favorite MINK trap, forget the coon

[RiverRat]

OK I know this as been cussed and discussed but what is your favorite MINK trap forget about coon incidentals ect... Your after mink and mink only. Mine has got to be a #1 Blake and lamb LONG spring with the chain on the far side from the spring. I have taken a pile in #1 jumps as well. I am planning on setting 80-100 BE sets tomorrow. Mostly duke .

I used to think that the 1.5 cs was king but thinking back to when I ran more long springs from the 1 up to the 2 I caught many many more accidental mink when they were set for coon, makes me wonder how many I am missing with the cs, yes I am sure that I could tweak em some and get better results ;D I also believe that I lost a good number of coon running them , they don't have enough tension for my liking on coon. I believe you cant mink trap coon and you cant coon trap mink its one or the other if your gonna be serious about it.

[Freak( Jim V.)]

A # 1.5 or 2 longspring with a piece of light sheet metal riveted onto pan for increased pan size. made mine to dang near fill up jaws and never had any problems.Second would be the old #2 sq jaw victors , they did a bang up job , but a lot of lost coon.
Due to not a whole bunch around used anymore , of the longsprings , and the new ones are salty,
Was kicking around the other year running a bunch of mink sets and was gonna tweak up some Duke 1.75s due to pan size and fact would hold coon with no problems too.
Like the bottom edge set and using it at concrete wall on newer bridges has made some hard to set bridges alot easier. Would rather use a 160 though for BEs, love the little ledges on some older tunnel bridges , mink highways.

[trappnman]

My OPINIONS-

I'll never use a #1 for mink again- while 1000s and 1000s of mink have been taken in #1s, including many hundred by me- its still a poor mink trap simply because of the weight- if you want to add weight, via RR spike or whatever, they become much better- but a plain trap w/o weight, can and will allow mink to get tangled up and you will have a few pull out-

While a biggerm pan sounds good, it really won't give you too many more mink I don't think- the distance from edge of pan to jaw on a 1.5 is such that if a mink can get by inside the jaws w/o firing pan, its too small for me- setting the loose edge tight- a must in my opinion- and any potential problem of missing pan is gone- bigger traps yes, but not 1.5 size-

favotire mink traps in order-

#2 double longspring- my favorite, run maybe 40% those- heavy, stable, right size (being 1.5 single longspring jaw size), can insert sticks in the springs to provide a "bed"

#1.5 longspring- the traditional mink trap, run maybe 30% of these- most traps left over from my dad, uncles day. What the old timers choose for mink

#1.5 coil- run the rest in these- a good all around trap- but not as stable or heavy as the #2 dls

be careful with te 1.75s and up- you want them ot be hair trigger and almost lsoppy- cause they tighten up under water after sitting a spell- and when I first started using the 1.75s in water I thought had them plenty low tension, and was wrong- in fact, I've shyed back from making them my water workhorse like my original plan was, and now just use them for coon-

[coonhangman1]

#1 Long spring, with 2 feet extra chain, staked in deep water, set on hair trigger.

[justwannano]

#1 longspring.
Use a tangle stake in deep water.
Size down the hole. I like one the size of a crawdad hole.
Yeah I hear you. I won't take as many as with a bigger hole but I can put it in places you cannot.
have a good one
just

[CoonDuke]

justwannano,

How high do you punch your hole above the trap?

[oldmink]

Victor #1 longsprings always served me well although today I run more Duke 1.5 coils.

[trappnman]

nick- you keep using those #1 ls in that grass as in your pics- and get back to me in a couple of years-

[blackhammer]

Number ones are not heavy enough and don't have the jaw spread for serious mink trapping in my opinion.You really shouldn't need a tangle stick for mink.Big is better and will increase your catch % I remember Swede Israelson book the first mink book I ever read,advocated number2 victor coils over 30 years ago.For strictly mink he was right then and it's still true today,not a bad rat trap either.

[justwannano]

Dec 30, 2008 17:59:54 GMT -6 CoonDuke said:

justwannano,

How high do you punch your hole above the trap?

Around 6 inches .
So that the mink will stick his nose in the hole and his foot in the trap. I've always felt it happened at the same time.
Actually I've never measured.
Just what looks right.
have a good one
just

[fishadict]

I am surprised by the #1 LS answers. Do folks weight each trap with a RR spike? -on the chain near the trap?

My favorite mink traps are 1.5 or 2 Victor LS's or 1.5 Duke or Victor CS's. The 110's worked well for me as well this year. I found I just can't use the 110's where they compete with my tried and true blind sets.

fa

[trappnman]

years ago, I used to to that very thing- course, RR spikes were a lot easier to come by it seemed-

I too am surprised by the answers as well- Unless you put every #1 on a slide wire- you are going to loose mink- they are just way too light to put a mink down 100% of the time, and a mink that is on the land more than the water, esp with marsh grass, is going to tangle and you ARE going to have losses-

[Rod S]

#1 1/2 Northwoods round jaw coilspring. This traps pan sits real low, its jaw edges are rounded off, not sharp so there is less foot damage. It has heavier frame and chain for faster drowning. I also use some #1 1/2 coils from Duke and Victor, round pan and squire pan. #1 Single long spring have to many losses unless everything is perfect. Deep water, nothing to tangle in and use a slide lock are a must for single longsprings. #1 1/2 long springs are better but lose to many coon. Have never used #11 or #2 double longsprings.

[markymark]

Victor Pinch Pan, Bridger 1.5
3ft machine chain number 2

[rk660]

In all honesty, can you afford to run a trap ONLY for mink, and FORGET the coon, at what prices have been for each in the last 20 years?

[RiverRat]

Dec 31, 2008 18:49:28 GMT -6 rk660 said:

In all honesty, can you afford to run a trap ONLY for mink, and FORGET the coon, at what prices have been for each in the last 20 years?

I trap coon for 30 days HARD, then finish coon for hire, I like to play with mink every winter for FUN dont care if I loose $$ doin it. Nice to not have to look at coon for awhile LOL It gets to a point every yr that scraping beaver seems like fun
I dont like re twinkin my coon traps do so taking off drowners ect. I meant to set more mink traps today ended up picking up a bunch of cattle and goat hides instead yes made $$ on them but setting for mink is alot more fun.

[trappnman]

In all honesty, can you afford to run a trap ONLY for mink, and FORGET the coon,

no, in the present day, yopu cannot-

but- there are many locations that I have, that are mink and rats only, so in those locations, I'll go with a #2 dls or a #1.5 ls-

"pure" coon sets get nothing less than a 1.75

all in all- you can't beat a 1.5 coil on a water mixed - if I HAD to pick one trap for water it would be a Duke 1.5

[wbg]

Any type of used 1.5 I can buy cheap. I do however share marky marks preference for the victor pinch pans. I also have a bunch of north woods that I like quite a bit. Sadly both these traps are getting hard to find in this area. I have a large number of 1.5 long springs that always get set, great trap. Also use 1.5 jumps with chain added for weight, I try to limit these to deeper water to insure drowning. The #1 traps are all capable of holding mink, just to light to facilitate positive drowning with out slide rigs, in my opinion. The old #2 square jaws are a great mink trap if coon are not a problem or if run on drowner's.

[billmeyerhoff]

I use victor 1.5 coils, ran out of them a couple of years ago and set some 1.75 blake and lambs, way to strong for the front leg of a mink.

[RiverRat]

when running mink only sets I allways set out buckets for coon to pay the gas.