Mink Trapping Part 8

Now that will do in West Virginia, but in Pennsylvania in this part of the state it takes a water set or a deadfall to catch the mink. In the H-T-T I have seen a great many different opinions in regard to trapping mink, some claiming they have no trouble in catching mink, others cannot catch them only with the water set or deadfall.

Now my experience is that it depends upon where I am. In the sandhill region of Virginia I could catch mink only with the water set, while in the mountains they were very easily caught with the land set. Much depends on what kind of bait is used. I once had a line of eighteen traps baited with birds and chickens on the Nottoway River, and out of the eighteen traps, I baited one with the carca.s.s of a muskrat.

Well, I didn't catch any mink in the traps baited with chicken offal and birds but the trap baited with muskrat won.

CHAPTER XVII.

POINTS FOR THE YOUNG TRAPPER.

It is better for the novice to serve a few season's apprentices.h.i.+p on the muskrat or skunk before attempting the capture of the shrewder fur bearing animals. Boys, if you live near a trout brook, a creek, pond, bog or spring hole, where there are fish, frogs or clams, you may be sure that any such water is frequented, or at least visited by mink, though your unpracticed eyes may fail to detect signs of their presence; and by procuring a few traps and setting them according to some methods, you can realize a good bit of pocket money every year, and at the same time have more real pleasure than you get from all other sports combined. Don't be discouraged if you catch nothing at first. Visit your traps regularly, keep your eyes open and your wits about you, be patient and persistent, and success is bound to come in the end.

The young trapper's first essay for the mink should be with some sort of water set--dry sets requiring much greater skill and caution--and of the many methods employed the following is perhaps the most effective for one so simply contrived. Having chosen a suitable location for your trap, preferably some good sized pool with the water still and not too deep at the edge, and the bank rising so abruptly that the set will not easily be over-flowed; gather up a few dead sticks 1 1/2 inch thick and break into stakes about 15 inches long. Drive these firmly into the ground to form a three-sided pen four inches wide by eight inches long, the open side at the water's edge.

Hollow out a little place for the trap and place with the spring in line with the entrance, as the animal's foot will then be less likely to be thrown out by the jaws closing; press the chain down into the mud out of sight; fix the ring pole, running it well out into deep water; put the bait (fish, bird or squirrel) in the pen, pinning securely with a dead stick, lay a few sticks over top of pen, and cover trap carefully with rotten leaves fished up from the bottom, dropping on a few pinches of mud, and sticking a row of short twigs on the outer side to keep them from spreading or floating away. Then if the water falls the trap will remain nicely covered.

You now have things pretty well in shape, unless you apprehend trouble from trap thieves. In such case you cannot conceal your set too carefully, for a theft may not mean merely the loss of a trap, but possibly a valuable pelt as well. An excellent mode of concealment is to cut several fir, pine or hemlock shrubs and stick them up, as if growing about the pen, which is most likely to attract the eye. Also throw a scraggily top of some kind into the water over the ring-pole to hide the catch after drowning. Lastly, rearrange as naturally as possible the leaves and dead stuff disturbed in your work, see that nothing has fallen on the trap, spatter a little water about and your set is complete.

Another good way is to drop two traps side by side in shallow water, surround each by a little circle of rocks and hang the bait by a thread about 12 inches above them. In trying to reach the bait Mr.

Mink runs a good chance of blundering into one of the traps.

Better yet, get a shallow box having a weatherworn appearance, bore half inch holes in the sides, and sink in the brook so that the water coming in through the holes will cover the bottom to a depth of three inches. Drape the sides with moss and weeds, put in some live trout and two or three traps along with them, and for those mink that are so particular as to want to take their food alive, you have a set that insures them a warm reception.

Yet another method is to find an over-hanging bank with a narrow strip of beach between it and the water. Beginning at the water, drive stakes at an acute angle out to the bank, both up and down the stream. At the apex of the V shaped fence thus formed place trap under water. No bait is needed.

I was speaking of water sets. One more and I will pa.s.s on to the land set, for though an almost endless variety of the former could be given those presented, with such modifications as will suggest themselves under varying conditions, will serve as a very good elementary education for the young trapper. The following was given me by an old trapper: We were riding together near a brook when he said, "I set a trap here three years ago, which I have never had an opportunity to visit, but I will wager you there is a mink in it if it is to be found." Whereupon he left me for a few minutes, returning triumphantly with the trap and the skeleton of a mink's foot in the jaws.

His way was to go along to shallow rifles, pin a piece of meat to the bottom, place the trap a few inches below it, and a little above drive a short line of stakes at right angles to the current to keep off drift. High water or low, cold weather or warm, you were sure, he a.s.serted, of every mink that came up or down the stream. And my own experience has gone very far towards making this claim good.

Now, all of the foregoing sets are easily made, and may be used by the novice, after a little practice, with every probability of fair success, but when we leave the water for dry land greater difficulties will be encountered. There is a smell about iron which wild animals are quick to detect and recognize as an indication of danger. Water destroys this scent, but of course in the land set this advantage is lost.

Various directions are given for killing it by smoking or steeping, but I have found that if the trap be properly covered there is small need of spending time in this way. And right here let me say that in dry sets success hinges largely on the skill with which you cover your trap, especially if bait be used, and it is best to use bait until one has gained a pretty good idea of the habits of his game.

The bait may be protected by a pen of stakes such as is described in my first water set, but placed a little back from the water in as dry a place as possible.

At the entrance dig a cavity somewhat larger than a trap, with a shallow trench leading around to one side for chain. Line with fine sprigs of hemlock, and set trap evenly and firmly. The hemlock will not only keep trap and chain from freezing down (a thing to be carefully avoided) but also help to neutralize that tell-tale smell of metal. Get some moss of a dry, fibrous nature, and containing no earthly matter to freeze. That found on rocks is generally the best.

Tear out a crescent-shaped piece of a size to half fill trap, and fitting snugly between pan and jaw and two small pieces to fill in on back or trigger side of pan--or only one piece, like the first, if using a trap with spring on the outside.

If you have done your work properly, the inside of the trap is completely filled, from jaws to pan, with no chance for anything to get under the pan, and no wad of batting beneath it (as is used by some) to become swollen with moisture and prevent its free working.

Now go around trap on the outside with moss, pressing it in so as nearly to cover jaws, lay a thin leaf over pan, and cover with well pulverized rotten wood, which may be found in any old stump.

Lastly, throw on bits of leaf and pinches of dirt until it resembles as nearly as possible the surrounding ground. Don't be afraid of covering too heavily, so long as you don't put too much over hinges of jaws. You want it so that the iron will not be washed bare with the first rain. But avoid any appearance of a mound, as nothing arouses an animal's suspicions quicker than this. The chain may be covered with loose earth and stump dust. Some advise hitching to a clog, but I generally use a stake, and seldom, ever lose a mink by footing. But if a green stake is used be careful to smear the exposed end with mud to remove its fresh appearance, and to secure the bait use a dead stick invariably.

Many guide books speak of leaves as a covering for the trap, but the fact is that dry leaves are something that the mink habitually avoids, doubtless not liking the rustling sound given out in traveling over them; hence it is best to use them in land sets sparingly, and to locate your trap so that the shy fellow will not have to wallow through a carpeting of them to reach it.

I have had excellent luck by placing trap at the edge of a bank a foot or so high, with a good runway underneath. The mink smells the bait from below and springing up to investigate often lands plump in the trap, when if he had been afforded the chance for a closer inspection he might have gone on without troubling it. You may think this a small thing, but it is just such trifles that circ.u.mvent the shy fellows.

In making your set do all the work from the back side; also approach on the same side when visiting. Go no nearer than necessary to see that everything is all right, and make your stay in the vicinity as short as possible. If any part of the trap has become exposed cover with stump dust. A small fir stuck down by the trap with branches projecting over it will serve as a protection from rain and snow, but is seldom needed when trap is covered as above described.

Always be on the lookout for places to set when hunting or fis.h.i.+ng.

Let your eyes run along the strips of beach and boggy, peer under overhanging banks and among piles of drift, and scrutinize closely every log spanning streams. You will be surprised to find how often you will hit upon footprints, droppings, holes and runways, the knowledge of which will be of the utmost value to you when the trapping season arrives.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SOME NEW YORK STATE SKINS.]

If you trap the same section year after year you will get to know the favorable points so well as to do with half the traps necessary at the beginning, and get much better results at that; for one trap in the right place is worth half a dozen, clapped down haphazzard. Some places are good for one or more mink every year; an old hollow log near the water, a pa.s.sageway among roots or under a fallen tree trunk, a narrow shelf along the face of the bluff, a particular hole or den--any of these, if kept guarded by a well set trap, may prove a little bonanza for you every season. In such places it is better to use no bait, a little fish oil perhaps excepted, as you will then take unawares many a sly old fellow to whom a morsel of meat, no matter how cunningly arranged, would be simply a signboard of danger.

I remember well my first experience at this style of trapping mink. I noticed what looked to be a well worn little path on the bank of a stream leading down under a big pile of drift. As an experiment I placed a trap in this path, and to my delight found a fine mink waiting me at my next visit. Two more mink followed within a week in the same place, while a trap nearby carefully set and baited was not molested.

I had supposed I knew about all there was to trapping, but this opened my eyes a bit. I began searching out and setting in similar places, with the result that my usual catch was doubled that season.

One day on looking into a hole which had rotted into the foot of a big ash standing on the bank of a stream I saw a small dead fish lying among the roots as if it had been left there by some creature that had taken itself off at my approach. I promptly clapped two traps into the cavity, taking care not to disturb the fish, and soon after had a mink as a reward for my trouble.

But the best natural situation I ever discovered was under a high, overhanging bank--just the sort of roadway every mink coming along that side of the stream would be sure to choose--at a point where a willow tree completely blocked the way, except for a narrow pa.s.sage perforating its tangled roots. One trap could guard this effectually, and, as in the trunk of the old ash, it was entirely protected from snow or rain. Of course a mink could get around the trunk by taking to the water, but so far as I could judge they seldom did so, and each year as long as there were any mink in the vicinity I was sure of several here.

Mink in fact prefer traveling by land as a rule. For this reason a trap placed at either end of a log spanning a stream that is too wide for them to jump forms a most killing set. Drive a few stakes on each side of a log at the ends to prevent the animal from jumping sh.o.r.e to one side of trap, and use extra strong traps, as you are likely to drop on a fox or c.o.o.n with this set. No bait is needed. In winter any spring hole, even if near human habitations, offers good possibilities. Mink visit them to burrow for frogs, and one of two traps sunk in the mud and shallow water are pretty sure of an occasional catch. And they are but little trouble to tend as the warm spring water prevents freezing.

Now a word about bait. In my opinion the very best bait is fish; trout, pickerel, s.h.i.+ner or any other fresh fish, being all about equally good. But salt fish should never be used for mink, though after being smoked it makes a taking bait for c.o.o.n. Red squirrel I consider next to fish. They are plentiful everywhere, and the mink makes many a meal off of them in the absence of his favorite food.

The oft-quoted chicken's head has invariably failed for me, nor have I found the flesh of the muskrat such a killer as is claimed by some.

Partridge heads, wood mice and frogs are all good. In the absence of anything else I have sometimes used English sparrows with fair results.

Don't be too generous with your baits. A section of small fish an inch long is sufficient and much less likely to arouse suspicions than a larger piece. In carrying bait in your bag, wrap in an old rag so it will not come in contact with the metal of hatchet or traps, and wash clean before using. Locate your traps on long, comparatively straight reaches of the stream, as mink often make short cuts when traveling and might miss your set entirely if placed on a bend. Above all, study your game and don't get too knowing to take a pointer.

CHAPTER XVIII.

PROPER SIZE TRAPS.

For mink I have found a No. 0 trap, if carefully set with proper precaution, is as good and lucky as a No. 1 or 1 1/2 trap as some trappers advocate, writes a Canadian trapper. I used a bunch on a considerable sized lake one fall. The lake had numerous small creeks and rivers falling into it. At the junction of these with the lake I set my traps. They were all No. 0, selected on account of their lightness, as there was a long carry to get to the lake from a traveled route and added to the canoe, my gun, blanket and provisions, the traps were somewhat of a consideration, and I therefore took the ones of less weight.

I made two visits to the lake before it froze and got 20 mink, 1 marten and a female fisher.

Where I made a water set I saw that the water outside went down pretty bold, and I always tied a stone to the trap and thus insured the animal drowning.

Where I set on land I without fail attached the chain to a tossing pole, thereby preventing the fur being damaged by mice or the animal being eaten by some other.

Some may question the possibility of such small traps being for any length of time in order as a water set, but I must explain. The lake was of considerable size and the season the latter part of October.

Such a lake at that season of the year is not subject to any great fluctuations in the height of the water.

I may say in conclusion about this particular sized trap, that on that trapping tour I only lost one mink. I found the trap sprung with a single toe in the jaws.

The trap had been a dry set one, and by reading the signs I found some snow had melted and dripped from an over-hanging branch on to the junction of the jaws. This had frozen (the trap being in the shade) and prevented its usual activity. As a consequence it only caught on as the mink was in the act of lifting his foot, so I was satisfied it was circ.u.mstance and not the fault of the trap that caused the missing of this mink.

The No. 1 Blake & Lamb and the Oneida Jump are the ideal mink traps for me, says an Ohio trapper. When it comes to the snow set the old Blake & Lamb is second to none. The only fault I find with this trap is that the chain is not long enough, and this is the fault with other makes of traps as well.

When I trap mink I use muskrat carca.s.s for water sets. The favorite food of the mink is crawfish, frogs and fish. Of course this kind of bait can't well be found in the trapping season. When I find a sly old mink I leave off both scent and bait, conceal my traps well under the bank or places where it likely travels, and just leave the trap there. If I don't catch it in a week I only go close enough to see whether there is anything in the trap or not.

About mink, I think they are queer little animals. Sometimes they are wise and sometimes they are not. I think the reason some of them are wise is because they get educated on trap lore by getting their toes pinched in some poor trap or trap that is carelessly set. I use No. 1 Newhouse for mink and lost only one mink out of my traps last season, and I got one of his toes. I cover my traps so there isn't a bit of chain or trap in sight, and use clean traps free from rust. I use muskrat musk and mink musk with good success, but common sense is the best.

I trapped over the same ground all winter and caught four mink in one place and three in another. I see that some trappers think that the scent of the mink will scare them away, but that is the best scent I could find when trapping mink on rat houses. A large rat will make a hard fight for a small mink if he has a fair show, and when a mink gets into a fight he will throw out scent like a skunk. For that reason I think scent is all right to attract mink to traps.