Steve, Resting set question

[kelly]

It is not just another "blind" set! Did you look at this thread in the Archives?
coyotesrus.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=water&action=display&thread=15878

Also, I started one last year about blind setting and Steve contributed lots of useful information including more on the resting spot. Here is that thread.

coyotesrus.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=talk&thread=18504&page=1

Steve gets hammered every time he talks about unbaited pockets and the resting set about them not being blind sets so he is most likely done with answering any more questions. But I've found him more than helpful if you direct specific questions to him via PM or even email.

[seldom]

Jul 22, 2011 17:31:55 GMT -6 @kelly said:

It is not just another "blind" set! Did you look at this thread in the Archives?
coyotesrus.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=water&action=display&thread=15878

Also, I started one last year about blind setting and Steve contributed lots of useful information including more on the resting spot. Here is that thread.

coyotesrus.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=talk&thread=18504&page=1

Steve gets hammered every time he talks about unbaited pockets and the resting set about them not being blind sets so he is most likely done with answering any more questions. But I've found him more than helpful if you direct specific questions to him via PM or even email.

Good job Kelly!

I think a lot of folks seem to waaaay, waaaay over-think Steve's description of the set right down to the name.

The real question folks should be asking themselves, if they're inclined to think about it, is WHY a set described as such, works. Once you do that, than you can call it any name you want! Heck, it seems as though there are any number of ideas of what constitutes a bottom edge set so what's the big deal with this set? It's all cool beans to me!

It got so bad on here twice before that now I try not to refer to it as the "resting spot" set.

[trappnman]

well, i used to call it "a super duper pooper of a set even a blind deaf and dumb trapper like me could utilize to take mink and rats thats quick simple and effective although not politcally correct nomeclature in real mink trapping circles"....

but.....

resting set seemed to say it all.

Kelly, seldom, Calvin and others- thanks for seeing beyond the name..............

lumberjack- I didn't see your question, so if you repost, i'll do my best to help out.......

[lumberjack]

WHEW, I thought I did wrong by asking some questions about it.
I really wanted to give this set a try this year. What I wanted to know was;
What makes you decide when to use a pocket vs a resting set ?
If there is an overhanging log, why the need for the shallow depression, if hes going there wouldnt a trap placed against the bank under the overhang be just as good?
Ive seen distant photos, do you have any close-ups, showing set construction in detail?

[kelly]

Hi John;

Is your email still the same that I used back in 2008? If so, will send you one.

Thanks, Kelly

[trappnman]

What makes you decide when to use a pocket vs a resting set ?

a pocket would work as well- in fact, all a resting set really is, is "part of a pocket" insofar as what looks like. A natural shelf (often this very thing, is what pin points the location- and my point was, if its not already a natural resting place, make it so. but why dig a pocket,t when an impression, cutout, shallow "pocket" do the same thing, and that's to either take advantage of a natural resting point ( or pull out point...I used to call these sets "landing sets")


If there is an overhanging log, why the need for the shallow depression, if hes going there wouldn't a trap placed against the bank under the overhang be just as good?

yes indeed- if its a location that has such- but few locations at bends below fast water, have such. I certainly do set a lot of resting sets, under logs. and if on a featureless stretch, with no "obvious" location, a "log" baseball bat sized or bigger, laid against the bank, often makes a good set- in such case, the depression is needs , cause the water is often feet deep, as a trap holder.

non log over hangings are another thing- of course, many overhangs esp with grassy drop overs, are ideal rat and mink locations.

think of it like this- some blind sets are travel sets, some blind locations are hunting sets- I use a lot of both

but my bread and butter is knowing where that mink is pausing, or if such is not available, I have found that making a spot-will do the trick.again- I DO use shallow pockets as blind sets- but in that case, the pocket is doing more than holding the trap- its offering eye appeal and its aim, is to bring visually hunting (imnsho) mink, TO the trap. Bigger water, more barren water.

I've given one example- eddys or bends below fast water- but how about on pools? Sure mink are hunting under water, or in and out- but once they catch their prey- what do they NEED to do?

they need to find a safe place, to eat that food- a place to feed, or pause, or TO REST. Several times, I've found a dead trout,on the shelf, a dead mink in the trap.

The thing that makes me judge a mans blind setting skills, or lack of, is the old "I don't want to walk up and down a creek looking for blind sets"

Me either-

Blind sets are everywhere- the key is knowing why a mink is there, what he is doing while he is there and what his nature will allow him to do, or what he will choose to do, while at that location.

and one other thing to keep in mind- and I've told this story before. I set up a location for 5-6 years. caught a coon or two, a rat or two, and a rare mink. one year about 10 years ago, explored a little, and 100 yards away, found a honey hole, and it was obvious as all get out when I found it. every year since then- 15-20 rats, 8-10 mink. Same number of traps, same creek, same mink-

Why? because I was now where the mink wanted to be- the mink told me, that all sections of a creek are not the same.

be where a mink wants to be, take advantage of WHY he wants to be there, know what hes then going to do there (insofar as what hes hunting, where he would have success at it, and where he will go and what he will do in that pursuit.

[lumberjack]

Yes Kelly, it is, I never changed it. Thanks

[calvin]

Good stuff, Steve. Admittedly, not much of a blind set guy...other than BE and/or colony trap stuff. I often times wondered how many mink were walking past baited pockets. Last year I know much more than average were as I was picking them up in colonies and BE's but not the pockets like years previous. I/d have to assume that most years a guy could really increase his catch utilizing blind/resting sets along with the other stuff. Something I need to explore.

Question: Outside turn in a river where deeper/faster water running along a hard edged vertical featurless bank. Do these areas typically yield rats or mink if a resting shelf made?

[trappnman]

Question: Outside turn in a river where deeper/faster water running along a hard edged vertical featurless bank. Do these areas typically yield rats or mink if a resting shelf made?

Calvin, you nailed it exactly- what you descibe, is exactly what I was talking about. The answer is YES.

my creeks typically have such, and the opposite bank is almost always shallow (from the constant erosion as the creek "moves"). these type of locations are my most productive. I had one location last year that typical- 4-5 feet of water, no features or anything but a st vertical clay bank. I took the spade, and managed to eek out a small shelf at the point where the current hit the bank the fastest- that set (and it was all I could do to make the one shelf, believe me I tried to make more) took a rat or mink at almost every check over a 3 month period. this stream freezes heavily, so it was out of commission more than I liked, but if it stayed open til that evening at least, chop ice and pull fur. Its locations like that, where I'm thinking BE colonys under the ice

[seldom]

Jul 24, 2011 16:51:26 GMT -6 lumberjack said:

WHEW, I thought I did wrong by asking some questions about it.
I really wanted to give this set a try this year. What I wanted to know was;
What makes you decide when to use a pocket vs a resting set ?
If there is an overhanging log, why the need for the shallow depression, if hes going there wouldnt a trap placed against the bank under the overhang be just as good?
Ive seen distant photos, do you have any close-ups, showing set construction in detail?

I'll be the first one to admit that I don't take a very good photo when I'm on a water line, so I try to take enough that maybe one or two will be of some value. Here's a few that hopefully are a little more understandable of my rendition of Steve's set. All sets shown are "proven" sets by catching multiple mink.








This photo was taken after trapping season(1/30) and during breeding season a couple months later a few years ago. The water is down about 6"-8" at the time of photo and it it not only shows mink tracks but it also encompasses two BE's(structure should be obvious) as well as Steve's set location in the back(normally over-hung with swamp grass). Each of the three traps have caught mink.

[calvin]

Not having done it, I think this could be a great tool in the "sets" toolbox. I have some locations that this method could really work well in. Good stuff.

[seldom]

I've got out-of-State grandsons visiting this week so I was gathering up and reviewing old trapping magazines to send home with them and guess what I found in the T&PC 2003 Yearbook? An article entitled "Mink Top 10" by Jim Spencer and right off the bat there are these two photos and the caption!
Imagine that!!

[foxcatcher1]

My forte' has always been K-9s but I water trap pretty well. I'm a blind/ pocket/ den set kind of guy.

With that said, it has been a long time since I have been blown away by such a simple yet apparently effective concept.

On the locations described, I always look for the crossover that cuts the point of a bend. I have done well in these trail sets but have neglected the deep water curve. This was due to the lack of creative thinking as I really never had good luck with a BE set in that situation.

I now have a tool that will help put fur in the truck when they are not cutting the point of the bend.

Don

[trappnman]

Don, it is a simple concept, but one often overlooked.

the light bulb came on for me one day trout fishing, when I was in a pasture, and watched a small mink work the edge. She was constantly moving, except when she came to a place where a cow had come to drink, and his foot slipped down, cutting a half moon type furrow in the bank, to the water. When she came to these, barely big enough for her to be in, she would- she go in then, turn around, and pause- just for a bit. Then on her way.

So I started up by setting the ones I found made by cows, in similar type structure- and started catching mink in them. When I began to make my own in suitable locations, I'd make more of a "ramp" which to my mind looked like miniature boat landings, so I started mentally calling them "landing sets".

as my mind starting thinking of this more, and thinking why it was successful, the set evolved from a ramp, to a slight depression.

I also found, in shallower water, that adding a stick by the outside jaw, made the set (and its important to remember this is in shallow water- I'll let you figure out why LOL) even more successful, my opinion is that it gives a mink a sort of "illusion" about it.

so that's one situation where resting sets work-

but another, is thinking about mink hunting deep pools. Pools they are hunting. They got to come out, to eat. It might be under a bank- it might be off the creek, into the brush (talked to a guy doing a trout study and he commented on his finding the chips, in trout eaten by mink, 15-20 feet off the creek under logs etc).

so if a natural spot isn't there- make one.

[jim]

I never liked the term resting spot, i don't think normally a mink is ever tired ( fighting a trap he would be tired) now a landing spot I like. Jim

[thebeav2]

Or a STALL out spot.
But In reality since your not using bait or lure It's just another Blind set.

But I guess you can hang any name on It.

[trappnman]

nomenclature? that's whats important here?



actually, "resting set" describes what is taking place pretty much 100% spot on. landing implies leaving the waterway- I based "landing set" on the appearance of the set in its beginning stages- I have called it a resting set for 20 or more years cause that's based on what the mink is DOING.

And understanding why a mink would want to stop at a particular place on a waterway, and what one can do to make him an offer he cannot refuse, is what matters.

the reason I did make an effort to name what I knew to help those that wished to be helped in blind setting mink, was because the term "REST" is key on why and where it works.

the me repeat that- the term "REST" is key on why and where it works.

not any great magic, but a certain mindset that, based on trappers I've talked to and comments on forums, escapes many good mink trappers insofar as how important the general concept is and what it implys. And even those that set nothing but baited pockets- ever wonder how much the attraction was JUST the pocket and its location? And the bait was just there?

in other mink blind sets, other factors are the main reason the set works. MOST mink blind sets, are based on HUNTING. my mainstay, is based on the opposite end of the spectrum.

every mink book, every explanation of mink sets, is dominated by one aspect- trap a hunting mink. or a hungry mink- and that implys a travelling mink.

food in pockets.
BE sets for underwater hunting mink
crossovers
craw fish banks
tunnels
rip rap
grassy hangovers
feedbeds & rat runs

all places where a mink is hunting, or moving between hunting areas.

and then they go on to talk about how "a mink is an absolute hugger to the bank" as another possible way to take mink- and that works good in some locations, but btw- don't take that info "the mink is an absolute hugger" to heart without thinking into why and where that behavior occurs, and when the very opposite is the norm (and no, not talking the rut).

so think of it as trapping mink, on that superhighway of a waterway- a multi lane superhighway. Be right where he is going (and no, its not always the same) and/or offer him what he cannot refuse.....

now- those mink are going to want to, and yes by their nature need to stop. I think the absolute key to this, is to remember how that little mink worked that bank side.

she was hunting- seldom came out of the water more than to put a foot or two down, always moving- ALWAYS moving, from the bank edge (shallow bank) out 2-4 feet into the creek based on various structure at times, back and forth in a serpentine type of action- and the one constant, was her pulling into those little resting areas, turning around, sitting for a brief time, and going back to her hunting. She paused or rested, at several of those spots until she was out of sight- never crossed or attempted to cross a 8 foot creek, which s interesting in itself.

Often, if looking at a creek with this mindset, those places are easily picked out. I've mentioned the keys many times in this and other threads, so won't go into them here-

but whats important, is that if a resting area is NOT where one SHOULD be, if you make it, they will come. A trapper can use this concept, of a minks pattern/habit/nature to pause and rest at certain type locations.

here is a good example- 10-20 foot wide deep pool at the bottom of a shallow run. High banks, over deep water. meaning 6-8' wide creek, deep hole being maybe 10' in middle, 4-6' average.

A very common scenario in mink type water.

You could make baited pockets, you could use 110s in one way or another, you could try trial sets if situation warrants-

but what I do, is look at the very bottom of the shallow run- if there is a spot there- and it might not be more than a wink- I set it.

but if not, if I can create a small depression or ledge by carving a notch, or even using flat rocks, piece of heavy sod, logs etc to give me what I want, I'll do so.

mink will come up to the shallow water to eat, regroup, and yes- rest, use the spots he is using, or build him a new and improved one

its a concept that takes a lot of mink, and yes rats as well, for me.

another tip- in setting up at the eddy of fast water, or in long stretch of slower current- look to see where the "flotsam point" is-
where the debris hits the bank, rats and mink tend to do so as well- give them a (and yes I'll say it) a resting spot, and its lights out for that mink or rat.

but if you see no difference beav, then thar ya go..................

[thebeav2]

thebeav.topcities.com/Setlocationimages/minksetlocations.html

Here's some shots of some mink sets you can call them anything you want.

[trappnman]

thanks beav.

[dpomm]

To everyone who has posted photos and how these resting spots work thanks. I can use all the help I can get.