to trap after moving to Rochester. My dad, my self, and another friend of mine went down for a 2 day blitz. My friend would set first, I followed him, my dad came behind stting what we passed by.
We LAUGHED at my dads sets- most were out of water on "weird" setups- my friend and I both KNEW we'd catch it all.
Hah!
my dad kept a bit of info from us- the lock and dam info. Seems he read the paper, and knew the water was going to increase that weekend.
Seems all our traps were under a foot of water...dads were full.....
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mink
Mar 21, 2007 15:26:22 GMT -6
Post by mountainman on Mar 21, 2007 15:26:22 GMT -6
Right Steve. Very often I will set the lower creek sections in the flood plain. At times I have run a tie wire high in the bushes to retrieve as many catches as possible on the lower end near the river during heavy rainstorms. Its worth it to me to set those places because the catch percentage is always high there, 3-4 times the mink and lots of rats. Many of the creeks lower in the valleys here flood badly at times and pretty much knock complete lines out of action even the dry sets. Any traps set underwater would likely pick up a lot of debris in those conditions. In the past I have been pretty much able to count on mid Dec - late Jan to be more stable on the water. For a number of seasons now it has been tougher with more rain here.
My Dad has always seen into things like that and surprised me many times. He would let me show my fish, mink arrowheads or whatever we were after first, then he would come out with a much bigger or better one than I had. A lot of good memories there.
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mink
Mar 21, 2007 15:35:05 GMT -6
Post by trappnman on Mar 21, 2007 15:35:05 GMT -6
my one regret is dad never got to see me coyote trap. I don't know if he would get into them- he sure liked his mink.
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mink
Mar 23, 2007 1:36:32 GMT -6
Post by mountainman on Mar 23, 2007 1:36:32 GMT -6
Sorry Steve, Im sure your dad was quite a man and a very good trapper too.
David
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mink
Mar 25, 2007 0:38:04 GMT -6
Post by mountainman on Mar 25, 2007 0:38:04 GMT -6
Circle triggers on conibears for mink? Im still using the old V trigger with about a 2.5 in. spread on the wires on 110s. I got some 50s to try next season. I would like to hear what yall have to say about triggers for conibears that any of you use for mink. I may try to make up some full circle triggers with a little more diameter than a soda can if that is the right size. I figure they would not get deformed by a hard fighting catch and would last longer too. I could sure use the benefit of the combined experience of so many good trappers. I have so much to do to recover from tough times due to a number of operations and a bad accident where I lost my Dakota and a lot of traps running a full size mink line at night and working full time as a set up man in a machine shop too. No matter how tough it gets I still remember what Ray Milligan said long ago about keeping the eye of the tiger.
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mink
Mar 25, 2007 16:42:14 GMT -6
Post by Jeffrey on Mar 25, 2007 16:42:14 GMT -6
One company sells 110's with the wires in a "L" shape and I spread them so the end of the "L"s are touching and that's it.
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mink
Mar 26, 2007 5:35:02 GMT -6
Post by mountainman on Mar 26, 2007 5:35:02 GMT -6
That sounds like a quick simple to set up way to do it. I like the Sleepy Creek 110s I tried except for the wires are too short. I will have to change that as there is too much room for a mink to slide under them. I never did like the Victor 4 way trigger. The newer ones on the #50s I have suck too. Otherwise those are two good traps with strong springs and are well made. I havent tried the belisles yet but hear good things about them. I have done ok with the V trigger and made some good catches with them, but when guys like Jim Spencer says it makes a difference to have the circle triggers Im listening and willing to try it. I have a big spool of small cable I could put on em if I got the ferrules to do it that way. I have noticed where a hard fighting mink bends the wires enough so they have to be checked each time I reset the trap and wouldnt want to risk missing catches by not correcting that sometime.
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mink
Mar 26, 2007 7:02:17 GMT -6
Post by trappnman on Mar 26, 2007 7:02:17 GMT -6
I just don't believe messing with the triggers helps all that much. Beyond spreading them in a V. I've used the round triggers and I 've used the thin wire/fishing line concept.
Underwater, from what I've heard, read and observed, a mink will hit the trigger because of the way they swim.
on land, if after starting the trigger (putting it on hair trigger) a mink slips through- its a darn small mink. A conibear thats started, only needs a mink to "look" at it an it fires
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mink
Mar 26, 2007 9:51:53 GMT -6
Post by lumberjack on Mar 26, 2007 9:51:53 GMT -6
Mountainman- was wondering why you hate victor 4 way triggers, thats all I use.
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mink
Mar 26, 2007 10:04:45 GMT -6
Post by frenchman on Mar 26, 2007 10:04:45 GMT -6
mink wires on my dry land 110s if possible
No mink wires on underwater conis
BUT, ABSOLUTELY MINK WIRES on all double-spring traps (120s)
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mink
Mar 26, 2007 10:08:14 GMT -6
Post by trappnman on Mar 26, 2007 10:08:14 GMT -6
I agree on the 120s- almost too stout a trap for mink.
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mink
Mar 26, 2007 11:08:54 GMT -6
Post by frenchman on Mar 26, 2007 11:08:54 GMT -6
Not too stout, simply a bit harder to fire.
But it kills them much faster, and you hold a greater proportion of incidentals (skunks, otters, etc.).
I also find 120s easier to stabilise on dry ground.
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mink
Mar 26, 2007 11:31:24 GMT -6
Post by trappnman on Mar 26, 2007 11:31:24 GMT -6
stout meaning harder to fire.
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mink
Mar 26, 2007 13:01:05 GMT -6
Post by thebeav2 on Mar 26, 2007 13:01:05 GMT -6
You need to start the trigger and then 120s will be just fine for mink.
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mink
Mar 26, 2007 14:40:03 GMT -6
Post by mountainman on Mar 26, 2007 14:40:03 GMT -6
Trappnman, I believe your probably right and Im just more than likely trying to put too fine on a point on something thats not really a problem. I have had as many as five mink hit one 110 on a ledge under a small bridge with the V trigger. I have read where the trigger position doesnt make that much difference underwater along with what that Canadian trapper and biologist Serge Lariveare wrote about how mink swim underwater. I trust your judgement Trappnman. I do like to set conibears where the mink will be moving like in trails or tunnels instead of situations where they have time to look more at the trap. I do understand that baited cubby boxes or bank hole sets do work up north. All I get here like that is smaller mink or weasels if I camoflage the trap with grass just leaving a little hole for the trigger.
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