I'm At It Again! (At Last! THE Mink Trapping Post!)

[moley 115]

i have trapped plenty of mink in cages over the years, can,t say i have had a problem with wire floors , if i set on rock or gravel , i just place the trap on top ,so long as it cant move about a mink will go in

 

Me too Ditch - a mink will go into anything, he's not afraid of where he puts his feet (unlike cats and rats).

 

I can see me getting a small tuppaware tub and sending you some kippers soon to use as bait . . .

 

OTC

or better still send over a live mink, i might fly over at the weekend and put a bloody mink in shitty,s trap for him , just don,t tell him :whistle:

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

Rotten sods! I'll get one yet, don't you worry. Just a matter of one of them being there to get. This isn't exactly a mink hot spot, remember. I'm just trying to make the best of a bad situation here. Catch a needle in a hay stack comes to mind!

 

Anyway; Today there were foot prints in the sand! Something had (apparrantly) approached to the very mouth of the Fenn, landward side, but had refused to walk in, onto the bars! Make of That what ye bloody well like!

 

Of course, I know what ye gonna say now: " What Tracks??? ". Buggered if I know! We had a hell of a rain here, before I got to the trap. Thus it could have been anything from mink to badger. Honestly just no telling. But what ever it was, it wasn't touching those bars ~ barstedd!

 

Never mind. I feel I'm closing in here (Hang about; Didn't I say that when I was trying to wire one? :whistle: ) I've smoothed the sand over and shall see what I find tomorrow. Mheanwhile, I'll be looking out a plank of wood to strap underneath the damn thing(s). Give them solid wood immidiatly beneath the wires and see what happens.

 

On top of that; I have some heavy timbers here. I intend to cut one or two and use those as further bridges, up and down the Styx. Get traps on each of them and I'll have quite the run to look foreward to

 

Just keep in mind lads; This is for fun. No one's paying me for it and I have a lot else to do of a day, just to keep this place ticking over. An idea formed today may take ages to get into action. But I'll get there

[NightRunner 0]

Try some mink glands with some feathers tossed around. Mink don't go in every hole.

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

Got some Mink Gland Lure right here, mate. Feathers I've heard about too, but I haven't got any just now. However, I don't think lure nor feathers will bring this bugger any closer. He can't get much closer! He just comes and stands there though, peering in! Look!

 

 

 

Tracks in the Sand

 

 

 

That look like mink tracks to you? Sure as hell does to me. Or Marten. It ain't badger or Dog this time. That's for sure. And, just to give ye the bigger picture, here's the bigger picture. The entire set as I'm seeing it.

 

 

 

Sand Banked Fenn on the Styx

 

 

 

Maybe if I slide a plank of wood under that cage with a small hole bored directly under the treadle ~ pop a bit of lure in that so the treadle keeps it relatively dry and covered ....? He's coming. I just need to get him in there

[Guest The Big Fish]

The Famous zippo

Edited February 17, 2007 by The Big Fish

[OldTrapCollector 376]

Unbelieveable stuff Ditch. That sure beats the hell out of me why he won't go in there . . .

 

The only other thing I can think of would be to cover the trap a little in vegetation so he thinks of it more as a tunnel and not as an obstacle.

 

OTC

[NightRunner 0]

Cover it with grass to make a tunnel. I get alot of refusals from a 110 conibear. If it were me I would put a 110 on that crossing made up with a cirle trigger.

 

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

'Runner; A Coni's out of the question here, mate. Too many Pine Marten run my land. They're heavily protected here and I don't want to be killing them. In fact, I once heard an ugly rumour about someone who might have set a coni, in a commerically produced Cubby Tunnel on this girder and ..... :whistle:

 

Anyway, let's take this momment to recap and set out just exactly what it is I'm playing at here, shall we? Just so's no one loses sight of the big picture: For one thing, I'm after a mink. Just a mink. I don't want to kill protected creatures. Most especially as they're doing nothing wrong down there and also because no one's paying me to kill anything.

 

Fact that no one's paying me isn't stopping me breaking my own balls trying to come up with a mink though. And why do I want to catch a mink? Because they're There, largely! Simple as that. Fact is, I've simply never before had access to mink. There never having been any where I was before. Thus I've managed to amass a load of arm chair theory and never before had a chance to put it into practice.

 

Now, as we all know, there's a f*ck of a differance between what sounds sweet 'n easy in a fireside book and what actually goes off when ye kneeling in a wind swept bog, fiddling about with cold fingers. I'm here to Prove all that

 

And that's why I'm pains takingly working my way through 'The Book'. One paragrath at a time, if needs be. I'm trying out each of the theorys and demonstrating them here, in words, pictures and brutal honesty. You guys with ye helpful comments, based or real life experiance, are writing new paragraths as we go. It's all good.

 

So ye see, whilst I every bit indeed Do wish to come up with a mink, there's a deeper thrust to all this. I'm doing it to show the other chair bound students what Really works - or f*cks up in our faces - once we get out there and try it for real. By the time I catch a mink I feel we'll pretty well have covered about all the obsticles and feints and should have a near as damnit fool proof method lined out. Ian Woods, our Anonymous Member, will be ecstatic, even as he rushes off to open a site called " UK Mink Control " and repeat what we show him here, missing out the f*ck ups

 

Anyway, so that's the grand plan. And that's why I may seem to be moving so slowly, considering my probably apparrant lust for a dead mink.

 

Having got that out of the way; What's tomorrows counter move against this foot print provider? I've already stated my intention to 'Board Under' this trap. I'm looking at going with that one first. Works for 'Billy Bunter' and others of you guys. Might it work for me? My sand bank trick has certainly shown us that he'll tread on sand. Only thing stopping him moving foreward, as I can see it, might have been that lack of sand for the entire cage length, where I simply never had enough with me to fill all that space. A board may do it then?

 

I'm also going with the board first because, frankly, it'll be a bitch trying to cammo that trap. There's simply nothing for miles around it but Juncus Rush. Think of trying to cover the cage in knitting needles. Hell of a job. The shit will just blow straight off again. Poke it down through the bars and I stand to jam the doors. Calamity!

 

Bugging thing is, I want to point out how he (or something) entered the trap before. It mis fired, closing just one door and leaving Mr Who ever to enjoy a relaxed meal of my mouse. Trouble is; He entered it then uncovered and over the bare wired floor! So where in hell does That leave us?

 

Once again, gentlemen: The plot thickens!

[moley 115]

, it'll be a bitch trying to cammo that trap. There's simply nothing for miles around it but Juncus Rush

 

theres a load of grass and theres waterweed in your pic , cover the trap with those , if you want to use lure , put it under the plate , then theres less chance of the rain washing it off, failing all that , why not sit next to the gurder all night and when it walks past, hit the f*****g thing on the head with your trap, hope this helps

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

Much more of this, Moles, and I shall go out there, hunt down a mink and stuff the b*stard into that damn trap with my bare hands, mate!

 

Water weed's an idea. (Wood and Tree's springs to mind here). Though the reality is that it's f*cking cold out there and I try not to get my hands into that icey water, if I can avoid it. Anyway, as I say; He's gone in there before, naked. I just want to see what'll work. I'm enjoying the experiment so far and learning a lot as I plod along.

 

Today I found no further tracks in the sand. What I've done now is to slide a perfectly fitting, well rotten piece of old floor board under the trap. Now he'll feel only the ridges of the bars. Not a void beneath them. Let's give this a few days and see what the bugger does next.

 

If this doesn't get him, I'll try adding the Lure. That fails? I'll cover the damn trap, if I have to take my pitch fork down there!

 

 

Just thinking; I started all this with trying to snare one, back in the summer. One of these days I really must go back and get the date I started out on. Surely this must be the longest running episode of completely shameless public humilliation any man's ever exposed himself to?!

 

Got to hand it to me though; I have as much staying power as brass f*cking neck!

[Guest foxtrack]

Much more of this, Moles, and I shall go out there, hunt down a mink and stuff the b*stard into that damn trap with my bare hands, mate!

 

Water weed's an idea. (Wood and Tree's springs to mind here). Though the reality is that it's f*cking cold out there and I try not to get my hands into that icey water, if I can avoid it. Anyway, as I say; He's gone in there before, naked. I just want to see what'll work. I'm enjoying the experiment so far and learning a lot as I plod along.

 

Today I found no further tracks in the sand. What I've done now is to slide a perfectly fitting, well rotten piece of old floor board under the trap. Now he'll feel only the ridges of the bars. Not a void beneath them. Let's give this a few days and see what the bugger does next.

 

If this doesn't get him, I'll try adding the Lure. That fails? I'll cover the damn trap, if I have to take my pitch fork down there!

 

 

Just thinking; I started all this with trying to snare one, back in the summer. One of these days I really must go back and get the date I started out on. Surely this must be the longest running episode of completely shameless public humilliation any man's ever exposed himself to?!

 

Got to hand it to me though; I have as much staying power as brass f*cking neck!

ds youve tried all the methods and still have'nt got one are you sure theres mink on your patch i dont wont to wind you up but i set a trap last sunday and got a bitch mink on tuesday i used smocked mackerel if thats any help

[OldTrapCollector 376]

i used smocked mackerel if thats any help

 

Kippers, kippers, kippers . . . stop prolonging the inevitable Ditch, you know you want to try them

 

OTC

[Guest foxtrack]

i used smocked mackerel if thats any help

 

Kippers, kippers, kippers . . . stop prolonging the inevitable Ditch, you know you want to try them

 

OTC

kippers , yes and a good sqwirt of pillchad oil in and around the trap that'll get results wood mice ?

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

Tracks; It's all said above, mate. Yes, I have (some) mink. I've found their shit, full of fish scales and stink, right by this bridge. But I believe there's actually far more Pine Martens in my area - hence the need to use live traps I could slap a Juby or Imbra on that bridge and have a catch tomorrow. Just don't want a dead marten on my hands.

 

Fish has also been discussed: Sadly, living in well and truly land locked Leitrim, and a very isolated and rural part of it at that, there's precious little oily fish available to me.

 

Wood Mice? Yeppers. Those - and House Mice - I have a plentiful and ever growing supply of. Someone back there said they do best once well and truyly high? Give this one a while yet then. It's still pretty damn cold out there.

[Strong Stuff 2,171]

Fish has also been discussed: Sadly, living in well and truly land locked Leitrim, and a very isolated and rural part of it at that, there's precious little oily fish available to me.

 

 

There will be a pair of my girlfriends finest unwashed in the post tomorrow, if that doesn't get old minky in there you best give up and come back home mate!!!!

 

:stinker: