TRAPPING -MINK - MUSKRAT - FISHER - BEAVER

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Great thread! I used to trap in MT and a bit in AK although just hobby trapping really.

I always had best luck on mink and coon using a pocket set with a fish based scent attraction. You can buy it or just catch some trash fish like suckers or carp, cut them into small chunks, and mix them with petroleum jelly in a mayo jar. Let sit for a few weeks. If you leave it outside in the shade, be sure to leave the top loose to let gasses escape but keep it safe from
critters. I used a #1.5 coil spring traps generally.

For Fischer, I’d use a leaning pole trap. I liked 120 and 160 Conibear traps. But #1 long springs or 1.5 coil spring traps will work.

I didn’t do much beaver trapping but cause a few every year on snares on slides or 330 conibears in a bottleneck path.

Have fun and good luck! Hope you take pics!
 
Being a National forum with no specific trapping thread I knew this would draw some interest.
The main thing for trapping for us is to have wall hanging fur that we caught and had processed locally in Upstate New York.

I go back to Upstate New York every year for deer hunting for just under a month which leaves plenty of time to go trapping.
I'm sure Troy will want some tanned hides for some projects.
I tried calling Sivco Fur to see if they would trade some furs for them tanning some hides.

This trapping will fill the mid day void during deer hunting and I can put small deer drives on while checking the traps.
 
I've used those brown paper towels for
trap covers, and drip coffee maker filters
( idea copied from Trapping Oklahoma on
Yoofloob for coffee filters)
 
Sleepy Creek was bought out by another company and they have been selling off the old inventory.
Hoosier Trapping Supply had some 1 1/2 Sleepy Creek coil spring traps listed.
I called them last week to order a dozen of them, they only had four left so I bought them and eight 1 1/2 Bridger coilsprings.
A dozen of the Hadz 3/8" rod brackets to hold coilspring traps just under the water and a dozen Hadz 3/8" bait holders for muskrat trapping.
My brother has been ordering trapping stuff as well.
He just ordered a release pole in case we have to release something.

These two trips back to New York will be fun.
My grandson is excited to go squirrel hunting again.

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I bought a 100 pack box of the blue rubber or whatever kind of gloves from Harbor Freight last year for reloading at my brother's place back there in New York that we will use for trapping.
My brother picked up the heavy duty black plastic contractor garbage bags and four cans of Off bug spray to haul what we trap in. Spray the catch and place the animals in the bags for transport.

I have been looking on YouTube for beaver recipes. If we catch any I want to try it.
I have had coon before and might try that again as well.
Everything is good barbecued - right.
Monday I will be ordering more trapping supplies and maybe another dozen 1 1/2 victor coils spring traps.

Any one have any traps you want to sell or trade for rifle or pistol brass?

I watched on YouTube on how to skin a beaver, how to collect beaver caster and how to dry it.
How to collect skunks essence
I also have been watching Trap prep, making all kind of dry land sets, water sets.

I want to catch a whole array of animals to get tanning to hang in my 10' X 14' man cave/reloading shed I have been working on.
That is coming along nicely, last Saturday the electrition ran the bigger wire form the 200 amp house panel out to a new 100 amp breaker box out in the shed and ran all the wiring for outlets and light switches.
The only thing electrical to do is to run a 220 volt wire for a 220 volt wall electric heater and hang the heater.
The AC unit is on it's own breaker as is the 220 outlet for a air compressor a 220 outlet for a welder and a 110 outlet for my mini fridge.


I will arrive into Syracuse Saturday October 16th at 9:30 am. My brother will pick me and my grandson up and we will go directly to Old Forge. When it gets dark we will get a room paid for at the Blue Spruce motel in old Forge then go to Forestport to have prime rib dinner at the Buffalo's Head Restaurant.
Sunday we will get up early to do some small game hunting in the Cedar Flow region. Then back to my brother's place in Harpursville to go small game hunting and get prepped for fisher trapping.
We will get the traps all prepped and leaning poles put up.
I will contact the local DEC office for a list of nuisance beaver and get some good beaver locations locked up for when I return in November for deer season.
Plus I will be placing trail cams out in October on a few fisher traps and a few where I will be deer hunting.
These will be two fun trips.

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I ordered another $160 of trapping stuff from Hoosier Trapping Supplies. I have watched almost all of their trapping videos on YouTube the last month or so there is a lot of good stuff to be learned watching them.
There are so many YouTube videos out there some are nice learning videos and some are so-so.
I was thinking of buying a pack basket but not sure what type of size to pick up.
We bought different types of anchoring devices.
We will.be making waxed dirt next week for when it gets cold & wet.
I will probably try the waxed paper pan covers and that stuffed toy material from jo Ann fabric or hobby lobby to put under the pants as well.
the guy on Coon Creek Outdoors uses insulation from heating pipes for under the pan.

Once we get it going we will see what works.
 
Get a synthetic material basket if you
are buying one
The bottom won't rot out from being wet all
the time and dump all your goods on the
ground miles from the truck.
You can envision having to rig a bindle with
your coat with all the contents of your
pack basket that scattered on the ground
and trying to hump that back to your vehicle
 
I will end up buying a pack basket down the road, between me & my brother we spend close to $900 on trapping supplies for this trip.
Looking forward to seeing some fur on stretchers this trip and then on my month long deer hunting trip.

I plan on going to Hoosier Trapping Supplies big trapping get together next September at their store.
It will be on a Saturday towards the end of the month.
I plan on getting there Friday and help the set things up.
It will be a fun enjoyable trip there and I'll have all day Sunday to check out the neighborhood.
 
We boiled our new traps to get all of the oil off of them this afternoon and will dye the conibear traps and then dye & way the leg hold traps probably tomorrow.

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Mason got another gray squirrel this morning. We see about a dozen of them but to far to get a good shot at them. We seen several deer on the way to Greene this morning.
Three, then a group of four, a single deer and then three more.
Went to the Unadilla live stock auction and bought two white leghorn hens to butcher and use the wings, head & guts for trapping bait and the feathers for sight attractant for trapping.

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My brother hasn't been feeling that good so we kind of backed off on things.
Monday we set three 160 conibear traps for Fisher and one leg hold for coyote.
Mason connected with a large gray squirrel early. We seen a bunch but they were out of shotgun range.
Today when we checked the traps we connected with a ten pound female Fisher.
One less gray squirrel killing machine.
I have been saving the squirrel guts for bait and it worked. The Fisher had a bunch of the squirrel guts in it's mouth.

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Highland Lofts said:
Random
Nice write up. I will be ordering more supplies this weekend. I have been picking up the 120 conibears. I will be ordering some 1 1/2 coilsprings.
I watched videos on the 3/8 inch rod sets and will be buying the trap brackets and spring steel bait holders for open water rat trapping.
For bridge mink sets what do you thing about putting minnows on the conibear trigger?
Click to expand...

Sorry it took so long to get back, kind of lost track of this post.

Mink can be very hard to catch in Connibears. I used to have a few 120s rigged with treadle triggers that were used for blind sets. Mink are remarkably good at dodging the trigger on bodygrips. When I was targeting mink, I used primarily cubby or bank hole sets, and occasionally the channel set in which you make a small diversion channel on a flowing stream and cover a small portion with an old piece of drain tile, bark "pipe" or simlar stream side trash to funnel the mink through the trap location in very shallow water. The trap was generally bedded in creek sand in 1" or less of moving water to prevent freeze up. All of above were situated adjacent to deeper water with a drowning slide or tangle stake and long wire. With bank hole or cubby sets, I mostly used a fresh trapped mouse or bloody muskrat flesh in combination with a commercial mink musk attractant. For a bait on more open sets, a rubber fishing crayfish with commercial shellfish oil worked remarkably well. I'd put the bugger right on the pan of a foothold with a small wire jabbed in to hold it in place. This was primarily a raccoon set, but it took mink effectively also. On blind bridge and culvert sets, I usually gang set #11 footholds and did a lot of work to conceal them as trap theft was an issue an muskrat were very common. A rat would usually find the first trap or 2 before a mink ever came along. If I set a connibear at these pinch points, it was almost guaranteed I'd be getting a rat and nothing else. The foothold opened up the options to include mink and raccoon.
 
How do you guys pull the steel cable earth anchors?

We will be pulling the leg hold traps Saturday morning and then reset them when I come back to Upstate New York on November 17th.

Empty traps yesterday, we set out more traps in a different area. We will be checking the sets here shortly then take my grandson to a museum over in Ithaca.
 
I usually made my own from scrap metal and left them in place, just attached the trap chain with a swivel and shock absorber for coyote to a loop in the cable. I used these sets on fencelines where I would repeatedly set the same location from year to year. On more mobile locations, I used crossed rebar stakes which are easier to remove. Pulling a toggle out of the ground is no fun, and sometimes impossible depending on the soil. Especially in MN where the ground freezes. I'd often have to heat my stakes with a torch to get them to budge. For drowning slides I would use a sandbag for the underwater deadman on remote sites, and anchor to a tree or crossed stakes on shore. Close to the road, a couple of cinder blocks were easier.

Helical fence guy anchors with the large eye ring (look in the fencing section of your farm store) work very well in soft boggy soils. If you have access to a welder and old T-posts, a shortened T post with a ring or cable tie point work well also in slightly harder soils.
 
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