# Winter Trapping



## squirrelsniper (Apr 14, 2013)

I'm trapping in Wisconsin and we have a lot of snow right now and i don't know any good winter sets. all the sets i had out before got covered with a foot of snow so i have to go back out and re-set everything. Any one got some good tips for trapping in the deep snow.


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## 220swift (Mar 2, 2011)

snares on trails

a wind blown area that has the snow blown off and a fresh dirt hole stands out like a neon sign........

if the snow is that deep everywhere, it may be time to pull the traps and do some serious calling.


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## catcapper (Feb 11, 2010)

I'm think'in with 220 on the snares--- if you got a foot of snow--- I'd be hang'in wire in the trails. A longer cubby set keeps the snow off your steel too.

awprint:


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## NattyB (Jan 5, 2012)

Go with snares. Otherwise you'll need dry dirt, anti-freeze, pan covers etc. It can be done, but it takes me more time. You might want to look at a "hay set" which does not require much digging in the frozen ground.


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

80% of my sets were den sets, only trapped in the snow.


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## NattyB (Jan 5, 2012)

Hassell,

Would very much appreciate an explanation of your "den sets". In PA weren't not allow to set a trap in front of a hole or den (except underwater muskrats). I also take this to mean "active den", cause I've caught more than a few fox in abandoned or hibernating ground hog holes that I just turned into a giant dirt-hole.

RS, NattyB


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

NattyB said:


> Hassell,
> 
> Would very much appreciate an explanation of your "den sets". In PA weren't not allow to set a trap in front of a hole or den (except underwater muskrats). I also take this to mean "active den", cause I've caught more than a few fox in abandoned or hibernating ground hog holes that I just turned into a giant dirt-hole.
> 
> RS, NattyB


 Sorry about that, when I say den sets its a covered set that I make up against a tree, your explanation of your rules I never thought of. Thanks for setting me straight. I have to keep in mind the different target animal's as per where a person actually lives. I'll try to remember to call them house sets instead.


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## azpredatorhunter (Jul 24, 2012)

squirrelsniper said:


> I'm trapping in Wisconsin and we have a lot of snow right now and i don't know any good winter sets. all the sets i had out before got covered with a foot of snow so i have to go back out and re-set everything. Any one got some good tips for trapping in the deep snow.


Squirrel, don't you have any swamps or creeks near you? Muskrats were paying $15 last season... Think Mink!


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## squirrelsniper (Apr 14, 2013)

i do have a spring fed creek that runs along the property i'm trapping on that doesn't freeze over. i know there might be some mink around because i've seen tracks, but i don't know if there would be any muskrats around as the creek is only 4-5 feet wide and maybe 3 feet deep but it has a lot of grass cover. i have some mink boxes i used earlier this year on a different area and had good results in so i might try setting those out again.


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## NattyB (Jan 5, 2012)

Squirrelsniper,

Very interested in the results of your mink boxes. My boy and I made six this year with 155 conibears. Had them out for the past week+ without results. Did pick up one mink in a pocket set. Mink are in our area, but we're not over-run with them. I don't want to call my mink boxes a failure at this point, maybe there just aren't a lot of mink or they have not come through yet????

RS, NattyB


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## azpredatorhunter (Jul 24, 2012)

NattyB said:


> Squirrelsniper,
> 
> Very interested in the results of your mink boxes. My boy and I made six this year with 155 conibears. Had them out for the past week+ without results. Did pick up one mink in a pocket set. Mink are in our area, but we're not over-run with them. I don't want to call my mink boxes a failure at this point, maybe there just aren't a lot of mink or they have not come through yet????
> 
> RS, NattyB


 NattyB, my father was a long line Mink trapper 1940's - 1980's he would catch 10-15 Mink a day when I was a kid. I will tell you one of his secrets, look for fresh Mink "sign"/tracks, once you find some fresh tracks wait 7 days and then make a set near the tracks..."Mink take about 10 days to make a circle, You will get him in a few days. He used a Muskrat leg and Hawbakers Mink lure. Let me know how you do...


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## azpredatorhunter (Jul 24, 2012)

Squrirrel, try the same thing I told NattyB, a pocket set, a Muskrat leg works best, use whatever you have in the hole with some Mink lure on a stick just above the hole... in a creek like that, you need some hip-boots and walk along the bank of the creek, " in the creek" not on the bank lol., use your foot to find Muskrat holes going up into the creek bank, set your traps in the hole! "110's work great" I have caught a lot of bank-rats that way. You can do the same for a pond, if there is ice it's a little tough, you have to look for air bubbles "in the ice" comming out from the shore into the pond to find the holes, then chop through the ice to set your traps in the hole... Good Luck!


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## NattyB (Jan 5, 2012)

Thanks for the advice. You see that...post here and someone was raised by a professional mink trapper! Mink are now common, but not overabundant in South-Eastern, Pa. When I was a kid they were non-existent. We did catch one this year in a pocket set, but after 10-12 days we just pulled our mink boxes.

Was in a tree-stand with my son this deer season overlooking a small creek. Movement caught my eye and for the next 4-5 minutes we watched a mink hunt the creek and a log jam below us. Learned more from watching that mink than ever before. My son begged me to slap the creek full of traps, but it would have interfered with another fellow's deer hunting. That was only the 2nd live mink I've seen in my County.


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## 220swift (Mar 2, 2011)

you're right NattyB, it's amazing what you can learn by just watching an animal's behavior by just sitting and observing................


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## Bigdrowdy1 (Jan 29, 2010)

Great advice ! I did a lot of trapping in northern Ohio growing up and we had a mink ranch on the next section line over needless to say he always had a few mink get out every year and was a reward to catch one now and then. Reading this really makes me miss those days.



220swift said:


> you're right NattyB, it's amazing what you can learn by just watching an animal's behavior by just sitting and observing................


This goes for calling as well if you dont get too trigger happy you can learn alot.


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## azpredatorhunter (Jul 24, 2012)

Squirrel, have you found any Muskrats..?


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## azpredatorhunter (Jul 24, 2012)

NattyB, your welcome... My father wrote a book on Mink trapping in 1969 but he never had it published. I have it and would like to publish it someday, I would have to change the name of it because someone wrote a book on Mink trapping and named it " The Art of Mink trapping night and day" my father's book was named "The Art of Mink Trapping". I don't know it's not the same but it's close...


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## squirrelsniper (Apr 14, 2013)

no i found no muskrats i picked up my traps today and am moving them later this week after i do some more scouting i found a new spot with good sign of mink and coyotes so hopefully i'll have better luck there


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## azpredatorhunter (Jul 24, 2012)

squirrelsniper said:


> no i found no muskrats i picked up my traps today and am moving them later this week after i do some more scouting i found a new spot with good sign of mink and coyotes so hopefully i'll have better luck there


 Good Luck and take lots of pics...


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## squirrelsniper (Apr 14, 2013)

well i would love to tell everyone i was succesfull at my awesome new mink spot except some asshole decided to try and steal my traps. he stole 2 of my mink boxes with 110 body traps and a 1 3/4 foot trap. i followed his tracks and found my mink boxes, but did not find my foot trap yet. i notified the dnr to let them know someone was stealing traps in my area. hopefully we can find out who did it and i can happily continue my season.


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## 220swift (Mar 2, 2011)

man that blows, hopefully you get some resolution to the problem. I would reset another mink box next to a tree rigged with a trip wire attached to a five gallon bucket of oil base yellow caution paint mixed with antifreeze in the tree above the set. Set a trail camera so we can see pictures of a yellow trap thief.


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## squirrelsniper (Apr 14, 2013)

Haha that would be hilarious but I don't know if I Can do that on public land.


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## squirrelsniper (Apr 14, 2013)

I'd be tempted to sit out there with my snow camo and shotgun and wait for them to come back.


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

We could come up with a lot of solutions for people that do that.


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## squirrelsniper (Apr 14, 2013)

i dont know what makes me more mad the fact that they tried to steal them or that its a good spot and i just put them out.


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## 220swift (Mar 2, 2011)

squirrelsniper said:


> Haha that would be hilarious but I don't know if I Can do that on public land.


I'm sure you're right about the public land.


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## squirrelsniper (Apr 14, 2013)

and i bet if i did do it id get the warden with it coming out and checking things out ha!


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## 220swift (Mar 2, 2011)

that would be my luck also....lol


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## azpredatorhunter (Jul 24, 2012)

Leave the mink boxes at home and go make some pocket set for mink... they are harder to find than a box in the woods... I haven't ever had one trap stolen, but I hid them in places people wouldn't go, even then I would cover my traps... in the water I would use wet leaves etc. something that's in the water, so it stays on your trap pan. If you watch trapping shows on TV they never cover their traps, when the dirt settles in the water the trap sticks out like a sore thumb! Like a mink box sitting out in the woods. If your going to use a mink box cover it.


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## squirrelsniper (Apr 14, 2013)

i did i walked close to a mile off the path and had my mink boxes hidden in that thick grass all along the sides of the creek. this person walked all the way along my path and picked out my traps. to be honest i think it was someone watching me, because it was within a 12 hour period of me setting out the traps. i just decided to pick up my remaining traps and head off to another honey hole. can't let this one inncident ruin my season just gotta move on and keep trappin.


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

squirrelsniper said:


> i did i walked close to a mile off the path and had my mink boxes hidden in that thick grass all along the sides of the creek. this person walked all the way along my path and picked out my traps. to be honest i think it was someone watching me, because it was within a 12 hour period of me setting out the traps. i just decided to pick up my remaining traps and head off to another honey hole. can't let this one inncident ruin my season just gotta move on and keep trappin.


 how much snow do you have.


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## azpredatorhunter (Jul 24, 2012)

squirrelsniper said:


> i did i walked close to a mile off the path and had my mink boxes hidden in that thick grass all along the sides of the creek. this person walked all the way along my path and picked out my traps. to be honest i think it was someone watching me, because it was within a 12 hour period of me setting out the traps. i just decided to pick up my remaining traps and head off to another honey hole. can't let this one inncident ruin my season just gotta move on and keep trappin.


 that's good. Do you have a trail cam to catch the trap theif?


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## azpredatorhunter (Jul 24, 2012)

I made up some cables and lock my cage traps, it takes longer but cage traps are $100...each. Maybe you could lock them? Or like you said just move on...


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## squirrelsniper (Apr 14, 2013)

we have about a foot of snow at average in most areas. i don't have a trail cam out because i wouldn't want to risk losing that losing 1 trap is maybe 7 dollars loosing a trail cam is close to 200. my mink boxes aren't cages traps, they are just wooden boxes. so i f i tried to lock them up if the thief really wanted to he could just break them apart. the box and the trap together is only about 8 dollars so im not that worried about locking them up. i usually stake down my cage traps with longer stakes so you need a bar to pull them out. then i know people can't pull them out by hand.


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## NattyB1 (Jan 21, 2012)

SS,

Sorry for your loss. Very annoying. I go through great lengths not to make a pattern or have my sets too obvious, but I also ain't about to give up my spots either. If I get a stand or trap stolen I tell everyone, including police W/out official report, then put a trap or stand right back in the same spot. Thieves are cowards and liars. Often they do not return. I also pay close attention to tire and boot tracks. If you have a suspect track snap a phone photo or sketch it for your memory. (Put the track between you and the sun for best photo.) It gives you something objective to reference if you run into the coward.

Didn't have any traps or stands stolen this year, but last year I had a stand taken, long story, but I did get it back with an apology.


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## Bigdrowdy1 (Jan 29, 2010)

:smile:

Life is too shoot not to continue trying!!

Make nice box set highly visible. Then back up 12 inches at a straight line and set bear trap and 1 more at a 45 degree angle 18 inches further back at right angle for any startled jumps then hope one passes through and see what turns up. I know!! I know!! They ain't never see a bear in your neck of the woods but that don't mean you didn't think you saw one!!!

HAPPY Trapping!!!

Ps stake bear trap deep they do pull a lot harder than a mink!!


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## OHIOOutdoors2 (May 1, 2013)

I like the way you think!


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## coyotejon (Feb 4, 2010)

Bigdrowdy1 said:


> :smile:
> 
> Life is too shoot not to continue trying!!
> 
> ...


 :teeth: :teeth: :teeth: :teeth: :teeth: :teeth:


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