These sets can be adaptive to use in water in Wisconsin....works great.

Great information again! When Eric Space speaks- Trappers Listen!

Every trapper of mink knows they love to go in a hole. But by me there can be 20 or more holes on the high banks per 100 yards. Now they do love to go in a hole, BUT NOT EVERY HOLE! So which holes do you set? If there is snow then you set the one(s) the mink tracks in the snow went into. If one mink went in it almost every mink going by will enter the same hole. Those are the easy ones to see.
If there is no snow I set the biggest one, especially the ones that are collapsed bank beaver bank holes. Picture 1 and the remake is Picture 2. Notice the green can on top of the remake. That is my marker that I can see from the road only 30 or so yards away. Can is moved means something is in the snare. Saves time and steps.
Even better yet is where an undercut system of tree roots has a hole in the back of the roots that leads down to the water edge. Picture 3 has 2 such holes and I set em both.
Lets say you do not have these 2 situations. Then I go through and lightly plug each bank hole with grass or leaves. Come back in a few days and set the one(s) where the plug has been pushed out. Sometimes when I have went to plug a hole on a windy day and the plugging material blows back out from the hole side as I put it in, then I set that hole immediately, as it has an opening down under the bank somewhere. Mink traveling by whether on the bank or under the bank where the hole exits will sense that draft and go thru the hole. That is how I found the holes in Picture 4 (notice the catch circle).
I have tried making my own holes like an elbow set but they do not work as well as a naturally made hole.
Once you find a mink used hole it will be good year after year until it collapses or floods fill it with silt.

Thank you Eric.

Eric, thank you so much for sharing. Awesome instructions that you have shared. Very cool

Mac

It is a darn shame that New York charges such a high non resident trapping license.

Thanks Eric!

Love your posts and search for your sets each day. Confused about the chunk of moss being set right on the trap pan, whats the reason for this? Would it not interfere?

Very nice!

Fox will step right on the moss to avoid stepping in the water to reach the bait.

How does someone who wanted to live in Alaska end up in NJ?
mt

NJ is where I was born and have wound up living here so far for 67 years. I went 3 1/2 years to U of Wyoming, then quit one semester short of graduating, came back here to work on the family farm. Left the farm in 1994 (too many family hassels) to start my nusiance wildlife business.

I know most all of you realize that we cannot use foothold traps in New Jersey. If someone gave me one snare and said "OK, Eric lets see how fast you can catch a fox" a crossing log is the set I would use.
First you have to have the location. I do not mean a stream or small river, pretty much everyone has one somewhere on their line. By me and probably by a lot of you the waters are crossed with more than a few logs. In the early fall before the water gets too cold I take my chain saw, put on an old pair of sneakers and walk the waterways and cut out all the logs except the ONE I want to use. The first time thru there may be quite a lot to cut, but in subsequent years there are usually few to cut. Here by me many waterways are paralleled somewhat by a road. Walking takes time, so if possible I leave my selected log within view of the road. That is what I mean by location, only 1 place to cross.
A crossing log does not have to be a large diameter log, in fact I prefer it to be too small on one end for a person (hunter) to walk across it. If the water is shallow this is not a big concern, but if the water is deep and/or the log is high off the water it is essential that the log not be able to hold a person who might want to cross. I have caught fox on logs that were less than 2 inches in diameter on one end. Here, when I am trapping early in the season when the waterways are not frozen, it is bowhunting season and bowhunters will use a log to cross the water before daylight. I don't want to dunk one.
Dogs rarely cross on logs, they just jump in and swim, so they are not a problem.
The diameter of the snare's cable is important. The snare should be of 1/16 cable. Normally you can snare fox with larger cable (5/64 or 3/32) but on a log fox (and bobcats) will either duck under or very cautiously walk through the larger diameter cable. Think of it this way: If you were walking across the log and a limb the size of your wrist was there you would step over it but if it was the size of your finger you would just brush by with your leg.
The snare loop should be 7 inches or so and 8 inches off the log surface. In picture 1 you will see the position I put the lock in. I want it to drop at the slightest touch.
Picture 2 shows how I fasten the snare, a fence staple is driven into the log and then the snare is wired to it so after a catch I can replace the snare without having to pull the staple. The support wire end is bent in a U and fastened in with 2 poultry staples, this makes it stable.
I do not show it in the picture but as I said before I like to have my log within sight of the road. When setting the snare I slide an old soup can (burnt so it is rusty and old lookin) onto the support wire and down to the log so it sits basically upright on the support wire. Most logs will receive 3 or more snares, each 4 feet or so apart (again you cannot catch 2 fox with one snare). The reason for the cans is I can look out the truck window, if a can is down I've got action. Can check traps at 35 MPH this way!
Picture 3 is an ideal situation. I took the picture from the road, there is one log completely across the stream and another somewhat alongside it. This way I can put in 4 or 5 snares and catch multiple fox in one night.
Notice I have stayed mostly on fox. Bobcats are not legal to trap here so I omitted them. Coyotes can be snared on some crossing logs, but rarely on a smooth limbless log. For coyotes you need a log with limbs preferably like the one in Picture 4. Many times on shallower waterways coyotes will just wade through like a dog will. Fox just do not like to wade even in shallow water.
The catch pictures are pics of photos, sorry if they are not real clear. The log in the first catch picture yielded 41 fox the first year I used it and over 100 in the three seasons until a flood washed it away. I first saw it was gone as I was driving to my oldest daughter's high school graduation. My wife thought I was all choked up over her graduating. I let her think that, happy wife is a happy life, at least for Eric









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Thanks for sharing.

Really enjoying your posts Eric.

Thank You!

Thanks Eric

Nice.

I'm sorry to hear about your girl and assume that is why you dropped out of college. Sounds awful and still must hurt. I wish you the best and hope your mind is at ease. I'm really enjoying these posts. Some of the best informative posts I've seen in quit sometime. Nothing ever happens the way you plan and I'm glad everything turned out good for you sir. Thank you.

Gotta comment on your log diameter info....was trapping late in Winter one season and was in the creek trying to catch beaver. Noticed an old log crossing the creek and walked over. A set of coyote tracks were visible because of the frost and muddy paws....couldn’t believe it as the log was only about 3 inches in diameter.
Thanks for taking the time to post this great pieces of info!