One should also consider that too many trappers set their traps way to deep for mink!

Yep. All the books say an inch or so under water, but half an inch of water over the pan is a quarter inch too much.

That my friends, from THE EXPERT!
Thanks Jim, good info there!

Not much of a mink trapper however it seems for me a warm night /nights after a cold spell gets them moving around here,got five in three checks on the rat line with the last warm up with nothing the several checks befor it warmed up.
Interested in what others see weather wise and mink movement.

c hartman

thanks for the help, this trap was swiveled well and on a drowner...trap was down at the end of the cable, but empty with toe.

Bridger,

Check your pan tension also. The pan needs to drop freely from it's own weight. If it doesn't then you have too much tension which could cause the toe catch.

do you have a trapping shop bigt?

well kinda

Here are a few from this week. Ended with 32 mink for the week on 3 checks. Had 8 one day, 17 another and 7 the last day. Was a very tough week as all 3 checks found lower water levels. the water went down a total of 2' or more at many of the stops!

michael

Nice!

im starting on the mink tomorrow morning. havent set a mink trap yet this season. spent all last week after the rats. now i have to play catch up. good luck to everyone.

nice

I agree with shallow being better for setting traps but it doesn't always work that way. One can catch them with about 4 " over the pan without missing many. Most will be caught by the back leg instead of the front though. I don't try to place traps that deep but sometime must. I think it's important to make the pocket deep enough so the back feet pass over the trap getting the bait. Also use a big enough bait. I like a chunk about the size of my fist, I don't think a few minnows is enough. Using minnows go with a handful.

Seems like down here in the south, it's pretty much the opposite - I tend to have my best catches when there's cold weather coming. The last night before a Saskatchewan Clipper roars into this part of the world seems to have every mink in the country working double time. If I know there's weather coming, I make every effort to get everything in tip-top working order on my mink line. Or at least I used, to, back when I was a mink trapper.

Yeah, but that's when you're using bait or lure in a pocket set and you're depending on the mink to stop and investigate the hole and put its hind feet down on the bottom. You could probably catch about as many in seven or eight inches of water in that situation. In blind sets, though, where you're getting the mink as he passes through, the shallower the better. If I could get a film of water about two molecules deep over the pan of my trap, that's what I'd do.

That is exactly right. I am not depending on them to stop and investigate, I am asking more. I'm asking for him to go 14" into a 4" hole to get my bait, which they will do. I do agree in a blind set the shallower the better. Mink bait very well along my trapline. I don't use many blind sets as it takes me less time to punch in a pocket than it does to find a blind set location. Other areas of the country they may not bait as well and I cannot speak for that as I've only trapped em in 3 states. All had habitat and weather similar to here. I don't believe there is such a thing as a blind set that will catch every passing mink. I had one on my line or so I thought until I baited it and caught more than ever.