TRAPPING THE MINK. 



J. A. NEWTON. 



In gome respects the capture of mink 

 affords the trapper the greatest possible 

 satisfaction. Under proper conditions the 

 animal is not difficult to catch ; his skin 

 brings double the price paid for a large 

 prime coon, and because of the small size 

 of the mink the pelt is much easier to re- 

 move and stretch. 



No matter what his pretensions, each 

 trapper of any note has his specialty, in that 

 he is most adept in trapping one peculiar 

 kind of animal. One may be an expert 

 in catching muskrats and a bungling 

 mink trapper. The methods I use I have 

 learned from specialists, and have thor- 

 oughly tested. At first I tried digging out 

 the secrets of successful mink catching 

 alone, except that I patterned to some ex- 

 tent after the work of ordinary trappers. 

 Mink may be taken successfully with 

 bait only late in the fall, while water is 

 yet open, and after it has grown so 

 cold as to limit the supply of their natural 

 food, such as moles, mice, frogs, fish, 

 crawfish, etc. No other bait is so effectual 

 as muskrat meat. Place the trap next to 

 the shore. If it be behind a rick or drift- 

 wood, an overturned root, or under an ele- 

 vated log or overhanging bank, so much 

 the better. Set it half an inch under water, 

 and place 2 or 3 water soaked leaves 

 carelessly over it, weighting them down 

 with a pinch of mud to hold them in place. 

 The trap should always be set where water 

 grows deep rather abruptly, so that an 

 animal may drown when caught. When 

 the trap has been set arid staked full length 

 of chain in deepest water, a portion of 

 muskrat flesh is posted on a stick over 

 deep water, a foot from the trap. Choose 

 a stick having a prong near the top to keep 

 the bait from sliding down. If the mink 

 attempts to reach the bait without swim- 

 ming, which he usually does, he is generally 

 caught while treading in the water's edge. 

 Sometimes certain mink avoid posted 

 baits. Especially is this the case with 

 those that have been nipped by traps. 

 This fear of posted baits is often noticed 

 in the small female mink found living on 

 the smallest brooks. For such animals, in- 

 stead of posting the bait I pin it down to 

 the bank with a pronged skewer and use 

 only a small quantity of bait, say a single 

 muskrat leg. This is infallible if bait is 

 noticed at all. The bait is to be placed but 

 a few inches above the trap, which is under 

 water as before mentioned. 



In midwinter when all water is frozen 

 and mink are running on ice in swamps, 

 their travels seemingly aimless, bait is of 



but little use. It freezes hard, has but 

 little scent, and is usually refused when 

 found. From February 1st and in spring, 

 bait is worse than useless. The animals are 

 neglecting the matters of food then; it is 

 the mating season, and bait only serves to 

 make them avoid a trap. At this time 

 traps must be placed in established run- 

 ways and covered lightly with snow; the 

 chain to be stapled to a bush. If there is 

 no snow, or if it should thaw during the 

 day and freeze at night, covering with snow 

 will not do, as a crust will form prevent- 

 ing the trap from springing. Under such 

 conditions traps must be set under over- 

 turned roots, using dry dirt for a covering, 

 or under logs and brush piles where the 

 trails indicate the most travel, and be cov- 

 ered lightly with material matching the 

 surroundings. If under a brush heap 

 among leaves, use leaves for cover; if un- 

 der a decayed log, use dry powdered rotten 

 wood. 



In running time every hollow log will 

 be inspected and traveled through by mink. 

 When setting a trap in a hollow log, use 

 dry worm dust for the covering. In all 

 cases cover with material to match the 

 place of setting. 



The most valuable suggestion I ever re- 

 ceived came from a French Canadian trap- 

 per known as "Old Max." I had been 

 obliged each year to see winter begin with 

 a number of bait-shy mink still at large in 

 my territory. Max volunteered to make a 

 trip with me just before fall trapping ended, 

 to let me into the secret of success where 

 others failed. As we came to one of the 

 creeks I had been trapping and on which 

 were still 2 mink I had given up hope of 

 catching, Max said: 



"I don't see what you want of bait here. 

 I can catch every mink that goes up or 

 down this creek." 



The banks were high in many places and 

 were often undermined. Max took one of 

 my traps and wading out in the creek, next 

 to an undermined bank, bade me follow. 



"Do you see mink tracks in under there?" 

 he asked. 



"Yes," I replied, "I have had a trap 

 there right along and kept it freshly baited, 

 but couldn't catch them." 



"That's the trouble," said Max, "you 

 don't want any bait for a shy mink ; they 

 give your trap a wide berth. I'll show you 

 faow to fool them." 



Taking the hatchet Max dug down the 

 bank where a point came nearest to deep 

 water, so as to leave it too steep for a 

 mink to climb. 



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