Tunnel Traps

[BadDog]

www.kaatzbros.com/products.php?sub=225

Who makes these tunnel traps? Anybody ever try using them on mink?

[lumberjack]

They have been around 20 years or so, Mytling use to make them. I tried my 3 out, they got flooded away 3 days later. Nice concept-they are a tad heaVY, PRICEY. i PD 7.00 FOR MINE BACK IN THE DAY.

[trappnman]

Baddog, have never used a "store bought" tunnel trap, but used to spend a lot of time constructing such, or bringing pieces of pipe, drainpipe etc out into the creeks.

note I said used to.

Now, I have heard that further north they seem to work from what I've been told, and elsewhere perhaps as well and no knock to anyone that has success with them, but my success with tunnel, pipe, etc type blind mink sets is such to wonder how many mink those old timers caught with such sets

A natural tunnel into banks is as good a blind set as you can make, I find a few of those every year and its like Christmas when I do- but trying to make those tunnels, isn't the same- I think its because of natural odors, air coming out of naturally used dens

when I went seasonal from hobby, I tried about everything I heard of and read concerning mink- and It so logically makes sense on on level for pipes, and tunnels, etc to be mink magnets- but, at least for me an its tempting to speculate a mink is a mink but perhaps not- but that sure was not the case. I even tried the "Artificial rat house set" which was a 5 gal bucket with a 3 inch hole by the top, flipped over with a rat carcasses hanging from middle on top- never caught a mink, but did get my first 3 weasels- and about half my lifetime take LOL

I could see their use as a grass type trail set, but since they go over/around them on banks edge, blended in- I suspect they would do the same on dry land-

besides- if you know someone to make you some snares....ya could snare those dryland mink!

you know, while on mink- one thing I learned over a lifetime of mink trapping, is that like coyotes, mink trapping has a lot of myth attached to it as well.

much of it sounds logical, but.....

such as follow mink tracks, and where they go into the water, set a trap-

sure, the obvious pinch points where the choice is so limited it should have been obvious before seeing it on snow, setting on such tracks works.

but except for those limited places- mink, if tracks are truly followed over a long period as suggested going in and out of the water would be random and the location is whats important to learn.

or that mink investigate and explore every hole etc they come to- and that's far from the truth.mink investigate in reality very few hole,s esp dryland holes. I've seen countless bank dens and holes on banksides, that year after year, never have a mink track going into them and in fact, its quite a rarity to see them enter any hole, that doesn't have a purpose for them ie hunting (fresh critter smell) or denning.

fwiw

[Wright Brothers]

Bob Best from Pa makes em.

[BadDog]

The concept appeals to me... I just want a set that I can throw up in a flash that catches effectively, kills positively and keeps the mink out of the sun. I don't want to check them often. Mink must crawl thru a tunnel instantly upon finding such and I figured if a guy threw some branches and grass on top, it would add to appeal/attraction. These mink here must die, not that I want to rack up mink numbers and get rich on mink, they must die so they quit killing all my rats in my good rat waters.

Probably I would be better off making wooden tunnels or pvc pipes that hinge, are slotted for bodygrip springs in the middle and long enough and already white to keep the sun off the mink. If I am forced to trap them in the winter when I should be getting coyotes, then I better be getting the skins out of them. Tho this statement won't be popular with the mink addicts, I wish I was allowed to catch them in the summer like a gopher and throw them up on the bank and walk away!!!

[trappnman]

Mink must crawl thru a tunnel instantly upon finding such and I figured if a guy threw some branches and grass on top, it would add to appeal/attraction.

you would think so- but my experience shows that to be false

[TRay]

In my experiance they work really good on squirrels, not so well on mink.

[BadDog]

OK, false perception, sorry!!! So does a guy have to use some bait and or scent or are blind bodygrip sets the answer?

I need the ticket to a fast simple zero-maintenance set that is deadly, ideally the mink would be protected from the elements but if not, whatever.

I guess I need a spring mink season so I can kill them all when I have time.

[lumberjack]

If you have that good of a mink population that they are wiping the rats out, Rat sets should be good enough to take them.
You cant blitz trap and expect many mink, you may need to leave the sets awhile longer than a rat trapper normally does.

[conibear]

small wooden boxes with a120 coni in it work awesome up here Marty I don't know your regs but they do work great here in NW mn with a rat carcass in the back and a 3 day check here the colder it get the better they work just my imo

[Jarhead620]

The only thing I ever caught in one was a tiny 'possum.

Larry