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Do you remember your 1st Bottom Edge mink? #6267433
06/26/18 11:29 AM
06/26/18 11:29 AM
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lumberjack391 Offline OP
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I read about it in the Trapper mag, Kens book wasn't even out yet. Thought I understood the concept and thought of this pool with a stump sticking out at the end. Butted a 110 up against it and wired it to the stump after sticking a stick through the spring. I thought "yea right" this aint gonna do &*%^. 2 days later a huge male mink is floating. I have caught many more at that location and 100s of others until gas and fur prices went crazy high/low. Been awful disappointed at quite a few I thought were gonna score and never did.

Last edited by lumberjack391; 06/26/18 11:31 AM.
Re: Do you remember your 1st Bottom Edge mink? [Re: lumberjack391] #6267587
06/26/18 03:37 PM
06/26/18 03:37 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 5,444
Wisconsin
Muskrat Offline
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I do, and I'm still kicking myself for not recognizing the potential that was staring me in the face at the time. That was long before Ken Smythe wrote the book and I made the full leap into the BE world.

Small creek draining a larger watershed with a pond up above held back by a beaver dam. There were a few 'rats in the creek and I was using #110s in some of the runs I could find.

One day I happened to peel the marsh grass back and found this trail just at water's edge under the grass with lots of 'rat tracks. So I set the #110 smack dab onto the trail, butted up against the bank, with the intentions of having this bodygrip fall back into the drink once it fired.

It rained that night, water rose a foot, and upon checking the set the next day it held a beautiful buck mink.

I did reset that trap under water, caught a 'rat, then the water receded and bare trap on the run there it sat untouched. So was my brain.

If only I had known about BE sets back in the 60s . . .

Re: Do you remember your 1st Bottom Edge mink? [Re: lumberjack391] #6267591
06/26/18 03:43 PM
06/26/18 03:43 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 5,444
Wisconsin
Muskrat Offline
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Muskrat  Offline
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Originally Posted By: lumberjack391
. . . Been awful disappointed at quite a few I thought were gonna score and never did.


And that's just fine. When I set up a new area I probably place a dozen BE sets in a 50 yard stretch, at least half a dozen on each side. Keep track of and record your scores and your misses.

What you'll find, which I'm sure you already have, is that mink, and 'rats, will favor one side over the other, for a ways, and then may switch sides. There will be those stumps, points, curves that are hot from November to early March, year after year after year.

Almost sets a fella to crying when he walks up to that spot where a log has forced critters around it for years only to find it gone in last summer's flood.

Re: Do you remember your 1st Bottom Edge mink? [Re: lumberjack391] #6267636
06/26/18 05:13 PM
06/26/18 05:13 PM
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Posts: 9,733
Northern Illinois
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MChewk Offline
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Yep, and just pulled a ADC muskrat golf course job. It poured here right after setting up...had to be 2 inches of rain. Couldn't access ponds because of flooding...water receded and had two turtles 2, large mouths and 6 rats....most for setting up BE structure.

Re: Do you remember your 1st Bottom Edge mink? [Re: lumberjack391] #6267697
06/26/18 06:44 PM
06/26/18 06:44 PM
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 5,445
Southern Michigan
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trappergbus Offline
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Southern Michigan
Like it was yesterday, didin't have a name for it back then. When Smythe publizized it all the peices fell into place. Ounce I realized what to look for it was like a neon sign..


Common sense catches alot of fur..
Pay homage to all you harvest..
Re: Do you remember your 1st Bottom Edge mink? [Re: lumberjack391] #6268067
06/27/18 09:29 AM
06/27/18 09:29 AM
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Burton, Michigan
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Mousey Trapper Offline
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Burton, Michigan
I used to fish with Ken, in a Bass Club back in the 70's be for he move up north in lower Michigan to do more trapping, I stopped by to see him one day and he took me out on his trap line and show me a lot of his sets, and that is what got me back into trapping again. He was a great guy, he will be missed, by all that knew him.

Re: Do you remember your 1st Bottom Edge mink? [Re: lumberjack391] #6268084
06/27/18 09:50 AM
06/27/18 09:50 AM
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Posts: 9,733
Northern Illinois
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MChewk Offline
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Neat story Mousey! With todays poor mink prices...the 'rats and mink glands sure help cover some of the time and costs when water trapping them. The BE set is the first thing I look for now...then I'll put in my pocket sets. ANYONE EVER run a line of ELBOW sets....another eye opener.

Re: Do you remember your 1st Bottom Edge mink? [Re: lumberjack391] #6268155
06/27/18 01:36 PM
06/27/18 01:36 PM
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Posts: 2,283
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lumberjack391 Offline OP
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I have a pool that's got me thinking. If I kept it set long enough in our short PA season, I would get 3 a year out of it and many rats. Then it went to 2 a year and a couple rats. Last few years I was lucky to get 1 and no rats. This year I kept it set the whole season and scored a big fat 0.
Also set up a few that hadn't caught much in years start to give up some mink- funny how that works.

Re: Do you remember your 1st Bottom Edge mink? [Re: lumberjack391] #6268223
06/27/18 03:57 PM
06/27/18 03:57 PM
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SE Kentucky
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kytrapper Offline
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My first one was on a submerged corner of a concrete bridge about a foot deep. It sure looked silly to me but I had read the book and article. It sat there several days and then it came a big rise, too big to get to the set for a day. Went back and thought I saw some sort of debris in the trap but it was a muddy mink tail sticking up. During floods or rises are when it seems to connect best for me here.I also got into elbow sets one year and they work great if you have banks you can dig in. Caught several coon in that top 110.

Re: Do you remember your 1st Bottom Edge mink? [Re: MChewk] #6268258
06/27/18 05:16 PM
06/27/18 05:16 PM
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Posts: 5,444
Wisconsin
Muskrat Offline
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Wisconsin
Originally Posted By: MChewk
ANYONE EVER run a line of ELBOW sets....another eye opener.


A favorite of mine. Two #1 Bridger coilsprings outfitted with Duke #1 1/2 pans both S-hooked to drowner locks on same drowner cable. One trap goes back into the horizontal hole and sets just forward of the vertical hole. The other is just at the mouth of the horizontal hole.

Often score two critters at bottom of drowner cable. Sometimes one mink in both traps as it must've come down vertical hole first.

I try to get these dug out prior to cold weather. Bait gets pinned in back of horizontal pocket.

Good set for stable water conditions, still working for mink when water comes up.



Re: Do you remember your 1st Bottom Edge mink? [Re: lumberjack391] #6268285
06/27/18 06:20 PM
06/27/18 06:20 PM
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Posts: 9,733
Northern Illinois
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MChewk Offline
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When i ran the Elbow sets I didn't use bait due to the high coon pop. at the time...just the hole AND only one trap ...110 at the bottom hole. Had one check of 4 mink a 2 rats from a place where I only ever caught one mink before!

Re: Do you remember your 1st Bottom Edge mink? [Re: lumberjack391] #6268295
06/27/18 06:36 PM
06/27/18 06:36 PM
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Michigan
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Ditchdiver Offline
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Wow! I've never heard of this "elbow set". I think I understand it and will try it this year. Is it just like a pocket set with a vertical hole at the back of the pocket (going up through the top of the bank)?


When life gets me down..... you know hunting/trapping season is closed.
Re: Do you remember your 1st Bottom Edge mink? [Re: lumberjack391] #6268325
06/27/18 07:30 PM
06/27/18 07:30 PM
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Posts: 2,862
SE Kentucky
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kytrapper Offline
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Bob Noonan has an excellent book on it, All Weather Mink.

Re: Do you remember your 1st Bottom Edge mink? [Re: lumberjack391] #6268364
06/27/18 08:42 PM
06/27/18 08:42 PM
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Wisconsin
Muskrat Offline
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Those of us who employ the elbow set probably make modifications to the set described quite well in Bob's book.
My guidelines:
1) No trap on top the vertical hole. All traps are set for drowning.
2) No bodygrip at the mouth of the horizontal hole. Anything that lays dead in the shallow water of the vertical bank's edge becomes dinner for an assortment of predators. Therefore . . .
3) Small foothold hooked up to slide wire that even 'rats and mink can take out and down and be out of sight.
Making that horizontal hole small in diameter will allow that improved Bridger #1 coilspring to fully guard the entrance.

Re: Do you remember your 1st Bottom Edge mink? [Re: MChewk] #6268405
06/27/18 09:47 PM
06/27/18 09:47 PM
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Arkansas
Jason Turner Offline
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Jason Turner  Offline
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Arkansas
Originally Posted By: MChewk
Yep, and just pulled a ADC muskrat golf course job. It poured here right after setting up...had to be 2 inches of rain. Couldn't access ponds because of flooding...water receded and had two turtles 2, large mouths and 6 rats....most for setting up BE structure.


Ok, now I am really intrigued...all this time I assumed (dangerous I know) that it was really a set for colder climates but if you just pulled up the adc job, and it’s june 27, i was dead wrong.


Wildlife Removal, Etc.
Re: Do you remember your 1st Bottom Edge mink? [Re: lumberjack391] #6268662
06/28/18 10:22 AM
06/28/18 10:22 AM
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lumberjack391 Offline OP
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They work the bottom all the time, Its just when theres 10" of snow and 3" ofice they can eat better underwater, I guess.

Re: Do you remember your 1st Bottom Edge mink? [Re: lumberjack391] #6268666
06/28/18 10:40 AM
06/28/18 10:40 AM
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Northern Illinois
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MChewk Offline
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A bit to add to Muskrat's set description and please keep in mind every location is different...my use of a 110(magnum by the way) was due to the several creeks I was building Elbow Sets on. We have a lot of that silty bottomless bottom waterways here. I found that propping a 110 mag at the bottom hole which was under water and the stabilizing it securely with a few short sticks enabled the 'rat/mink to get caught then kick off into the deeper mud/water. In other set locations Muskrat's idea of a foothold rigged to drown is excellent. Truthfully, I initially ran these sets using a Lefler stabilizer and a BMI mag 110.
they worked OK for the situation but found using short strong stabilizer sticks worked better.
Now for the BE sets ...I like Lefler stablizers all the way!

Re: Do you remember your 1st Bottom Edge mink? [Re: lumberjack391] #6268687
06/28/18 11:41 AM
06/28/18 11:41 AM
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kytrapper Offline
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And the 110 is not laid flat when used on the top hole. Bob's book explains how he sets it up. I did use lure in the tunnel and I guess it was wafting up through the top hole like a chimney. I caught mink, coon, possums and some feral species in the top 110. Most of my streams a pocket is difficult to construct much less get the vertical,hole but on muddy, grassy banks I liked them. I like he set because your not out of business during high water. Those waterlogged rats and mink look good on days your not expecting much. I've thought of making more with one of those three or four inch augers in a 20 volt drill.
Interestingly, I seem to catch a higher percentage of female mink in the BE than other mink sets.

Re: Do you remember your 1st Bottom Edge mink? [Re: lumberjack391] #6268724
06/28/18 01:06 PM
06/28/18 01:06 PM
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Posts: 5,444
Wisconsin
Muskrat Offline
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So long as we're hijacking the thread, here's what I use for the vertical hole.

It's the 3" hand auger 46" long I believe so one can stand and bore down easily. Got it from F and T.

I usually jump up on the bank and make the vertical hole first. Using the 3" auger, I bore straight down, then ream it out by thrusting it up and down a few times.
Then I use Trapper Arts pocket shovel, the old longer snout version, to punch in and connect the holes.
Goes in quickly once you get the hang of it.

Re: Do you remember your 1st Bottom Edge mink? [Re: lumberjack391] #6268743
06/28/18 01:41 PM
06/28/18 01:41 PM
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Wisconsin
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The Beav Offline
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I could put In ten blind sets while you guys are drilling and digging one elbow set. And will have caught that mink before It even gets to the elbow set. LOl


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