My focus is on coon, so I rarely put in a set specifically for mink. But when I do put in a set for mink it is almost always because I see a perfect spot (in my eye) for a blind set.

Most of the incidental mink I get while coon trapping are caught in trail sets (blind set) for coon with a 160. Don't know how many mink go through uncaught but thats how the numbers add up for me. My pockets and associated traps are also tuned for coon.

So here's the deal .... I love trapping ! But I also need to eat . I run my lines so they are as productive as I can make them. Here In MN. we have a small window of opportunity,before freeze up, to make our catch . The baited pocket and all Its variations produce the most mink in the shortest time.
Blind sets work, but they work slow.. I dont have the luxury to wait for a blind set to produce . Ive taken as many as 46 mink in one check . All in baited pockets! I know other longliners who have done even better than that, with pockets! Thats My 2 cents....Jim

While I have and always will set some blind sets I far prefer a pocket. A Mink runs by a location in his travels when blind setting and misses the pan, he may be gone for a week or more.

A chunk of fresh fish in a well made pocket and he is busy tugging while standing directly on a pan. A well made pocket with the trap set deep in a bank that catches good sun exposure will often stay functional even in our early freezing weather.

If you have to depend on open water to make mink sets that produce, then yes, I can see where the baited pocket is the way. However, you are letting the environment limit your productiveness. Mink can be caught after freeze-up, but usually they are caught in blind sets. By limiting yourself to pockets, you're not capitalizing on all that is available.

Here's a killer - find a drift pile, poke a hole in it about six inches in diameter, set a foothold or 110 and collect your mink the next time it comes through. Its one of those sets they can't seem to resist - lol.

If you prefer to switch species after freeze-up, you probably don't have the time to run a mink line and the other.

There are so many different variables in different parts of the country. There are also many different variables caused by the amount of time and access different trappers have on their line.

Pockets for me too. Not only because they are extremely effective, but also because the creeks in my area just don't have many blind set locations. I will never pass up an obvious blind set location, but I don't have to search nearly as long to find a place to put in a pocket as I would to find a blind set.

Mink can easily be caught in cubbies after freeze up. Of course all a cubby is is a man made pocket. Cross over or through the trap to win the prize.

I could put out a 100 blind set after freeze up. But 3 or 4 mink a check, Doesnt pay the bills. After freeze up Im better off going after muskrats in their houses.

Well said James

Different areas require different efforts.

I used a lot of pockets too and they worked great, but I also put in the blind sets where they belonged.

You gotta eat and nobody likes to live in Poverty!!

You should look into trapping monkeys after freeze up! ha

I hear monkeys bring good money - lol.

You know what Nick, I believe he's right. I think they would too. A bit of banana in the bottom and whammo, there's a monkey on a chain.

I think we should start a monkey trapping thread.....LOL...
Paul now I know what the banana smelling lure you were making is for.
Jim

lol ... I think I recall reading or hearing that somewhere in Iowa they have actually found cave paintings showing monkeys held in a primative device that resemble a lil griz ... the crude markings roughly translated appear to be "Clovis Getrz" ... they say everything repeats itself over time ???

in minnesota, the water is public, but the bank is not, so a high bank blind set isnt an option. an average sized drainage ditch has 5 travelways, 2 high bank, 2 low bank, and the occasional mink that will swim the center of the waterway. there are very few blind set locations in these ditches, except an occasional cut bank. you can set that cut bank blind, and catch a mink traveling that low bank travelway. or you can use a baited pocket dug into that cut bank, and pull down the mink traveling that high bank, traveling that low bank, swimming the center,and possibly running the other bank as well. with the pocket, youre potentially drawing off of 4 of the 5 travelways at that location. also, as was mentioned earlier, traveling mink are hyper, and theyre looking for a meal or a kill. a baited pocket gives them everything theyre already looking for, while a blind set only attempts to catch them during their search. a mink traveling along the bank is also very easily distracted from his projected route, by anything/anywhere that might hide potential prey. this will account for misses with blind sets, as the mink will change directions unexpectedly, before reaching the set, or just turn and cross the creek for no apparent reason. as far as increased coon catches with baited sets, if the area holds a high coon population, we just set heavier, and take the coon with the mink. like blakley said, we gotta eat. back when i was selling good male mink for 55.00, a coon brought 40.00+. i didnt make any attempt to miss those coon, and at todays lower prices, i need them even more, to make things pencil out in my favor. ive never heard of a strictly blind set man in this state taking numbers that i consider to be large numbers. ive heard of one guy who claims a hundred, but i dont consider that a high number. my son took 80+ before and after school when he was a junior in high school, and he never made a blind set.

paul mentions high and dry blind sets in freezing weather. heres the problem with that type set in my area. if its that cold already, theres ice everywhere, and the mink are running random over and across that ice, and not following a particular travelway. you can find a few pinch points at some locations, but here again, youll increase the odds by using a high and dry baited set, with a fairly loud lure, to get them to where you can make a fast and effecient set. also, by the time you have freezing weather here, the mink are already thinned out to the point you have to travel too far to find an occasional mink to set for. freezing conditions, greatly reduced mink numbers, more driving, and extremely slow set construction times make it a money losing proposition except at very favorable fur prices. if i trap mink at these times of year, i target the lakes sloughs and ponds that werent trapped effectively during the early season. theyll have the highest mink numbers, usually, and the later in the season, the better they respond to bait and lure.

It did make for an intersting discussion, and that was the purpose of challenging conventional thinking. Sometimes I enjoy stirring the pot also - lol.

I dont use any lure just fish. Im not a fan of trailing scents I want the mink to be focused on my pocket because thats were my trap is.
Jim

Nice summary of mink trapping here in MN, Fossil (and everyone else). Where are the blind set guys to give their points? (its getting too one sided) Isn't Spencer a blind set guy? Just bought a couple of his tapes but haven't seen them, yet.

Lure and trailing scents are the biggest waste of money on a longline.. Why in Gods name would I want to squirt lure up and down the bank in the water over knoll etc.. I want that critter focused on my pocket set PERIOD.. We don't do that with a dirthole or flat set..

I can't afford to use lure an trailing scents on a logline.. Why?? I would go broke.. I've kept records a few times and the catch never changed much, and I'm talking 1-3 animals either side of the coin.. Nothing to fret over when I am saving money..

NOTHING beats fresh FISH..