Rewind Arc. 4

by Hal Sullivan
(This article first appeared in "The Trapper and Predator Caller" December, 1990)

The practice of setting more than one trap in a given location can be advantageous for the trapper. Under the principle known as gang setting, trappers may put as many as a half-a-dozen or more sets in one small area. But some trappers do not have the resources, that is the number of traps, to take up gang setting in a big way. But you may be able to adopt a modified form of gang setting using only one extra trap. For lack of a more descriptive term, I'll call it "team" setting.

The reason I call this type of multiple trap placement team setting is that it employs two sets that act in conjunction with each other to form a team. All the considerations of gang setting will apply, including the possibility for a multiple catch and the availability of an alternate set should one set become inoperable. But for the sake of economy, our gang set, or team set, will employ no more than two traps.

Both elements of a team set should be able to stand alone. Each should present a viable set for a given location, regardless of whether the other set is there or not. This makes either partner in the team capable of taking an animal should the other set go out of commission. When taken together, each set should provide an enhanced opportunity for either member of the team to catch a critter. Applying this last rule does not negate the fact that you will still need an extra trap to make a team set, but it does increase the potential that the extra trap will help you catch extra critters.

To clarify this somewhat, let's look a specific location and what would or would not constitute a good team set.

We are trapping mink along a creek. At an outside bend is a three-foot high vertical wall of eroded earth. Signs indicate that most animals are leaving the shoreline to travel on a narrow ledge at the base of this wall, although a very faint trail does exist along the top of the wall. So you put in a blind set on each end of the ledge. However, this is not a team set. Either one of the sets would be effective in catching critters, and there is the distinct possibility of a multiple catch at this location, but neither set does anything to enhance the probability of a catch at the other set. If an animal does not choose to enter the water and walk along the base of the wall, a dozen blind sets on the ledge will not catch it.

Let's pull up one of the blind sets, move out towards the middle of the wall, and put in a pocket set. Now we do have a team set. We have the potential for a multiple catch, and now we have the sets working in conjunction. The blind set is still there to take any animal that uses the ledge, and the pocket set offers further enticement for the animal to use that ledge. The pocket set may pull an animal from the high bank onto the ledge, and the blind set could take an animal that is adept at avoiding pockets. The pocket set alone would be a valuable set, but combining it with the blind set helps you to cover all the bases.

Team sets are most effective when they are designed to cater to the whims of the critter you are after. However, there are times when the whims of Mother Nature can be of greater importance to the trapper.

Let's go back to the creek, shake down a couple of thunderstorms, and raise the water level by eighteen inches. Our team set is now a non-set. Had we expected rain, we could have moved our blind set to the top of the wall. Another possibility would have been to go with the original blind set at the base of the wall, and put in a dirthole, or cubby set on the high bank.

Teaming up against the weather, especially along a watercourse, helps to insure that you will have at least one working trap on the location. The other class of non-working traps are those that already contain critters. Team setting will give you a chance to take two target animals from one location, but with the exception of muskrats and possibly coon, multiple catches are not common.

But it is not at all uncommon to have non-target animals put a trap out of commission.
If there are any muskrats in the area where we placed our pocket set, they will in all likelihood be the first to investigate. But we still have the blind set working. When trapping for certain critters, you can sometimes expect a barrage of non-target animals, especially when you first set up an area. Here, one member of the team set may be required to run interference, while the other remains available for the target animal.

Bearing this in mind, it is at times better to use one member of the team set as a sacrificial lamb. In the above example, the pocket set would almost surly draw any muskrats in the area. You would expect to take them in the pocket, in hopes of keeping them out of the blind set. This would keep at least one trap working in case a marauding mink wanders by.

Let's move upland to the fox line where we can really talk about non-target critters. If you put out a fox line in untrapped territory, the skunks and possums will take a number and stand in line to get in your traps. Using team sets won't reduce your contacts with these critters, but you may be able to direct and confine the activities of these animals.

In a dryland team set, one member of the team might employ bait, while the other is made less appealing. For example a standard baited dirthole set could be combined with a post set a few yards away. Most non-target critters will be attracted to the bait set. Your post set will probably remain unsoiled although your dirthole might make repeated non-target catches. Furthermore, your post set has the potential to take the fox that may decide to investigate one of these non-target critters.

When making team sets on dry land, where natural forcing conditions do not exist for a blind set, each set will require some type of attractor. These could be visual attractors, scent attractors, or both. Varying these attractors between the two sets gives your team set the greatest potential. In the example of the dirthole and post team, it would be better to use a different smell at the post than exists at the dirthole. If you have not used urine at the dirt hole, you could use it on the post. Or you might use a different type of urine on the post, or a lure that you have not used at the dirthole.

This falls under the principle of having each set in the team be an enhancement to the other set. If the sets are alike in construction or odors, the animal may satisfy its curiosity at one of the sets without getting caught, and finding no new enticements, may choose to ignore the other set.
Using a different type or construction of set for each member of the team is important for several reasons. First, an animal may be wise to a certain type of set and shy away from it. As in the previous example, a fox may be wise to dirthole sets, but it may encounter the post set as it circles the dirthole to check things out. It is usually helpful, when making a team set, to have one set be a highly visible and attractive set while the second set is more subtle. In general, most critters will be attracted to the "flashy" set, but this also includes non-target critters as well as the two legged kind. The more subtle set, like the blind set along our creek or our post set, may not hold quite the potential that its companion set does, but it may be the only one left operational or the only one left, period, if a thief finds it before the critters do.

This could ultimately lead to a modified form of the team set, in which one set is targeted for the non-target critters. If possums were expected to be a problem, you could make an extra-stinky cubby set back in the brush and combine it with a dirthole in a clearing a few yards away. You aren't likely to take many fox at the cubby, but it does provide a significantly better chance of waylaying a possum before it gets to the fox set. The rule of mutual enhancement does not quite apply here because the dirthole does little to improve the cubby set. However, you can see the effectiveness of this team, even though one member is relegated to doing all the dirty work.

As I said, team setting does employ the basic principles of gang setting. You might say that team sets are a focused type of gang set. While gang sets may be employed to cover a whole area, team sets are used to cover a single location. Indeed, a team set might be part of a gang set arrangement.

However, if you are using team sets in an effort to conserve traps, you should focus your attention on the prime locations, avoiding the secondary locations that might be covered in a gang set. The two sets in the team should be made in reasonably close proximity to each other, so they can interact. You may not have the resources to set out a gang of traps, but you may be able to boost your catch with a little "team" work.

by Hal Sullivan
(This article first appeared in "The Trapper and Predator Caller" September, 1990)

With a packbasket full of #110 bodygrips and some assorted longspring traps, my son and I set out across the field toward an old creek bed that now formed a backwater of the Ohio River. Our target was muskrats, and we planned to put in a lot of sets. The long walk to the creek made packing in a sufficient number of steel stakes an unpleasant thought. However, the banks of the old creek were covered with small maples that would provide us with stakes as we needed them.

We did have a little surprise when we encountered beaver sign. This necessitated finding all dry material for our stakes, but it did not prove to be a great problem. We wired our traps to some dry limbs and deep-sixed the muskrats for a few days. When we were finished, we pulled up our stakes and left them among the shoreline debris where we had found them.

In land trapping, the matter of stakes is fairly straight forward. Wooden stakes are still used somewhat, but most land trapping stakes are steel pins with an enlarged top which are driven below the surface of the ground to hold the trap. Steel and wood are also the most common materials for water trapping stakes, but within this group you will find a greater variety of choices that in varying ways can fit the demands of the water trapper.

The length of a stake used for water trapping is mostly dependent on the construction of the set. Of course, holding power is also a factor and a longer stake would be needed for a mucky bottom than would be needed to hold in a hard bottom. After that, the length depends on how the animal is to be dealt with when it is caught. Most water sets are constructed to drown the animal. If the stake is to serve as a drowning device, such as in an entanglement situation, it should stick up above the mud and can even stick up above the surface of the water. Stakes sticking above the water can make it easier to locate your traps, but they also make it easier for other people to spot your sets. If the drowning device is a slide wire, the stakes can be pushed in flush with the bottom surface, although using an extra long stake at the deep end of the wire does not have a detrimental effect.

Steel stakes are perfectly acceptable for water trapping. The round top stakes used in land trapping can be used in the water. A steel stake that is more popular with water trappers, and is somewhat easier to use, is the T-top stake. Instead of having a round head, it has a three or four inch piece of the stake material welded to the top of it giving it the shape of a "T". This top provides a grip, making it easier to push the stake in with a hand or boot and making it easier to pull up when the time comes.

The biggest disadvantage in using steel stakes is their weight. Often water trapping, especially in the case of muskrats, requires putting out a lot of sets. If these sets are some distance from the vehicle, packing steel stakes to the sets and packing them back out can be a real chore. On the positive side, steel stakes last nearly forever.

Many trappers prefer to use wooden stakes on a water trapline. They are light, durable, and in many cases can be obtained at or near the trap locations. Wooden stakes fall into two general categories--natural (like limbs and branches) and sawed stakes. Sawed stakes, as the name implies, are those sawed from a piece of lumber.

If you are near a sawmill, you may be able to purchase sawed stakes there. Sawmills often produce stakes for other purposes, like holding up vegetables. In my part of the country, sawmills produce "tobacco sticks" which are approximately an inch square and three feet long. They are used in harvesting and storing tobacco, but they make fairly good trap stakes. Another option is to purchase wide boards and saw out stakes yourself.

When purchasing or making sawed stakes, there is one defect you should watch for. The grain in a tree does not grow perfectly straight. If your stake has a spot where the grain runs crossways to the saw cuts, it is subject to breaking at that point. If a stake looks questionable, bend it over your knee to test its strength. (If you haven't already purchased the stake it may be advisable to select them on visual inspection alone.)

Natural wooden stakes offer many advantages. First, they are readily obtainable and free for the cutting. Second, unlike steel and sawed stakes, they don't have to be stored and transported. They can be cut as needed, sometimes right at the trap site. Finally, since there is no cost and little effort entailed in finding a stake, they can be discarded as the sets are pulled up.

There are two basic approaches to cutting and using natural stakes on the trapline. One method is to cut a stake from the most suitable material at the trap site. The other is to locate a stand of trees or bushes that will yield good stakes so you can cut a number of stakes at once. Both methods are dependent on the terrain, and the habits of the individual trapper.

The matter of terrain is of obvious importance. If there are no trees or brush growing along a watercourse, it will be extremely difficult to cut a stake. However, if you are fighting the water maples to get to your sets, there is probably a stake within arm's reach. Most shorelines are somewhere in between.

If there is sufficient woody growth along a shoreline, cutting stakes on site will save you the effort of carrying stakes. On the other hand, if you have to walk twenty-five or thirty yards for each stake, you could be loosing valuable time. When selecting stakes on site, it is best to remember that stakes don't have to be pretty. Certainly the nice straight ones an inch to an inch and one-half in diameter are a little easier to work with, but any branch will do as long as it will hold in the mud without breaking. It is preferable to remove any side branches that might let an animal tangle up above the surface of the water and keep it from drowning.

Usually, green stakes cut from live trees are more supple and will not break as readily as dry stakes of the same diameter. But with expanding beaver populations, green sticks pose another hazard. The beaver may view your green trap stakes as lunch and carry them away trap and all. If you are selecting a dry stake, make sure you strike it sharply on the ground or bend it over your knee to test for rot or defects.

Fast Forward: One relatively good source for trap stakes can come from beaver themselves. Often beaver leave "debarked" sticks in or near their dams. These sticks no longer hold any attraction for beaver, so you are safe using them for stakes where beaver are present.

If there is no suitable material on the banks to make stakes or the material is too widely scattered, you will have to cut stakes ahead of time. When stake cutting is a separate operation, you can take time to select a good stand of straight growing trees from which to cut stakes. As previously mentioned, the nice straight stakes are the easiest to use. They are also the easiest to bundle and carry along to the trap sites. You can't carry many crooked sticks in an armload.

With all the varieties of trees and shrubs that grow in this country, it would be impossible to suggest specific varieties that produce good trap stakes. It is simply a matter of looking for a stand of trees or bushes that have long straight limbs with few side branches and fairly thin, smooth bark. The smooth bark makes it easier to wrap wire tightly around the stake. All these requirements may leave you with the impression that good stake material is hard to find, but in fact there are many varieties of shrubs and trees that will fill the bill. I mentioned maple, and it is a widely distributed species. If you can find a stand of saplings growing close together, each will usually have a smooth trunk which may yield one or two stakes. On maturing trees, the lower branches may offer some good stakes.

Another good source for stakes is a tree that has blown over but continued to live. The main trunk sends out sprouts that grow straight up. If the area is relatively shaded, these sprouts grow skinny and tall. If the downed tree has remained alive for a few years, the sprouts will be big enough for stakes and can yield three or four stakes per sprout.

Whether you cut your stakes ahead or cut them as you go, you are going to need something to cut them with. The hatchet or axe seems to be the tool of choice for most. Extra care should be exercised when chopping against small limbs because they are springy and sometimes will deflect the blow. Another option is a small folding saw that can be carried in a pocket or packbasket. The saw cuts fast and can be very helpful on dry wood where chopping is tough.

There are methods of anchoring a water trap that don't call for a stake, but in most instances a stake is the simplest and most effective way of fastening a trap down. You can carry your stakes in, cut them on the job, or combine the two methods. Steel stakes are always good for strength and durability, but they are heavy. Wooden stakes are lightweight and economical, and will serve for most types of water trapping provided they are strong enough to hold the intended animal. Other than this, the best water trapping stake is the one that has a critter on the other end of it.

I won't hesitate to say that for taking muskrats, the #110 bodygrip trap is one of the best devices ever put on the market. In fact, I can remember when it was put on the market, but I'm not at all sure I want to dwell on that. By my calculation, trappers have been using the #110 for more than a quarter of a century and that is as far back as I care to think.
But I do remember my first #110 traps. My boyhood traplines were a low budget affair. Bodygrip traps were a luxury. In penniless envy, I eyeballed the pictures in my trapping catalogs. Then, on Christmas Day, I found three of these traps under the tree. The next day, I peddled my Columbia Flyer as fast as it would go in my haste to set out the shiny new traps.

That night, some unscrupulous person (i.e. scumbag) ran my line removing the rats from my traps. I found my foothold traps fired and empty, but my brand new bodygrip traps were gone. Trappers never cry, and it was obviously a gust of chilly December wind that sent tears down my cheeks.

The #110 bodygrip is a very familiar piece of trapping equipment these days. Although sizes and number designations may vary slightly, the designation "110" (pronounced: one ten) is a general reference all single spring bodygrip traps with a square opening of approximately 4 1/2 inches. These traps are also known as "conibear", after their inventor, and is the Woodstream trade name for these traps. The "#110" designation for this trap also originates with the Woodstream company.

The #110 bodygrip trap is a real asset to the muskrat trapper. It will kill a muskrat very quickly. This is the primary reason I was so interested in the trap. I had already learned that muskrats, if they were not quickly drowned, could escape from foothold traps, and I had many locations on my trapline where the water was not deep enough for drowning muskrats.

With this small bodygrip trap, I could catch and hold muskrats in water that was only two or three inches deep. In fact, I could catch muskrats on dry land with this trap. But I did learn to be judicious about trapping muskrats on dry land or in very shallow water. I lost some of these muskrats to other predators that found the dead muskrats to be an easy meal. Now, if and when I set a bodygrip on dry land, I try to pick a secluded and protected area where the muskrats will be hidden from other animals.

It soon became apparent that the #110 was also very useful when set in a den entrance, no matter how deep the water. Dens can be trapped effectively with foothold traps, but trap placement can be a problem. The muskrat may swim over a foothold trap or kick it out of line as it swims by. But the bodygrip trap is fired by the animal swimming through it. When these traps are positioned over the den entrance, the muskrat has little choice but to swim through the trap to get in or out of the den. (Please note that trapping dens is not legal in some states.)

The same features that make the #110 bodygrip effective as a den trap also make it the trap of choice for a runway set. Again, because the muskrat swims through the trap to fire it, a bodygrip trap can effectively block off a runway, forcing the rat through the trap. Runways can be set with several bodygrip traps placed two or three feet apart to yield multiple catches.

In other applications, these small bodygrip traps can be used at baited sets. Bait can be fastened directly to the trigger wires, much in the same way you would bait a mouse trap. A piece of apple, parsnip, carrot, or other like baits can be speared on the trigger wires to hold it in place. When the 'rat tries to remove the bait, it is caught. While baited bodygrip traps can be set in shallow water, they are probably more effective after freeze up. They can be fastened to poles and placed beneath the ice to make a baited set.

With all these advantages, the #110 bodygrip trap has largely replaced the foothold trap on many muskrat lines. Some muskrat trappers use bodygrip traps exclusively. These traps are easy to use, but they are by no means foolproof. There are certain precautions that should be taken if the trap is to function properly and effectively.

All #110 traps come equipped with a chain and loop for fastening the trap, and these traps must be anchored securely at a set. At one time, the bodygrip traps were referred to as killer traps because they usually kill an animal quickly. For this reason, some trappers thought it was unnecessary to stake these traps. However, experience has shown that not all animals are killed outright and may struggle with the trap for some time. If the trap is not properly anchored, the animal may carry it off before it succumbs, and you may not find the animal or your trap. For muskrats, a stout stick shoved through the ring should be sufficient to hold the animal.

When I first started using the #110 bodygrip, I experienced a lot of snapped, empty traps. This came from my failure to properly stabilize the trap. If these traps are just set down in the mud, with no other support, they are subject to being knocked over by the muskrat. Even if the trap fires when the rat hits it, the trap will be falling over and be out of position to make a proper catch. It will probably snap underneath the rat hitting it on the chin and belly.

The simplest way to stabilize a #110 is to use sticks between the jaws of the trap. Since both the top and bottom jaws travel out and away from the center of the trap when it fires, the sticks can be placed directly between the jaws of the set trap and shoved into the mud to hold them steady. On the side opposite the spring, a stick can be placed vertically on the inside of the trap against the rivet. Sticks can also be placed so they go diagonally through corners of the jaws like crossed swords. In all cases, make sure the stabilizing sticks do not interfere with the trigger or the closing of the jaws.

Sticks can also be used inside the spring to stabilize the trap. This can be done either inside the coil or the arms of the spring. One quick way to stabilize a #110 is to use a stick with a forked top and shove it through the coil of the spring until the fork wedges the spring, and the trap, against the ground.

There is another way to stabilize a #110 using the coil of the spring. For this method, a larger size stick is run through the coil to serve as both a stake and a stabilizer, and a wedge is used to hold the trap in place. This is very helpful when making an underwater bait set or at any other time when the trap must be suspended off the bottom. However, the stick and wedge is effective for stabilizing under almost any conditions.

Some trappers fasten a wedge to all their #110's for stabilizing. Many of these trappers use precut stakes along with the wedges to make a quick and efficient system for setting out their line. But it is not too hard to improvise a stake and wedge if you need one on the trapline. Simply find a stick that fits closely in the coil, and use one or two smaller sticks to wedge the trap. Sometimes I use a hatchet or pocket knife to taper a stick for a wedge.

Fast Forward: This article was written just about the time when commercial stabilizers first came on the market. Subsequent to this, I devised my own kind of stabilizer, and now use them almost exclusively on all my bodygrip traps. I don't use many stick to stabilize traps anymore.

Usually, as is the case with the stake and wedge, a #110 is set with the spring to one side with the trigger on the top or bottom. But the trap can be set with the spring up, and the jaws closing from the sides when this is necessary. I sometimes do this to "hang" a conibear over a den or in a narrow deep spot where the spring will not fit. They are a little harder to stabilize this way. There are kits available to replace the rivet opposite the spring with a steel rod for a stabilizing stake. The stake can be speared in the mud to stabilize the trap, and the spring always points up.

I mentioned the aspect of setting the traps trigger up or trigger down. There is contention as to which way is correct for some animals, but for muskrats it doesn't make a great deal of difference. I usually set my traps trigger up, mostly out of habit. Positioning and shape of the trigger wires is another point that is often debated. But for muskrats, this is not too critical. My method is to set the trigger in the center of the trap with the wires spread out in a "vee" to fill the inside of the trap. I should point out that I use different trigger configurations on #110's for mink, but when I'm using these traps on muskrats, I don't bother to change the triggers.

There are a couple of negative aspects to using #110's on muskrats. One is the fact that #110's will sometimes cause fur damage. If the trap doesn't kill the rat quickly, there may be some rubbing as the animal fights the trap. Also, rats caught during freezing weather may sometimes have their fur frozen to the steel of the trap unless they are completely submerged. Many rats are damaged by the trapper who tries to remove them when they are frozen to the trap. If you find a rat like this take it home, trap and all, and thaw it out before you remove the rat.

The other bad thing about #110's is they sometimes break the spine of a muskrat. This does no damage to the pelt, but things can get messy at skinning time when the rat pulls in two at the break. This problem is most noticeable to those who hang rats up to skin them. I skin muskrats on my lap, and use a method that pushes the rat out of the pelt rather than pulling the pelt off the rat. If you break a rat in two, you may be able to finish the skinning job by cinching a loop of string around the rib cage and hanging the rat by this string.

These problems are actually quite small when compared to the advantages that the #110 bodygrip trap offers to the muskrat trapper. With their capacity to kill a muskrat, they are my first choice for shallow water trapping. Their function and design also makes them the most effective trap for many other sets. Foothold traps still have their place on my muskrat line, but over the past twenty-five years, the #110 bodygrip has proven its merits and has permanently affixed itself as an integral part of my muskrat trapping equipment.

by Hal Sullivan
(This article first appeared in "The Trapper and Predator Caller" January, 1991)

Catching mink in foothold traps has been a challenge for trappers for many years. Bodygrip traps are now used to a certain extent and in certain situations for mink trapping, but foothold traps still have a wide application to the mink line. One of the secrets of catching mink in foothold traps is to take account of the mink's size and its specific pattern of body movements.

It is common knowledge that mink, a far as furbearers go, are on the small side. But I wonder just how many trappers have a true appreciation for the size and body structure of a mink. The problem that some trappers face in trying to catch mink is a failure to recognize the mink's anatomy in relation to trapping it. Mink are small, and to trap them effectively you may have to squeeze them into your traps.

Once you get the hide off a mink, the small features of its body become more readily apparent. However, you can get a better feel for a mink's size by taking one with the fur on (but preferably dead) and squeezing it. You will find that in most places you can circle the mink's body with your thumb and index finger, and the tips of your two fingers will be touching. Now hold up your hand and touch the tip of your index finger to the tip of your thumb. A mink's body will slide through a hole that small.

You will probably find you can not encircle a mink's head with your thumb and index finger, unless it is a female or a small male. The mink's head is the largest part of its body. It is a type of natural gauge that tells the mink whether or not its body will fit through a certain hole. If during its evolutionary process there were mink with shoulders or hips larger than their heads, they probably found themselves stuck halfway into a hole and were thusly removed from the gene pool.

So in essence, an adult male mink probably couldn't squeeze through a hole that was as small as your circled fingers. But an opening the size of a pop can, about 2-1/2 inches, will admit all but the very largest mink. A decade or more past, mink trappers took advantage of this feature to reduce their catches of low-priced, non-target coon. With the present trends in the fur market, this may once again be a desirable option.

Fast Forward -- This article was written when mink were still worth considerably more than coon. In today's market (2003) the price differential is not so great.

One of the first trapping books I ever owned, "The Schoolboy Trapper" by Pat Sedlak, describes a coon-proof mink set that Mr. Sedlak called the "Super Mink Set". This set is made by constructing a tunnel or cubby out of large heavy stones in shallow water at the shoreline. To make the set coon proof, the rocks are arranged so the opening, or openings, to the set are no bigger than 2 1/2 inches. Trap and lure are placed inside which usually requires moving, then replacing, one of the rocks. Heavy rocks are necessary to keep the coon from dismantling the set to get at the good smells. The mink simply slips into the set through the small opening.

The fact is, a mink can and will go through such small openings. Of course, they can easily go through larger openings, but they may not do this in the manner that some trappers think or plan for. Pocket sets are good producers of mink, but some trappers have trouble catching mink in pockets. Most of the time, the problem comes from the trapper being accustomed to targeting pocket sets toward coon. Lay a mink and a coon down next to each other, and you will see there is quite a bit of difference between these animals.

A typical pocket for coon would have a 6" to 8" diameter hole with a trap planted out front. The long legged coon walks up to the pocket, pokes its big head in the hole, and in doing so steps in the trap. But a mink approaches this set differently. To a mink, a 6 or 8 inch hole is a cavern! With a hole that big, there might be another critter back in there waiting to eat the mink up. The mink approaches along the side of the hole and slides around the edge to get a peek inside. It might even enter the hole, and then slide around the other edge coming out. With the trap placed away from the mouth of the pocket, the mink may be able to walk around the trap - on the inside of the set!

Targeting pocket sets towards mink may require a slightly different construction, and at least a different trap placement. At a pocket targeted for mink, traps should be placed very close to the mouth of the pocket or within the mouth of the pocket. But even this might not be sufficient if the pocket itself is wider than the jaws of the trap. Mink can get around a trap in a space that is no more the 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch wide. Even if the trap is completely concealed or hidden under water the mink's propensity to hug the walls of a bigger hole will guide it around the trap naturally.
The best safeguard to prevent the mink from getting around the trap in a pocket set is to make the hole no larger than necessary to hold the trap. If the trap jaws fit snugly against the hole, the mink will be forced over, or at least to the edge, of the trap pan. It is also a good idea to keep the sidewalls of these pockets as vertical as possible. If the walls are curved, the mink may be able to walk on the slope and get around the trap.

Sometimes when I am making mink pockets where the soil conditions are right, I take a page from the "Super Mink Set" and reduce the size of the opening after I have the trap set. I don't do this to excluded the coons, although it does help some. I do this more to get the small mink centered over the trap. I dig the pocket only large enough to hold the trap, and set the trap just inside the mouth of the pocket. Then with my hands and fists, I mold down the mouth of the pocket until it is smaller than the trap set inside. I draw the sides in sharply at the waterline, and the finished shape resembles a keyhole.

This does two things. First, the mink doesn't look at this smaller hole as a cave. The smaller hole fits the mink, like the lager hole fits the coon, and forces the mink to come straight on in for a look-see. The slot at the bottom of the opening, the bottom part of the key hole, directs the mink to the center of the trap. A mink can't readily examine such a small hole without sticking its head in for a good smell, and its first step should land it squarely on the trap pan.

This habit of hugging the wall can throw the mink off center of the trap pan, especially with larger sized traps. A careful mink can almost walk around the pan by staying close to the jaw of the trap. Quite often, a trap will seem to get an unusually high grip on a mink. I think many of these mink have just barely snagged the pan of the trap with an outside toenail and were well into the trap when it fired. Or, they may have actually stepped next to the pan, and fired the trap with their shin when they moved.

Some trappers use small guide sticks placed upright and inside the jaws to guide the mink over the pan. These sticks should be very small so they do not interfere with the closing of the trap. Weed stems are commonly used for this purpose.

Squeezing against the walls of a pocket is just one example of a mink's habit of hugging tightly against obstructions. They seem to relate to many large solid objects in this manner, traveling so close to them that their bodies brush the object. Combine this with the fact that this body is less than three inches wide, and you can see the necessity for keeping blind sets very close to these objects.

<< Mink passing here will squeeze around this root. The trap must be set very close to the obstruction.

A typical case would occur where mink are traveling along a concrete bridge abutment. A blind set made at this location would have the free jaw of the trap almost touching the abutment. Why the free jaw? Again this takes into account the mink's habit of squeezing against this kind of structure. If the dogged jaw were placed against the wall, the mink could land on the trap with one foot resting on the dog. If and when the trap fires, the rising dog could flip the mink clear of the trap jaws. I have known trappers who were using large traps, say #2 coils, for mink who would actually raise up the free jaw of the trap, and lean it against the solid structure in order to get the pan of the trap more centered to the mink's line of travel.

It's no big problem to catch a mink, but often it's the small problems that gives trappers the most trouble. To be successful in trapping mink, you must take into account the animal's diminutive physical stature and how this determines its movements, especially in relation to a trap set. A mink will readily step into a trap, but it will just as readily go around a trap that is not set to take into account the animal's small size. With mink, it is easier to pinch them if you think about squeezing them.

by Hal Sullivan
(This article was first published in "Fur-Fish-Game" January 1990)

At first glance, you may get the impression that somebody has his sports mixed up. I do use a hook, line, and sinker when I'm fishing, but I use hook, line, and sinker when I'm trapping too. Before this degenerates into pure nonsense, let me explain. On the trapline--hook, line, and sinker describe the key elements of a slide-wire drowning system. I use the slide-wire system for many of my water sets because it is a quick and effective way to drown a trapped animal, even under adverse conditions. It yields a quick and humane death for the animal, and a pelt for me.

To make a slide-wire drowner, you need a hook (some type of sliding lock); line (wire or cable); and sinker (anchors or stakes). The lock is the key to the system because it can travel only one way when installed on the wire. The wire is stretched between two anchoring points. One end is fastened near the set, and the other extends into deeper water. The trap is fastened to the sliding lock. If an animal is caught, it takes the trap on a one-way ride down the wire and drowns.

While there are other methods for drowning trapped animals, none are quite as efficient as a slide-wire. In most other types of drowning sets, a large trap is preferable because its weight pulls the animal under. On a slide-wire system, the animal is literally moved to deeper water and is held there not by the weight of the trap, but by the restraint of the sliding lock. Small traps function quite well on a slide-wire because an animal in this position is forced to keep swimming and has little time, and no solid footing, to fight the trap. I have caught and held everything up to and including fox in #1 jump traps set for mink and muskrat which were rigged on slide-wires.

Another distinct advantage of the slide-wire system is that it moves the animal immediately away from the set. When the animal hits the trap, it instinctively jumps back away from the set and usually starts the lock traveling down the slide. This holds the animal away and prevents it from destroying the set. Sets rigged with a slide-wire can be reused many times; however, the wire must be checked periodically for signs of kinking or other damage.

Since the slide-wire drowner takes the animal immediately into deep water, the animal does not struggle long before it drowns. Besides the obvious humanitarian reasons, there are other advantages for the trapper. If the animal doesn't struggle long, it won't be as apt to scare away other critters in the vicinity. Conversely, it won't be attracting the attention of those predators that might beat you to your catch. In one area, I had a problem with owls taking muskrats and mink out of my traps. I rigged the problem sets with deep slide-wires that pulled the 'rats completely under the surface and fooled the owls.

The lock is the most important part of the slide-wire system. The typical slide-wire lock is a narrow piece of heavy, flat metal bent in the shape of an "L". There is a hole drilled in each leg of the "L" near the end. The hole in the short leg is for the slide-wire; the other hole is for the trap. The long leg that holds the trap should point toward deep water when the lock is installed on the wire. Pulling away from the set and toward deep water, the lock slides easily. But when the trap pulls backwards, the lock bites into the wire. Sometimes, I use box swivels, with one rivet removed, as drowning slides. The open hole holds the slide-wire, and the swivel slides in the direction of the remaining rivet which holds the trap.

Lock1
The slide lock moves easily as it is pulled
down the wire toward deep water.

lock2
When the lock is pulled in this direction, it
binds against the wire and will not slide.

You can make your own drowning locks if you want to save a few pennies. Use a large flat washer, and drill two holes on opposite sides of the washer. Clamp the washer in a vice so that one hole is at the top, and the other hole is clamped just below the jaws of the vice. With a hammer, bend the washer to a ninety degree angle. The hole on the long side of the washer is for the trap, and the hole on the short bent lip of the washer makes the lock. You may be tempted to forgo drilling the hole to hold the trap and just tie the trap to the washer. However, if your tie slips around the washer to the lock hole, it could keep the lock from functioning. Drilling the hole for the tie insures that the tie stays in place, directly opposite the lock hole.

Wire is obviously another integral component of the slide-wire system. Some trappers use snare cable for slide-wires, but the average trapper relies on steel wire to do this job. Wires like copper and aluminum are never suitable for trapline use because of their tendency to break. Most trappers, myself included, use annealed steel wire. This wire is available from trapline suppliers and builder's outlets, and is generally known as "tie" wire.

The size of the wire depends on the size of the animal you are trapping. For muskrats and mink, I use 16 gauge wire. Larger animals like coon may require 14 or 12 gauge wire, on up to 10 or 8 gauge wire for beaver. The larger gauges of wire (12 gauge and up) may be supplied in large coils about two feet in diameter. Most trappers cut off a few turns of this wire to carry on the line. Smaller 14 and 16 gauge wire comes in three pound spools, and the whole spool can be carried on the trapline. These spools of wire can also be fitted into a specially made reel.

Wire reels are not an absolute necessity, but they can certainly make handling the wire much simpler. At one time, I just carried the roll of wire in my packbasket. But every time I wanted the wire, I had to dig it out of the basket and invariably untangle and straighten the loose coils that got wrapped up with the other stuff in the basket. Eventually I bit the bullet and spent the money for a wire reel. Now I wouldn't be without one. My wire reel rides on a belt at my hip, and I can pull wire straight off the roll and reel back any excess. It is especially convenient when making slide-wire sets because I can fasten one end of the wire and simply back away as the wire pulls off the reel. I have both hands free and don't have to hold on to the wire (or hold the spool) until I'm ready to cut it. Even at this point, I usually pull out extra wire and take one wrap around the stake before I cut the wire. This way my wire stays in place while I crank the loose end neatly back on the reel.

Slide-wire drowners are always anchored on both ends. Ordinarily, one anchoring point is in shallow water near the set, and the other end is fastened in water deep enough to drown the animal. There are several methods for anchoring a slide-wire system, but most of the time I use steel stakes. Wooden stakes would also be acceptable. Getting a stake in deep water is sometimes a trick, but this can often be accomplished by pushing the stake in with your booted foot.

If a stake cannot be driven, or the water is too deep to get a stake in, you can use a heavy weight as an anchor. This could be a rock, concrete block, or a heavy piece of metal. In situations where the water is too deep, you can tie this type of anchor on the end of your wire and toss it into place. You can also make a deep end anchor with a burlap sack. Filling the sack with dirt, stones, or small rocks will give it weight, and you can tie the end of the sack shut with your drowning wire. This saves packing around a heavy anchor. I can easily carry a burlap sack to those faraway sets and make an anchor on the spot.

Sometimes a log or root that will make a suitable anchor can be found near the shoreline. If the root or limb is small enough you can wrap the wire around it. For working with larger logs, and roots that are only partially exposed on the bank, I carry some fence staples. If the wood is sound, I can drive in a fence staple and tie the wire to that.

When anchoring to objects like this, you must take some special precautions. First, you must make sure the animal cannot get tangled up before it goes down the wire. You can help to alleviate this situation by running the trap chain and lock down the wire as far as it will go so the animal cannot get out on the bank. Another thing to consider is the permanence of your anchor. I once fastened a bunch of sets to driftwood logs in a slough. I had a real surprise when the slough flooded, and the logs were again set adrift!

It is not extremely complicated to set up a slide-wire, but it is advantageous to do things in a certain order. By establishing a sequence you can avoid some of the pitfalls, like underwater wire tying and backwards locks. I follow a set procedure when I'm constructing a slide-wire drowner.
First, I fasten the wire to the deep end anchor. If this anchor is a short stake, I tie the wire to the top of the stake. Sometimes I use a long wooden stake and tie the wire around the middle. Either way, the stake should be pushed in so the wire ends up at or near the bottom of the pool. Of course, this water should be of sufficient depth to drown the animal. If I'm using a weight for an anchor I toss or drop it into deep water. You may have to unreel some slack wire before you do this.

Next I drive a stake near the bank, within reach of the trap chain, to hold the other end of the wire. I drive this stake near the edge of the water, but I let it stick above the surface until I'm finished with the set. If there is a handy tree root, or other solid object near the set, I will sometimes tie off to this. The wire is stretched from the deep anchor to the shallow anchor, and cut off, allowing enough extra for wrapping and twisting to the anchor. I usually give the wire a half turn around the anchor so it will not fall away when I release it.

The next step is to place the slide lock on the wire. I retrieve the free end of the wire and thread on the lock, being very careful that the lock slides in the proper direction. Now I finish by tying the end of the wire tightly to the shallow anchor. When I'm using a stake, I do all my twisting and fastening above water and then drive the stake below the surface when I'm done. The wire should be drawn tight, but it doesn't have to be like a banjo string. I fasten the trap to the sliding lock, and as a final check, I pull the trap and lock a little way down the wire to make sure it is functioning properly.

As I said, slide-wire drowners can be very helpful under adverse conditions. Once when I was trapping muskrats, I found and abundance of sign in one spot, but there was no water in sight more than four inches deep. Using my tile spade, I dug a hole in the bottom of the creek that was about two feet across, and twelve inches deep. I ran a wire from the bank to the bottom of this hole. I fastened the lock very close to the trap, using only one link of chain. Every 'rat I caught went directly to the bottom of this small hole, and the slide lock and short chain held it there until it drowned.

But more often, I use slide-wire drowners where the conditions at the set are not suitable for drowning, but deep water is nearby. There is no limit to how far you can run a drowning slide. I don't hesitate to run a slide 6, 8, 10 feet, or more if it will get me into deep water where I can drown the catch. One innovative trapper that I know traps a lot of small creeks. One system he uses for coon involves making pocket sets directly across from each other on the creek running a slide-wire from bank to bank to service both sets. He twists a stop in the middle of this double slider to prevent the coon from taking the trap completely across the creek to the opposite bank.

Drowning slides can also be advantageous where thievery is a problem. A properly constructed drowning slide can pull an animal down under the surface of the water and help to hide it from prying eyes. It also helps by carrying an animal away from the shoreline where most thieves will be searching. Although it can't be considered a drowning slide, some land trappers employ this same type of slide system to move animals out of sight. They might run a slide-wire down over a concealed bank or into an area of cover to hide the catch from prying human eyes.

With all the positive aspects of slide-wire rigs, it is hard to find anything bad to say about them. They take a little time to set up, but this could easily be less time than it would take to reconstruct or relocate a set that has been damaged or ruined by a live animal. They do cost a little extra to make, but I'll trade a few pennies worth of wire for a critter any day, and the locks are always reusable. There are many locations where drowning sets can be made without using a side wire, but there are just as many places where drowning sets can be made only by using a slide-wire.

You can't argue with the effectiveness of slide-wire drowners. They provide a quick and sure method for dispatching an animal in a trap. It is not a complicated matter to take a bent piece of metal, install it on a wire, and stretch it between two points. And once you start using them, you are likely to fall for slide-wire drowners - hook, line, and sinker.

by Hal Sullivan
(This article was first published in "The Trapper and Predator Caller" - July 1991

The artificial pocket is a time proven set on the water line, and where soil conditions are right, one can be made in a matter of minutes with no more than a long-handled trowel. Many serious water trappers prefer the heavy duty tile spade for digging pockets, which attests to the fact that most don't expect to find these "just right" soil conditions on their traplines. But tough digging is only part of the battle. While getting the hole into the bank is a definite concern, keeping it there is another matter entirely. Cave-in is a major problem in constructing pocket sets, and sometimes determines whether the set can be maintained or not.

The object of a pocket set is to create a burrow-like hole deep enough to prevent the animal from seeing clearly into the back. In general, the deeper the better. If you have dug your hole to a certain depth, and an inch or two crumbles off the top lip, that is not a problem. But if you finish, and find that half the roof has fallen away, the back of the hole will obviously not be well hidden. The same condition can occur if a trapped animal decides to remodel your pocket set.

It is not unusual to suffer collapsing around the mouth of a pocket. The surface soil is usually less stable than that deeper in and digging out the pocket tends to loosen it even more. Sometimes this minor crumbling at the mouth of a pocket is insignificant. But when large clods of dirt begin to fall away from the edges of the pocket, it enlarges the opening and may lessen its effectiveness in steering the animal across the trap.

The quickest and easiest method for fixing minor crumbling around the mouth of a pocket is to plaster it with some heavy mud. You can replace the missing dirt with a layer of mud and use your hand to reshape the mouth of the pocket. You can use this method up to a point, but as the repairs become more extensive, it gets harder and harder to hold the mud in place.

When you have quite a bit of dirt to replace, you can call in some reinforcement -literally. A short strong stick can be used to help reinforce your repairs and keep the new dirt or mud from falling out. This is especially helpful at the top edge of the pocket where it may be impossible to hold the repair in place without the help of some reinforcing material. The stick should be slightly longer than the area that needs to be repaired. This way both ends of the stick will rest on undisturbed soil. Place the stick where the missing edge of the pocket should have been, and use some mud and dirt to fill in the gap between the stick and the existing soil. You can then cover the whole repair, including the stick, with mud and the stick becomes the new edge of the pocket.

Minor repairs around the mouth of a pocket are par for the course, but sometimes damage can be more extensive, especially in the case of a roof-fall. If the collapse is minor, say less than half the hole, you may be able to restore the pocket to near original condition. Again, you can use some reinforcing sticks to shore up your repairs.

To fix a minor roof fall start by laying a stick across the opening where the front of the pocket should be. You may have to push or hammer the stick into place, or carefully dig a small notch on either side of the pocket for this stick to lay in. This stick forms a header beam, or lentil, for the mouth of the pocket. If the pocket has caved-in badly or the bank has a very low slope, this header may need to be elevated somewhat to keep the opening of the pocket at the desired height. One way to do this is to build up a mound of mud on each side of the pocket and set the header stick on these mounds. Another method is to plant a forked stick in either side of the pocket and rest the header across the forks like an old time campfire pole.

Once the header is built, other sticks are inserted criss-cross fashion with one end lying on the lentil and the other end jammed in the wall of the pocket where the earth has fallen away. A layer of grass, leaves or other material is placed on top of the criss-crossed sticks to seal up the holes, and the cave-in can be refilled with dirt. (I don't recommend trying to pack this new dirt too tightly unless your framework of sticks is extra strong.) A piece of sod will also work nicely for replacing the dirt at a cave-in and can be placed directly on top of the sticks. You can finish up the pocket with some mud, and splash on a little water to settle and age the set.

Here is a pocket that the roof fell in on while it was being dug.

A framework of sticks will help hold up the new roof.

Repairs are completed by packing mud over the sticks.

Another way to salvage a cave-in pocket is with a big rock. You can lay a big flat rock on the bank to cover the top. This may give your pocket a high ceiling, but the burrow effect is still there. Most critters won't find the rock objectionable. Old driftwood boards could serve the same purpose.

Sometimes when working in a very sandy, or a gravely bank, digging a hole is nearly impossible because the dirt begins to fall in the minute you touch it with a shovel. You may still be able to make a pocket set under these conditions, but the method of construction will be slightly different. Instead of boring a hole into the bank in a classic manner, you'll need to make a different type of excavation.

Under these conditions where it is impossible to keep a roof in a pocket, you can construct the set with plans to build your own roof when you are finished. One method I use is to dig a "slot" into the bank. Instead of waiting for the dirt to cave-in above the pocket, I just dig it away as I go. By carefully digging this dirt from above the pocket, I can help to control how much of it caves in. When I'm done, I have a deep notch in the bank instead of a hole. The back of the notch is the proper distance from the water line, say 18", but it has straight vertical walls and no top. The back wall of the notch might be three feet tall.

To finish off the set, I use rocks, sticks, boards, slabs of bark, or whatever else is handy to roof off the pocket. Try to make the roof as substantial as possible to prevent bank running animals from entering the pocket from the top. These pockets are more like little caverns than burrows, but as long as they are deep enough and dark enough, they will have good attraction.

In some instances where the bank will not hold at all, you may have to build your own hole for a pocket set. If the digging is easy, you can cut out a major excavation, construct a tunnel or box in the bottom of your dig, and refill the bank to cover it up. This is no more than a buried cubby set, but recessed into the bank it has the attraction of a pocket.

An alternate method of forming a pocket on a loose bank is to dig a trench up the face of the bank, and roof it off. You can even dig a small bait chamber higher up on the bank with the trench/tunnel leading to it. Start the trench at the waterline and just dig straight up the bank. Again, you may have to add some extra dirt at the mouth of the pocket, or use some other natural materials to get the opening at the proper height. These pockets must be roofed solidly because the bait is close to the surface of the ground and will entice critters to dig for it. I have had bank running fox dig this type of set out from the back.

Another option when constructing these trenched-out or dug-out pocket sets is to go ahead and target critters at the top of the excavation too. Turn them into tunnel sets. Rather than closing off the upper end of these pockets, they can be left open, and guarded with a trap. This creates a tunnel type set, and it can be effective at either opening. These two hole pockets would be similar to the elbow set detailed in Bob Noonan's book, "All Weather Mink".

As long as trappers persist in digging sideways holes into the ground, cave-in is going to be a problem. All too often you find a good location for a pocket set, but your hopes crumble along with the dirt as you poke away at the bank. You could give up, and go look for a place with better dirt, but sacrificing good location for good dirt is a questionable compromise.

Fortunately, you don't have to worry too much about cave-in at a pocket set if you know how to repair the damage. It may be as simple as shoving in a little mud, or it may require a little more detailed construction, but most cave-in problems can be overcome. Learning to deal with life's little roof-falls can give you a wider latitude in construction and location of your pocket sets.