A. R. Harding

“ I have followed them across country from the headwaters of one stream to another, to swamp and swales where the muskrat abounds, turning every "hole inside out," so to speak, and they seem to know them all. ”

“ I will say to those trappers who never use anything but leaves to cover their traps, that they could not get many mink around here that way, for I have tried it, and they would either go around trap or jump over it. Always carry some kind of firearms; it will more than pay for its trouble. Then too, it leads others to believe you are hunting and they won't be so apt to see you setting traps, and if you let as few as possible see you set traps you won't have to accuse "Sneakum" so often. It doesn't matter what you are trapping, cover your traps the best you can, and then it won't be a fine job ”

“ I have used all kinds of bait including muskrats, fish, birds and chicken heads, but find squirrel to be the best. I have caught more mink with this bait than all the others put together. In setting traps for any animal be sure to set your trap as near as possible where they are in the habit of traveling. Some set down anywhere and think they ought to catch everything that comes along. You can read lots of ways of trapping but you can't learn it all. Experience and practice is what teaches any one to be a successful trapper, and when you learn anything yourself you know it to be a fact. ”

“ 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. ”

“ If a person sets out a line of traps in this country, Iowa, while there is snow on the ground, he is simply going to a great deal of trouble to give them to some one.
In trapping mink I watch for signs, and when I locate a mink I consider it mine and it generally is, while if you bait up a trap somewhere that you may think is a good place to catch a mink, it often happens that you may make a good many trips to your trap before you get a mink, and you may say to yourself that it is human scent that keeps them away, when perhaps there has not been a mink near the trap. ”

“ Animals are not afraid of smoked baits, and in the early and late parts of the trapping season it is a positive benefit to slightly smoke the bait; it lasts so much longer than fresh meat and hangs on to the bait stick until almost the last shred, and if an animal turns from the trap house without biting it, it is because he is not hungry.
The baits I have found the most enduring and most likely to tempt an animal are--first and always the muskrat. All animals, that is bear, mink, fox and marten will bite at this bait when they will not consider any other. ”

“ Of course we all admit the steel trap is more convenient and up-to-date, says a New Hampshire trapper. You can make your sets faster and can change the steel trap from place to place. Of course the deadfall you cannot. But all this does not signify the deadfall is no good; they are good, and when mink trapping is consumed the deadfall is the trap you want. To the trapper who traps in the same locality every year, when his deadfalls are once built it is only a few minutes work to put them in shape, then he has got a trap for the season. ”

“ It is a good idea to trap on both sides of a creek; one is sure then of catching an animal whether it goes down on one side or the other. This is the only method I use and it has proven to be successful.
If a mink is hungry and finds bait that has been left for him he will pay no attention to human scent, while if he is not hungry he will not take the bait be it ever so fresh. A mink will sometimes make a trail in the fresh snow by passing several times over the same route and then never use that trail again. ”

“ 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.
Now if you set a trap and use this scent with a little muskrat musk, when a mink comes along he smells the musk of both mink and rat, and begins to look around or rather smell around for the remains of the rat to make a meal on. ”

“ At these particular places I do not remove my traps during the entire trapping season. I find a man gets fooled quite easy at times by putting in traps at places that look extra good, when, in fact, it proves to be no good at all for mink. I often read of trappers who say to set traps at hollow trees, in hollow logs, and every place where a mink is liable to go. Well, a mink is liable to go any place. Also just as liable not to go, too. Now if you should place a trap in all these places you would have traps strung all over creation. ”

“ The mink is not so hard to trap if you know his habits; when you find he has left his burrow do not take up your trap, for he will surely be back in a few days; when you come to a place where a mink has laid up for the day (that is, in a temporary burrow) , do not trap on the route he has already traveled, for when he comes out he will go straight on just as if he had just looked in and come out, but set traps and bait; when he comes out he will be hungry and is sure to be your mink. ”

“ We have mentioned spade, bar and guns as comprising the necessary outfit, but of course various other implements of one's own invention and manufacture can often be used to advantage. Some make great account of a piece of wire with a sharp hook at one end for thrusting into the hole and drawing the mink to the light, as a trout from the water. Others use a long handled spear to thrust under banks, or to pinion the game when going through shallows. A truly barbarous practice besides the further objections of greatly damaging the pelt of the animals taken thus. ”

“ 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, shiner 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 coon. Red squirrel I consider next to fish. ”

“ In late winter and early spring I set traps in the same kind of places but without bait, using the musk of mink for scent. The mink is not looking for food then, and such scents as fish-oil and muskrat musk are not as good as the musk of the mink itself.
The traps should always be covered with some light substance, which will not look out of place. Never smoke your traps, boil them in walnut hulls, maple bark or sweet fern. Mink may also be caught by tying a rabbit in a shunk of a hollow log, blocking one end shut and setting his trap in the other end. ”

“ Some say mink are afraid of human scent and set the trap with gloves, and that they are foxy and hard to catch. I don't think a mink knows any more than a skunk, and I can catch them just as easy. Last winter I went to my trap one morning and found two toes of a mink in one and one toe in another, and inside of a week I had both of them in the same trap and in the same place.
Mink are not very plentiful in some places which makes some people think they are hard to catch, and others don't know how to set a trap right for mink. ”

“ An animal on scenting the bait will reach into the trap--the top of the pen having been carefully covered over--between the logs. When the animal seizes the bait the long trigger is pulled off of the upright prop and down comes the fall, killing the animal by its weight. Skunk, coon, opossum, mink, and in fact nearly all kinds of animals are easily caught in this trap. The fox is an exception, as it is rather hard to catch them in deadfalls. ”

“ Moses Bone, of Iowa, that may help younger trappers who wish to trap mink. The mink is very cunning and hard to catch in a steel trap unless you know how and where to set, which is about the only secret there is in catching mink. I have had people write to know what scent I used and how I set traps. A man can learn better methods as long as he traps--experience is the best teacher--and unless he is willing to work hard he will never make a successful trapper of any kind of game. ”

“ Another mode of capturing the mink is to lie about the streams on wet and foggy days and shoot him. They travel a great deal in such weather. By selecting a spot where you can keep well hidden, yet commanding a long stretch of beach under some overhanging bank, you stand a good chance to secure a shot if you have plenty of patience. Of course you would not be apt to get many in a day, but one mink represents a pretty good day's work at the price they are selling now. ”

“ If you catch a female mink first, always reset the trap, as the chances are greatly in your favor of catching the male soon, and if mink are plentiful in your locality you may catch as many as a half a dozen males if in the running season. If you can find where an old rat hole leads down to the edge of the water from the top of the bank, a trap set in the lower end of this hole will catch nearly every mink that comes along. They very seldom miss the chance to explore a hole of that kind. ”

“ Nearly any intelligent dog, with a fair amount of the hunting instinct, can soon be trained to do this by allowing him to smell a few mink carcasses while skinning, and calling his attention at every opportunity to the trails of the animals along the streams, following them up and making an effort to bag the mink, with his help, as often as possible. The first snows afford good conditions for the rudimentary training, as the trail can then be plainly seen by the trapper (or rather hunter as he should be styled in this case) while a good scent is left for the dog. ”

“ I do not say that a person can drop a trap down anywhere, set any old way, and catch mink; but I do say that it all depends where the human scent is. If a man sets a trap and handles it with his hands or any other foolish thing, he will catch but very few mink. ”

“ At the hole use a small trap, Blake & Lamb is the easiest and quickest set. Remove enough dirt to sink the trap to a level. Set trap with jaws never crossways to the hole. Have jaws rest so that jaws will not tilt if stepped on. Now see that pan is set just about right, not too easy, and now you are ready for the most important part--to cover--so it will stay covered and spring regardless of freezing, thawing, snowing, or blowing, and not to clog the jaws with rubbish. It is too tedious to get the mink over the trap to have something go wrong at the critical moment. ”

“ Never catch fur until it is prime.
I find no difficulty in catching mink if they are plenty, but thin them down to one or two well educated animals and your task is different, says an Ohio trapper. Where plenty I set in riffles, building stone walls or staking across not too high, a foot is plenty, leaving one or more openings, according to width. Place a trap (No. 1 or 1 1/2 Newhouse is best) in each opening. I invariably stake at such places for if attached to shunks, bushes or small logs, the trap is liable to float away in sudden rising of high water. ”

“ Where one stream empties into another is often a good place to construct a deadfall. If before selecting your places to build a few trips are taken along the streams it will be a great help. Where small streams empty into ponds or lakes or the outlets will be found ideal places for mink.
When deadfalls are built before the trapping season it is well to set them, having the top of the pen covered, just as though the trap was baited and ready for business.
Another thing that should be carefully looked after is triggers. Many cut triggers from green bushes. ”

“ A good many trappers, both amateur and professional, speak of mink being hard to catch. I can't see it that way, says a Pennsylvania trapper. Really they are as easy as the water vole or skunk with me. I simply set all my traps bare, no covering whatever, you clog your trap when sprung. I lost a good many by so doing, so now I set bare at all times for both skunk and mink, and I get my share of them.
I use both bait and blind set; water set I think is the best, that is, in bitter cold weather when the ice is thick. ”

“ The more care you take to build the pen tight and strong the less liable is some animal to tear it down and get the bait from the outside; also if you will cover the pen with leaves, grass, sticks, etc., animals will not be so shy of the trap. The triggers are very simple, the long one being placed on top of the upright, or short one. The long trigger should have a short prong left or a nail driven in it to prevent the game from getting the bait off too easy. If you find it hard to get saplings the right size for a fall, and are too light, they can be weighted with a pole laid on the "fall." ”