Blind Sets

[kelly]

Wanted to bring this to the top mainly to urge Steve to do a blind set DVD but also for any new and more info on blind sets for mink!

[barrynl]

I am not much of a blind setter. My Idea of a blind set is setting mink path's with 120's.

But one thing I am starting to think is that mink scavage a lot more then what people think.

The reason I think this is because I have always caught mink at the head of deep pool's or the outlet of culvert's. Not so much the inlets. Also at the corners of old beaver dam's.

Here is the best picture I have of what I mean.




The location is to the right of outlet pipe, if you look really hard you can see mink and rock cubby.

This is a new location I set last year for the first time, took two mink. Now if you look at this location you will notice, no cover what so ever a feature that a lot of people say is a mink "No,No".

The commen thing that I notice about these type of locations (head of deap pools corner's etc.) is the backwash.

Notice in above picture that the cubby is right where the backwash hits the bank.

So maybe these mink are cheaking out places (where the backwash hits the bank) for scavenging opertunities.

What thinks everone on this theory.

[trappnman]

bare banks don't bother me a bit- if what the mink is after, lay at the bottom of those banks- as your pic shows. I set similar locaitons, and permanent rock cubbies, can be deadly

mink alos like being on top, and under, culverts such as those. I often find mind droppings, on top of culvert pipes like that.

if a natural hole is there under the water outlet, use it- if not, make one- those under culvert layaway spots, are consistent all season, and year after year.

[trappnman]

consider this as well- a travelling mink, esp in cold, snowy, icy conditions, is going to be a hungry mink. and a hungry mink, looks for food.

with the thin fat reserves mink have, I don't believe- unless pre rut- mink do much travelling TO travel per se- they travel to EAT.

[barrynl]

Yes trapnman I have been trapping the same mink location's for year's and I have come to the same conclusion's.

I find if you find a good location then mink trapping is easy, these location's will pay of year after year.

Around here most of my Set's are rock cubby's in exact same spot year after year. I can always count on these location's I consider expanding my mink catch a matter of finding more location's.

For me they are always the upper corner's of deep pool's, corner's of beaver dams, corner's at the outlet of culverts.

Do you think the backwash Idea has merit??

I think once freeze up comes mink will travel further to find food ( I guess they have too). I have followed mink tracks for miles in the snow. But they will always go out of there way to find open water. I have seen there tracks disappear into open water and never could find where they emerge. Although of course they must have .

I have read old trapper books from the fellow's on the Labrador whose favorite mink set was beneath shelving ice.

[Wright Brothers]

"Do you think the backwash Idea has merit??"

Absolutely, just like fishing. catch the largest trout from a stream, and within days or sooner the next larger trout will use the same holding and staging areas. Structure.

The disappearing tracks reminded me "of this one time" caught an under ice mink on a lake.
All ice, old snow. I circled that lake to see where mink entered. No tracks. My best guess was he was holed up in a bank den.

I've seen the disappearing tracks of coon in my are also, in real cold weather. Seems once they enter the stream they stay in there until they get to where they are going or return.
I think "those" coon are looking for love not food. I've read plenty on here contrary to that, I believe it, and chalk it up to differing climates.

Next.

[trappnman]

under shelve ice is indeed a good location- but you have to have the exact weather conditions to pull it off- its got to be stable temps to keep things as they were.

heres a shelf ice idea some might not have thought of- we many times get it so that its 10-12 inches wide, but on the waters surface. mink like to run it, but its hard to set up in that its usually thin, and fragile, so any set making on the ice itself ruins the location.

here & there, in spots i know will have such conditions, I'll put a rebar in early, next to the bank, with a 110 holder already on. leave it till that shelf ice occurs- then its easy to add a 110, and the ice itself is never touched.

for sure back washes are an interest point. its one of the reasons resting ledges, or spots, on bends in fast water are top blind sets. look to where the current hits the bank- are there any branches, flotsam, etc at or on the bank? that usually indicates the best spot- its where the water is going to take both food, and the predator naturally. Give them a place to go when they get there..............

mink tracks in snow, can indeed teach you a lot- but one common fallacy, IMO, is "to set where the tracks hit the water". now, this could indeed be a top location, if circumstances (tight pinch points, limited open water, etc) dictate- but for me, I've found it to be futile at best.

many decades long gone ago, i tried the "set where they go into water" thing, and found that each check (this is winter trapping), I'd put a trap where they entered, next check they would enter here, add a trap, etc- pretty soon I had traps all over and no mink.

so what I concluded was it was a waste of time overall, for me, but one thing stood out.

mink were coming to a GENERAL location, regularly. it wasn't the trails that led them there- but the "location reason" and by that- I mean FOOD.

so mink tracks in the snow, tell me one thing quick if seen multiple times- mink are going out of their way so to speak (another thing following mink tracks in light snow tells you- they spend a LOT of time "randomly" moving on land- and not in tight cover but as the crow flays across bare, open fields more times than not.

think what this tells you.

it tells you that mink are working a section of creek, then when on their way, esp in harsh conditions, they are as apt to leave the water and go overland to their next destination as continue following the creek. I do believe, in warmer weather, non snowy weather, that they DO spend more time following the creeks, giving credence to the thought that one stretch of creek is as good as the other. Not so true in winter.

so getting back to the point- by following tracks, you can see WHERE they want to go, not so much how they are getting there.

then a quick read of the location- cover, currents, openness of water dictates what blind set you put there.

[kelly]

Thanks again Steve and others.

barrynl;

I'd be interested to hear of these books you talk about since I trying to gather all the known mink books written. Have 62 different titled mink books so far and there for sure are some old or obscure ones I'm missing.

[barrynl]

Kelly for the life of me I cannot think of the name or the author of that book.

It was not a trapping book per-say (as in set's, bait etc.). It was more of reminisces of a guy's life on the Labrador back in the 20,s or 30's trapping, among other thing's.

One thing I do know is he was from Carbonear and wrote a good many books about life on the Labrador, all his books talk about trapping to some extent ( some more then other's).

If you google say"Carbonear Newfoundland authors" or some thing like that you may find it ( some of the books had trapping in the title).

I had some of his book's but lost them in a move, I was interested in his book's because I was originally from Carbonear. Now I live about 50KM away.

Sorry I could not be of more help.

[kelly]

Did a Google search but did not find anything specific about authors so if you remember his name I'd appreciate.

What specifically did he write about mink trapping?

I agree with your assumption of the corners of big pools and the backwash or eddy.

Don't overlook any points/large rocks that jut out into these pools as great bottom edge locations, especially if these ice up later.

[Gibb]

Steve do you think mink populations surge or do they remain for the most part constant? Talking year to year.
When I use to have lots of marten I would always catch half a dozen big male mink in my marten traps miles from water, the interesting part was that the marten sets would be 5 feet of the ground. My thoughts were that they were hunting mice or voles and found my sets with the beaver meat as bait.
Jim

[trappnman]

Gibb, it seems like if the stream conditions remain stable, then the mink population remains the same. But here two seasons in a row pre opener, we had major, major stream changing floods, and both past years, I at least, noticed a big drop in mink numbers. Creeks where you year after year take 5-8 mink- I was getting 1 or 2.

interestingly enough, rat populations on the other hand, remained stable.

[barrynl]

Kelly

The name of the author of them book's is Ben Powell.

He was mainly into mink and fox with a few otter's.

[barrynl]

Kelly

Just to make it a bit easer here is a link

www.tidespoint.com/usedbooks/bplbc.shtml

[thebeav2]

here & there, in spots i know will have such conditions, I'll put a rebar in early, next to the bank, with a 110 holder already on. leave it till that shelf ice occurs- then its easy to add a 110, and the ice itself is never touched.


So your saying that your placing the 110 above ice. How many mink have you caught this way? my experience has shown me that very few mink will go through 110s set In that fashion.

We are making this way to difficult. Set on sign set shallow and force the mink where you want It to go. End of story.

Gibb I did a 7 week trap line In Ontario. We caught a lot of mink In our elevated marten boxes. So since I'm one who likes to try different things I set up some boxes like that at home. It must have been a Canadian thing because It didn't work on WI mink LOL

[trappnman]

yes, I am saying I place it above the ice- actually on weed stems ON the ice. I am not saying this 110 sits there bare- its made agaisnt weedy edges, with weeds drapped over it.

how many mink? 2-4 every year out of 1 or 2 sets like this. when one is out year after year in ice and snow- the patterns of the creeks, and the mink running them, become obvious.

After years of observing them running that 6-10 inch shelf line, and finding out almost impossible to set once the ice is THERE, I figured set up a few rebar with holders on THOSE PLACES THAT HAD SHELF ICE OCCURRING REGULARLY OVER THE YEARS and if shelf ice occurred there, I'd be in business.

for the very little i use it, its productive.

kind of like foil for coon- I hear many, many say worthless, and I guessing those many, many never tried it in the right conditions

in shallow, eps running water- it slays more coon than what you think.

Guess its yet another thing one needs to try before dismissing.

would I set out 200 of these? no- but its THE ONLY option besides bottom edge sets, in such conditions. Again, one needs to trap, in such conditions to understand.

no beav, we aren't making it difficult- we are brainstorming ideas and things that work for us.

this thread is more for those that DO blind set, and for those that wish to learn how.

[barrynl]

I think we have some confusions in terms going on here.

When people say shelf ice around here it means ice that is pushed up onto the shore when a stream freezes, then when the water drops you have a channel between the new water level and the Bottom of the ice. They can be anywhere from 6 inches to 2 feet high.

Mink will often travel in this channel or tunnel, you often will have dry ground under the ice close to shore.

Around here you will see mink travel in these tunnel's, which will often go for miles along streams and the edge of pond's and lake's. Otter will also use them.

The old trapper's on the Labrador use to break into these tunnels and set in them.

[trappnman]

I understood what you meant

I have little of that here- its either frozen, or freezes and thaws so the ice, in current, usually just breaks off and floats away. you need fluxuating water to get the type of shelf ice you were speaking of. I'll get this most in small stream beaver ponds- once the beaver ae gone, the water drops, and you have that ice with a open spot under it. and agree- its a good set up

but shelve ice is also that thin layer that forms, and often becomes stable, on these streams here. and after years of seeing mink run that thin width of ice, and attempts to somehow set it up, led me to prestaking rebar in a couple of locations. I find it kind of cool, to see a situation, and then figuring out how to use it to my advantage.