Who wins??? Lets break it down and have a real discussion on the merits of each or why your prefer one or the other.


I am a pocket set man for mink. I maybe set 5 blind sets on a 300 trap longline and they are sure fire sets every year..

In my mind it takes 4 things to pile up mink..

1. Good Population of mink.
2. Traps & lots of them.
3. Territory.
4. Bait. (fish)
5. Be willing to push yourself to the brink.

I am sure I am missing a few things.. Let's try and keep this serious..

While I am not the trapper you are Jim I do set a lot more blind sets then you do

About 25% to 30% or so of the sets on my line are blind sets a lot of that has to do with the fact that in many of those places there just isent a spot to easyly set up a pocket as the bank is to low

I could go up or down the creek or stream 50 or 100 yards but it would add extra time to running the line

Also in some spots I just pick a blind set dure to the possability of theft I feel that blind sets are harder to find by a crook then a pocket set.

I do feel that making even decent catches with blind sets is a lot harder to do then using pockets are

I think that if a lot of people, me included, would try to reduce the pocket set mentality and look for blind set spots as well as the pockets spots, our mink catch would go up at least a bit.

I set a few blinds just like Jim. I suspect that I pulled my head out of my duffle bag and opened my eyes, I would do much better.

Therefore, I think that the pocket is king, yet the blind needs to be used more as long as you have the traps to cover your territory.

the pocket set takes advantage of the minks nature, and can remain effective thought out the year i approach the pocket set almost like a blind set i just give a mink a hole to stick his head in, he wants to do it anyways a little bit of fish oil to add to his curiosity

One of my reasons of not using blind sets is. I figure I have one chance to catch that mink before someone else does, with bait I KNOW I increase my odds that he will either see that pocket, or the fish in the back..

Another reason is all the blind set guys are within 20 yards either side of the culvert, bridge or what have you. By moving up ahead of them I increase my odds big time. With coon It would be a different story, as I like to set where the trail enters the water. Lots of guys think by heading way up stream their fooling the other trapper when in reality their not. I'm talking coon here not mink..

I have watched many mink over the years and have seen a couple already the past couple weeks working the water and bank. They are hyper and everything gets investigated.. Sometimes MULTIPLE times..


Now anything can be a pocket in my eyes a piece of fish poked between two rocks. I have a spot where I drove by for years cause it was rock rip rap. Well one year I decided to set it. All I did was ram a bullhead head between two rocks and set a trap as close to it as I could. I did this on each corner of the south side of the culvert as the north was dry. It looked like a 1st grader made the set.. That year I took seven mink off that spot, once I had two.. Every year it's good for one or two mink..

Point being a pocket is more than a hole dug in a bank.. I started trapping in Northeastern MN, Grand Marais area.. Solid rock no digging basicly anyplace no stakes etc.. I used 1.5 coils 5 feet of chain and either a grapple or window weight for drag and a piece of herring wedged under the side lip of culverts and I caught lots of mink that way.. It was a pocket in essence..

use your imagination

Jim,

i am in total agreement with you on this one. And to answer Steven's question-- I think it is more than beneficial to utilize the 3 day check if you can. I don't see a good enough reason to check every day.

I can set on sat then check on sun and continue setting till I can't go no more. Check on wed then set some more. then check/set sat and sun and continue as before. Eventually you need to pull up and move, but as a working stiff I couldn't get that many traps out if I had to check them all each day.

michael

Here in Maine you will catch alot more mink in blind sets over pocket sets.Learned that from experience and years and years of trapping.

I think a few advantages of a baited pocket set to a blind set is the what the bait offers.

It's been said that mink are greedy, in that they'll grab or go after a bait, like almost on instinct, whether their hungry of not. What else explains having a mink grab a piece of bait out a pocket, and just dropping it? Or catching a mink whose belly is already full?

So one habit of mink being greedy is one advantage for baited pocket than blind set.

Fresh dug hole, which is attractive to most all furbearers we trap. It's been said you could catch a lot of critters on just a fresh dug hole, well that's one thing a baited pocket has to offer too.

Bait appeal, not only sight appeal, but odor as well. So that's double the advantages in just a good chunk of bait in a pocket over a blind set.

Another advantage is you can take the mink on your terms. That mink doesn't have to travel blindly to where you put your blind trap. With a baited pocket you've grabbed the minks attention, even if it's swimming down the crick, or taking an unusual route, that your typical blind set wouldn't catch that mink.

Another advantage of pocket, is any dumb kid who has seen Gerald's video can go to about any bridge and not have to think about or pay attention to much of anything besides, "Oh hey, I can make a set there!". Where some say it takes years to learn how to be a good efficient blind setter. Well the dumb kid can make the set in no time at all, and be down the road to make another. A just as efficient set or better than a blind set.


Jim, I'd like to add one more thing your list there. Not sure where it fits, but an uncontrollable, but important factor is definitely weather.


Just MY opinion, whatever it's worth to any of you, I guess you can decide that.

About 25% of my mink sets are blind set and the rest cubby sets. A good per cent of the blind set are bottom edge sets with the use of a #110 or #120 though. I also use #110s or #120s on about 15% of my cubby sets. ....... Garry-

Why do the vs thing? They both have their place.

It reminds me of a question asked of me several times about beaver trapping. "Do you prefer a foothold, snare or a bodygrip for beavers." My reply is that all three are good tools and all have their place in my job. I use the tool that best fits what the situation presents. To master all the tools available will make for a better trapper and better equip me to catch those shy ones that are the last to come out.

For those trapping beavers for fur, then using one tool may be the best way to catch the cream and move on.

The same goes for pocket and blind sets for mink. Both have had their place on my mink line back when I trapped mink.

I think that if you're going for high numbers in an area with a large population of mink, then one set may be what works best to accomplish that. Keeping things simple will be much more efficient.

However, if you have a limited line, mastering the use of both I think will increase your catch.

Growing up in a area with a few mink on each creek ive not taken 100's but imagine it's harder to catch them where they are few and far between than it is where they are thick as flea's, like any animal.

Pockets here are a guaranteed way to keep that trap clogged up with coons and possums which is what my pocket sets caught. I did catch my first mink FINALLY after a whole winter of trying but my mink catch soared soon as I learned how to set good blind sets thus every mink ive ever caught except 2 in other sets for other animals and 2 in pocket sets have came from blind sets.

Mink here when i trapped them just skipped on by a pocket set for the most part, didn't matter what bait/lure whatever was used. Keep in mind it's not uncommon here in the middle of Jan. to have a warm spell and start hearing frogs in ponds! So food i imagine isn't as big a problem here as it is up north.

Also the creeks I trapped growing up were rocky and sandy, about impossible to dig a pocket if you wanted to. Just flopping a trap down under a inch of water next to an obstruction was much faster than spending 30 minutes to dig a hole in the bank so blind setting was all I ever did when I was trying to catch mink.

To add to my above post, I feel that a well placed blind set along with the pockets would make everyone a better trapper.

Sure the pocket has a better chance, but how many times have you saw a perfect blind spot and ignored it in favor of the pocket spot 10 feet away?

Why not hit both of them and increase your chances?

Many times I have been prescouting and saw a place where there was not much chance of putting a pocket in due to many factors, yet a perfect blind spot was glaring me in the face. Since it is on the line, I will set it up.

Here is another situation.

Lets say that you develop the habit of always bringing one additional trap with you in case you see a good blind spot you missed previously. Much of the time you are going to bring the extra trap back with you, but when you develop this habit, you are going to start seeing another spot and end up with more steel out in less time.

Nick,

Weather is huge you bet.. With my pocket set I have bait plus the visual attraction of the hole if the water rises. Where as theblind set would be almost useless if not out of comission.

Jim Wallner - "With my pocket set I have bait plus the visual attraction of the hole if the water rises. Where as theblind set would be almost useless if not out of comission."

Perhaps in Iowa, this is the way it is. I've never trapped in Iowa.

However, when I was trapping mink in the UP of MI and in South Dakota, I found that my blind sets were operating when the pockets were iced in when trapping in January and February. Many of my blind sets were spring sets and sets where flowing water was present. I made pocket sets in flowing water also, but many times the water wasn't flowing well where the pockets should go.

Some of my blind sets were high and dry and never froze up. They may get covered with large snowfalls though - lol.

Its always interesting to learn about trapping environments different from where we've trapped.

i prefer pockets because i can take other critters as well.
i hate checkin empty traps....lol.
then as the temps get colder.....i'll switch over to using cubbies using 160's........

I've ever trapped Iowa,(would love too) but can tell you where I trap in MN and inch of rain can have your traps under several inches of water by morning.. Reason being everything is tiled. Even the rocky streams I grew up trapping on turned not only high but into raging waters, and it didn't matter what set you had it was tits up out of order..

Basically I longline coon and mink for maybe 1 month tops then I'm on to fisher, martten and cats.. And for the most part by mid or end of November you are fighting ice and snow so the profit margin is slim to none..

A pocket guy myself. Just like them as they take coon/rats and mink very well for reasons stated above. That said, I/m not a skilled blind set guy and realize that if I were, and used them in conjunction with the pocket, my catch would likely go up. Something I need to work on I guess. I have to suspect that there at least a few mink out there that steer clear of pockets in high trapper areas where pockets are the standard.

Maybe Calvin but I got a hard time buying that one. Food is to hard to come by sometimes depending on some factors, and I have caught mink missing toes, one foot and two feet over the years that were healed stubs..

Where population numbers are high, the critters are easier to catch. Probably because of the competition for food. Where population numbers are low, they can be a bit tougher.

This goes for a lot of species.

When I was in the UP, I don't think we got much rain in Jan and Feb. I know the snow was deep though - lol.

i try to use more blind sets than pocket sets , i can make them more mink specific . baited or lured pocket sets here in ohio are going to take a coon most times before a mink gets to it, then you've got muskrat, possums, skunks and others that might get caught as well. i don't use bait for mink until after its gotten cold enough the coon are slowing down there movements , which by that time i've hopefully thinned them out elsewhere .

bottom edge sets( blind set) are mink or muskrat specific , trails set with #110's are mostly mink specific , blind sets with footholds along narrow edges and ledges, tight spots, bridge walls, high banks , rock tunnels and rap piles, can be made mostly coon proof by use of sticks, rocks and other guides to help steer the coon around but allowing the mink to go thru.

small diameter pocket holes ,4" or so are less attractive to coons , especially if dug up under the bank , have had grass draped over them , and other things done to help disguse them . if the minks running that edge, it'll notice that hole. using no bait or lure in those pockets will help detract the coons but the hole is still attractive to the minks. an elbow hole tying into a pocket hole makes it twice as deadly and i try to disguise them as well .

i use whatever set or trap will work given the varibles i've got in front of me at the time. keep an open mind on new things, i tried a crack in the rock set finally after years of seeing mink sign in that area of rap . it was one of few places not frozen in , a trickle of water coming out of that crack , i stuffed a sucker up in there and set a 1 1/2 coil in front of it.

it accounts for several mink a year , every year since but if i set it before it gets cold and nasty , i'm going to get coons 90% of the time .

i have stream side boulders and other bottom edge sets that will not produce mink until the waters iced over. then , its like them have came out of the woodwork .

whats it take to catch a pile of mink ?

lots of mink .
lots of places to set traps
lots of traps to set in the lots of places
lots of time to do it .

in ohio , we don't have lots of mink , a fair population but nothing like minnysoda, iowa , arkkansas, louisianna and other states.

we can't trap off in every road ditch or under every bridge or infront of every tile or culvert pipe . property rights laws and state d.o.w. laws prohibit it. you must have landowner or his leasee's written permission. property right go to the center of a road, center of a bridge , etc.

we have a 24 hour trap check law.

My focus is on coon, so I rarely put in a set specifically for mink. But when I do put in a set for mink it is almost always because I see a perfect spot (in my eye) for a blind set.

Most of the incidental mink I get while coon trapping are caught in trail sets (blind set) for coon with a 160. Don't know how many mink go through uncaught but thats how the numbers add up for me. My pockets and associated traps are also tuned for coon.

So here's the deal .... I love trapping ! But I also need to eat . I run my lines so they are as productive as I can make them. Here In MN. we have a small window of opportunity,before freeze up, to make our catch . The baited pocket and all Its variations produce the most mink in the shortest time.
Blind sets work, but they work slow.. I dont have the luxury to wait for a blind set to produce . Ive taken as many as 46 mink in one check . All in baited pockets! I know other longliners who have done even better than that, with pockets! Thats My 2 cents....Jim

While I have and always will set some blind sets I far prefer a pocket. A Mink runs by a location in his travels when blind setting and misses the pan, he may be gone for a week or more.

A chunk of fresh fish in a well made pocket and he is busy tugging while standing directly on a pan. A well made pocket with the trap set deep in a bank that catches good sun exposure will often stay functional even in our early freezing weather.

If you have to depend on open water to make mink sets that produce, then yes, I can see where the baited pocket is the way. However, you are letting the environment limit your productiveness. Mink can be caught after freeze-up, but usually they are caught in blind sets. By limiting yourself to pockets, you're not capitalizing on all that is available.

Here's a killer - find a drift pile, poke a hole in it about six inches in diameter, set a foothold or 110 and collect your mink the next time it comes through. Its one of those sets they can't seem to resist - lol.

If you prefer to switch species after freeze-up, you probably don't have the time to run a mink line and the other.

There are so many different variables in different parts of the country. There are also many different variables caused by the amount of time and access different trappers have on their line.

Pockets for me too. Not only because they are extremely effective, but also because the creeks in my area just don't have many blind set locations. I will never pass up an obvious blind set location, but I don't have to search nearly as long to find a place to put in a pocket as I would to find a blind set.

Mink can easily be caught in cubbies after freeze up. Of course all a cubby is is a man made pocket. Cross over or through the trap to win the prize.

I could put out a 100 blind set after freeze up. But 3 or 4 mink a check, Doesnt pay the bills. After freeze up Im better off going after muskrats in their houses.

Well said James

Different areas require different efforts.

I used a lot of pockets too and they worked great, but I also put in the blind sets where they belonged.

You gotta eat and nobody likes to live in Poverty!!

You should look into trapping monkeys after freeze up! ha

I hear monkeys bring good money - lol.

You know what Nick, I believe he's right. I think they would too. A bit of banana in the bottom and whammo, there's a monkey on a chain.

I think we should start a monkey trapping thread.....LOL...
Paul now I know what the banana smelling lure you were making is for.
Jim

lol ... I think I recall reading or hearing that somewhere in Iowa they have actually found cave paintings showing monkeys held in a primative device that resemble a lil griz ... the crude markings roughly translated appear to be "Clovis Getrz" ... they say everything repeats itself over time ???

in minnesota, the water is public, but the bank is not, so a high bank blind set isnt an option. an average sized drainage ditch has 5 travelways, 2 high bank, 2 low bank, and the occasional mink that will swim the center of the waterway. there are very few blind set locations in these ditches, except an occasional cut bank. you can set that cut bank blind, and catch a mink traveling that low bank travelway. or you can use a baited pocket dug into that cut bank, and pull down the mink traveling that high bank, traveling that low bank, swimming the center,and possibly running the other bank as well. with the pocket, youre potentially drawing off of 4 of the 5 travelways at that location. also, as was mentioned earlier, traveling mink are hyper, and theyre looking for a meal or a kill. a baited pocket gives them everything theyre already looking for, while a blind set only attempts to catch them during their search. a mink traveling along the bank is also very easily distracted from his projected route, by anything/anywhere that might hide potential prey. this will account for misses with blind sets, as the mink will change directions unexpectedly, before reaching the set, or just turn and cross the creek for no apparent reason. as far as increased coon catches with baited sets, if the area holds a high coon population, we just set heavier, and take the coon with the mink. like blakley said, we gotta eat. back when i was selling good male mink for 55.00, a coon brought 40.00+. i didnt make any attempt to miss those coon, and at todays lower prices, i need them even more, to make things pencil out in my favor. ive never heard of a strictly blind set man in this state taking numbers that i consider to be large numbers. ive heard of one guy who claims a hundred, but i dont consider that a high number. my son took 80+ before and after school when he was a junior in high school, and he never made a blind set.

paul mentions high and dry blind sets in freezing weather. heres the problem with that type set in my area. if its that cold already, theres ice everywhere, and the mink are running random over and across that ice, and not following a particular travelway. you can find a few pinch points at some locations, but here again, youll increase the odds by using a high and dry baited set, with a fairly loud lure, to get them to where you can make a fast and effecient set. also, by the time you have freezing weather here, the mink are already thinned out to the point you have to travel too far to find an occasional mink to set for. freezing conditions, greatly reduced mink numbers, more driving, and extremely slow set construction times make it a money losing proposition except at very favorable fur prices. if i trap mink at these times of year, i target the lakes sloughs and ponds that werent trapped effectively during the early season. theyll have the highest mink numbers, usually, and the later in the season, the better they respond to bait and lure.

It did make for an intersting discussion, and that was the purpose of challenging conventional thinking. Sometimes I enjoy stirring the pot also - lol.

I dont use any lure just fish. Im not a fan of trailing scents I want the mink to be focused on my pocket because thats were my trap is.
Jim

Nice summary of mink trapping here in MN, Fossil (and everyone else). Where are the blind set guys to give their points? (its getting too one sided) Isn't Spencer a blind set guy? Just bought a couple of his tapes but haven't seen them, yet.

Lure and trailing scents are the biggest waste of money on a longline.. Why in Gods name would I want to squirt lure up and down the bank in the water over knoll etc.. I want that critter focused on my pocket set PERIOD.. We don't do that with a dirthole or flat set..

I can't afford to use lure an trailing scents on a logline.. Why?? I would go broke.. I've kept records a few times and the catch never changed much, and I'm talking 1-3 animals either side of the coin.. Nothing to fret over when I am saving money..

NOTHING beats fresh FISH..

I really don’t have a preference when it comes to pockets or blind sets.

But, I will say, when I run traps in the same spots year after year, I do like blind sets. I can really bank on catching some mink in the same spots year after year without digging or bait/lure. Just go in with a trap and some wire. I know the same thing can be said for pockets in many areas, but again then you have to take your trowel and bait/lure.

I also believe that blind sets are a little more theft resistant, especially with 110’s on dry trails or 1-1/2’s stuck under undercuts.

When the weather starts getting cold and ice begins forming, sometimes about the only set I can make is a trap right against the edge of culvert or bridge wall. You can catch a lot of rats and mink this way and they’ll operate in pretty bad weather.

With baited pockets, your catch of coon and possums is going to be higher. I don’t have many coon where I trap and absolutely no possums. But, when I trapped to the South, I had to deal with that. Depending on the year, I’ll take the coons.

With blind sets you’ll avoid some coon and mainly get rats and mink.

The old timers that I learned from (and a couple that are still around), seem to mainly be blind set trappers. They’re some reclusive, sneaky old farts…let me tell you. I’m sure they’re going to take a lot of good mink knowledge to the grave with them.

I think you’re missing the boat if you only use one or the other. But, that’s not to say you can’t rack up big numbers by using strictly pockets or blind sets.

Oh, and I really like muskrat hind quarters for bait.

The year before last half way through the season I hadn't gotten near as many mink as I had expected to. I gave it some thought and realized that all of my mink sets were pockets. The only blind sets I had made were for the nutria I had promised the landowners I would take in exchange for permission to trap, and a couple of possum sets that kept connecting with dang old fox and coon.

I set a few more blind sets and started getting mink again. I think a person needs to use whatever he has confidence in and is good at, for me it's blind sets. It's my theory that a blind set doesn't arouse as much suspicion in a wary animal as a pocket or dirt hole.

It won't be much of a surprise when I chime in here as mostly a blind setter, but I confess I do use some bait and more lure for mink, especially late in the season.

I still prefer blind setting, though, even late in the season, and what I will NEVER understand is why all you bait-and-lured pocket setters keep on saying you have to go a long ways and look a long time to find the perfect blind set. It's just not necessary to do that. The blind sets are right there where you can drive to - right where the creek goes under the road. That's the magic spot, and if you want to dig a pocket, nine times out of ten you have to walk PAST your blind set location to punch the hole.

And don't give me all that stuff about "my part of the world is different from yours." That may well be true, but it's not relevant. The mink comes to the bridge or culvert from one way, and the trapper comes to the same spot from another way, and where those two travelways meet is where the best blind sets are found. That's true in flat farm country, in rocky stream mountainous country, and everywhere in between.

You don't have to LOOK for blind sets, they're right under your nose when you get out of the truck.

Other than an occassional bottom-edge set I've never used a pocket set in my life...

...I use strictly conibear boxes (7*7*15) double notched for either a 110 or 120 and smelts or eels for bait...

...any spot I can dig a pocket there is usually a spot to set a box within spitting distance and both sides of the brook get one.

As far as lure goes I have caught as many - if not more - without it...and as far as bait freshness goes while I do make an effort to change bait regularily I have caught mink on bait so rotten it would cause a maggot to barf.

Jim,

While all you blind setter are hugging the culvert walls on 4 corners, I have 4 -6 baited sets upstream and downstream from you.. Sometimes 5-10 feet away..

To be perfectly honest, I saw 1 guy who used all blind sets last year at culverts and bridges etc.. Never saw a single mink ir anything in his traps for that matter.. And the spots I did blind set small culverts where I set teh trap right inside the pipe itself he drove right on by..??? HUH??

I took 3 mink from one pipe, granted 2 were small but geez they were blind sets even I would never pass up..

Pockets don't need to be deep either just a spot for the mink to cross over that pan.

Here is a spot on my northern MN line, you couldnt dig a pocket or get a stake in to save your life in most spots.. 5 feet from culvert where a guy had 2 blind sets next to pipe.. Second day of the season..

The results of one day on the line and pocket sets.. Those beaver where even caught in pocket sets.. You don't make a catch like that in blind sets is all I'm trying to point out.. They are money in the bank sets... Hey, I love the challenge of blind sets also but on a money making longline I don't know if they are practical??? Maybe in certain spot on the spot locations but overall, I don't know that answer..

I want to be a blind trapper too ! Were do I get the white cane ? Does MTP. sell them ?.........???
Jim W.: I got several mink from that set in your first Pic. Too ! You do make a good set. I wish I could find more of your traps......

Over at CRU I hear it's for sale..

I'm not a big fan of bait, but I have caught a lot of mink using a spade handle to poke holes in the bank and spreading fish scales around a little shellfish oil in a cotton filled film canister or medicine bottle pushed into the back of the middle hole.

Glass taxidermy or stuffed animal eyes set way back inside will get a mink to work a pocket too!

By stuffed animal I mean toys or even doll eyes.

I use Pockets sets mostly, but I don't turn down a good blind set, as it gets colder my focus goes more to blind sets and a occasional pocket set.

.....I hear they own furnitures stores in Isanti or gravel pits in Isle. Thats what I heard.

Jim,

Our circumstances are quite a bit different. I don't have the competition that it sounds like you have. I might have someone from down south come up and trap for a week, but that's about it. So, I don't have issues getting cut off and if by chance someone is near one of my spots I do what I can to cut them off.

You have more coon in that picture than I could catch all season where I trap. I guess if I trapped around town or the campgrounds I could get more. But, without the incidental coon $$, it's hardly been worth it for me to trap mink and rats too hard. It seems like I can only make it trapping beaver.

When I did trap mink and coon hard in areas with competition, I did run a lot of pockets. I like to play in the mud as much as the next guy.

Well, that's the difference right there - I don't have much competition where I trap, so I don't have to worry about getting cut off by other trappers very often. That's a whole nother subject.

When I walk down over the bank I take one good look and snap in whatever types of sets the waterway NEEDS. I loosely categorize them as edge,channel,trail, hole, and baited,some high and dry, some two feet underwater or at waters edge. Sometimes a combination.

Our waterways vary so sharply that even for longlining a single minded approach will cost you. The number one thing is learn mink inside and out and then at a glance you know where he SHOULD be and why and what will work to take him with the least amount of effort for that particular waterway.

Being able to read the waterway often tells me what sets to use. In other words, if I know we only had a half inch of rain three days ago but the "wash" on the banks tells me the brook came up two feet and dropped back in a couple nights, I don't set it the same as one that only rose a few inches in the same rain.

I don't know, I have never found the one-set one-style trap type mink trapping to give me maximum results here.

I prefer a very deep and narrow pocket for Mink myself. Buck Mink has a very long neck and he will do his best to pick bait.

Your right on the eye appeal Nick. Thats why I only use certain kinds of fish. Certain fish are highly visible at all hours of the day espc. at night on full moon.

Blakely, I think your 2¢ is worth ¢. more than 2¢. Wallner, I used to be with you on using about 98% blind sets up in this country, but for the last 10 or 15 years or more I have been working more and more with blind sets, mostly with conibears. I think I now catch 15 or 20% of my mink with blind sets. I like to try to make at least one blind set and one bait set at each location. Sometimes theyr'e in a mood for bait, sometimes I catch them in the blind set. I also catch quite a few rats in the blind sets and I don't have wring offs with conibears. I don't mind catching rats, I always need them for bait. I think I am catching more of both with the combination. When I trapped in Southern Minn in the farm country I caught 98% of my mink or more with blind sets. I wanted to do this because bait sets caught too many coon and rats. Neither were worth much at that time, and a coon could ruin a good mink location. If I was down there now I would be using more bait sets.There were plenty of blind set locations available around there too. A blind set can be made close to your bait sets and you can check it with virtually no time invested unless you have to remove a catch. There is no bait to check or replace. I like the chance of making a catch with no time invested. I don't like dry sets especially up in this country because they can catch too many out of season marten, fisher, squirrels etc. I don't catch many mink after freezup, things really slow down for me then.

Wallner, the shadows are so dark in the back of that catch photo I can't see what's in there. I see a bunch of coon, are there a hundred mink back in the shadows there?

I have never trapped a mink where the water was that clear. All my mink creeks are chocolate brown to coffee black in the winter. I doubt if it makes a difference, but maybe.

open your eyes AL, there is a pile of rats and mink in the front.. I can see why you worked for the GOVT.. hahaha

Oh. Well, ok, I see a bunch of rats.

Look to the right..

...... a step by step post of how to look at a photo.

The great thing about these type of posts is what I learn from them. Keep arguing boys I'll take all the info I can get.

That's what this forum is all about. A person can learn more by accident here that he can asking all the questions he can think of, because you don't always know what questions need to be asked.

Your right on the eye appeal Nick. Thats why I only use certain kinds of fish. Certain fish are highly visible at all hours of the day espc. at night on full moon.
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Thats why I only use Goldfish.....
Jim

What are we betting? and what are the odds? How many trap nights?

I wouldn't bet against you, Speling Zcar. On a bet, I once caught a coon in a dirthole set on Chanel No. 5 perfume.

The trouble with your bet, though, is there wouldn't be any way of telling what attracted the mink. If it's a pocket set, my gut feeling would be that the hole itself was what drew him in, not the fish in the bowl. I've caught a blue million mink in unbaited, unlured pockets. It's one of my favorite "blind" sets, matter of fact. All you pocket guys are so focused on the bait or lure you use that you lose sight of the main reason a hole set is attractive to a mink: because it's a dang hole!!!!

...goeth before a fall...

i'll take your bet and i think you will win, but if you wanted to make it a little more interesting, i am game as well. Even if it is a prize donated to the next kids forum contest.

I agree with Spencer, that it is the visual of the hole as much as the bait.

To late boys I think Old Thorpe got ya beat on that.. Im remeber some BS of his about live bullheads in a pocket and bounce the conibear off some rocks all thats needed

how many nights? 4?

You better not let that goldfish get away in Minnesota. They are carp and it's illegal to release them.