110s in water

[trappnman]

anybody experiment much with 2 110s at a set? 1 on the bottom on a rebar and the other on the surface, same rebar, with water just over the bottom?

I think you'd take a lot of rats if nothing else in the top.

[mountainman]

Thats an interesting idea.

So many times I have set a large rat den with one 110 on floating trips and know I had to leave some. 2 traps in those big dens even if a few were sprung could have made a real difference.

Why not have a BE and a top edge set? fencing if needed would be easy. It would make a heck of a catch picture - 2 mink or a mink and a rat in one rig like that.

[CoonDuke]

A friend of mine is going to try this at bridge walls with 160s.

[trappnman]

I've tried it to the extent of a couple of sets a year- withou poor success- but both traps poor- poor location I guess. Ill be trying it more tihs year.

but man,,$10 mink....ouch.

[Richard Nelson]

I have set two 110s in a row with sucess but never one over the other..I will try some and let y'all know.

[mountainman]

Trappnman, amen on the ouch! I was lucky on the sale last year and got 'em in in time like you do. I posted the high price on mink and rats here and wish I had been able to really go for numbers then. I don't really spook that easy on the prices as they can come up fast when they want to fill some orders, but who knows? I do know I didn't like the way some foreign buyers have at times been trying to hold out to late in the spring to buy so to rip us off, then later on some guys started holding too long or the big sales held for them and they got the short end of the stick. I try to be flexible and have a fast turnover for a good avg. I may not get the high price some guys do, but I like the way my basket looks more often than some. Money or not we are still winners in a lot of ways.

Those 2 trap sets - I sometimes use two footholds in mink sets and had doubles on rats there with deep water dropoffs or on slide wires. I guess if I had used two slide wires or seperate tieoffs at all sets my chances for a mink double would have been a lot better. I'll have to take the time to try that. I haven't tried any multiple 110s other than in long shallow rat runs. Under ice rat sets w/110s do well here. I wrote about that a long time ago in FFG. I used a long forked stick with an apple baited 110 and set along the banks mostly between denning and feeding areas where air bubbles and bits of cattail roots showed under the ice. The rebar would be easy and with 2 or more traps I believe more efficient.

[seldom]

I've experimented quite extensively using a foothold on top (top edge) and a 110 or a colony trap beneath (bottom edge). I've experimented enough so that now I usually just use the TE foothold unless the bridge has bottom structure that a mink would want to hunt. I can find better and more productive set locations for the 110's and colonies out from under the bridge. The catch ratio between the TE and BE has been as high as 3-1 to 5-1 so it's been my findings that if you're only setting the BE, you're missing the majority of mink & rats! Where I can find the older style, straight-walled bridge, the TE is hands-down my favorite mink set ;D but the old style bridges are in short supply and getting shorter each year!! Usually I need to set two TE traps against each wall trying to keep a trap open (24hr check) for mink rather then having rats load them up. I've posted my adjustable re rod trap stand on here some weeks ago. It cradled a #2 foothold (old Herters with a #3 pan) for the TE and allowed for a 110 or a colony trap as the BE trap.

[trappnman]

the reason the smaller bridges are going fast, at least here, is the increased size of machinery. and all the replacements are those with the long banks, filled with rip rap.

I have ONE old style bridge left, and that was supposed to be replaced last year, but wasn't.

[cflann]

I hear yer pain, Steve. North Dakota highway engineers sure do love their rip rap too. I suppose our thin soils make it necessary, but the average situation at my bridge crossings is basketball sized rock rip rap on the upstream side of the crossing and a 15-foot plunge pool on the downstream side with remnants of rip rap around it. Can make driving a stake tough to say the least.

Chris

[trappnman]

be interesting to see how the replace all the washed out bridges.

[lumberjack]

Top edge sets seem like a job to make.
My style is to bodygrip him in a bottom edge and set up or downstream where he might hit land.
With our constantly flooding waters I may get 2 days at most before rebuilding, adjusting or unplugging a TE set.

[mountainman]

Thanks for the good info Seldom. I always liked the #2 Herters. I only had a few, but they were real mink catchers.

Guys, I figure you have very likely done this already, but I find it usefull where its worth the time and the mink are running the waters edge at places in those rip rap areas to either find or position a big flat rock to make vertical structure. Its not the same as having those good bridge walls, but can still be effective. I sometimes lay a good flat rock into a low bank and pile some brush behind it if needed and pull some long grass down over the rock to look natural. I like tunnels where its worth the time to make them. That rip rap maybe...I get good results with tunnels on rocky undercut banks when easier blind sets can't be made. Sometimes the upper end where the mink comes out of the water is the easiest and best location there. The banks get a lot of damage from runoff and flash floods here now with all the development over the last 20 years.

[seldom]

With our constantly flooding waters I may get 2 days at most before rebuilding, adjusting or unplugging a TE set.

LOL, you're not the only one with constant water depth fluctuation. That's why I came up with this rig. I got tired of rebuilding too so I just designed & built something that was a lot simpler and just plain better to use! It's pretty self-explanatory how I was able to determine which trap caught the most. When I can use a TE, I check them every morning and make any adjustment needed for change of water level and keep them clear of rats.

[mountainman]

Seldom, thats a real beauty of a rig and very ingenious too! How did you make the trap platform? It looks like you cut a piece of drain pipe or a cap or something there.

[seldom]

How did you make the trap platform? It looks like you cut a piece of drain pipe or a cap or something there.

LOL You're right Mountainman, they're made from a piece of scrap water line pipe! Waste not, want not! LOL ;D ;D

[frenchman]

cooool!!

Thanks for posting the picture!

[Drew]

I used the double set up at one farm bridge last season the ditch was narrowed down once it hit the bridge so the water flowed faster under it. The footing of the retaining wall was about 2' out away from the wall on the bottom of the ditch. The retaining wall was concrete also.

So I had one 110 at the surface and a 160 with one spring removed at the bottom. The water level rising and falling made it a constant adjustment. I never doubled like i thought I would.

It was an inrestering spot to trap...some rats stayed on the surface and the current forced them to the edge along the wall, and some preferred to dive and swim the BE.

I'll see if I can get a pic of the bridge during my scouting this weekend.