I periodically read about or see photos of trappers in other parts of the country catching huge numbers of weasels. I catch a handful each year, mostly as incidentals in my marten and mink 120 boxes. I've tried to catch both long-tails and short-tails in the boxes with rat traps or small footholds, and I've tried every imaginable bait and lure combination. I simply can't catch numbers, even with hundreds of trapnights on good sign. I talked with other intermountain trappers that tell me the same thing. Anyway, here's a few weasel pictures.

Summer long-tailed weasel


Long-tailed weasel caught in BG.


The single short-tailed weasel I've caught in a rat trap box with hundreds of trapnights.


Jack

Jack a now passed trapper in Minn would catch 100 plus weasels every year. I believe his name was Jack Pine Savage ????? Not sure if someone knows who im talking about correct me.

"Shot" this guy last nite, about 1/2 mile N of the yard.

I see weasel sign of all three types here. The shot tail seems to be the most common in my yard. When ever I set boxes for them, I pretty good luck catching them. I have never tried to take any number. I have seen all three types in the yard.
I checked this box on the way out across the road going bird hunting. On the way home the dog wanted to run up and check the box which we had checked a couple hours earlier. I called him back a couple time and he kept trying to get up to the box. I knew I had something before I got there, by the way he acted. After I dispatched it and when I was resetting the trap the dog grabbed him and ran for the house. He was sitting on the porch with him when I got there.

I set a few boxes at every bait pile for coyotes. Some years you can’t catch any next year they won’t stay out of the box

Saskbone don't you hate it when another weasel has to take a bite out of on that is trapped. So that 15$ longtail slide to 1$.

Weasels are gas money for a lot of marten trappers right behind is the red squirrel especially last year.

My average trap nights is about 30 per box most years for catches.

There was a very good article by trap instructor Mitchell from Alberta how to make boxes with a closing door once a catch was made. Basically the dog of the wooden rat trap would trigger a release of a tin sliding door over the front door. simple but effective in stopping another chewer coming in

Using your catch per trapnight, I should have taken ~20 weasels (600 trapnights divided by 30). As stated earlier, I got 1. Wife and I have put much effort into this, and we'll try again when weasel numbers are once again apparently high. It just makes no sense, but others in Idaho have also experienced very poor results. Go figure...

Jack

I have good luck with Lenon's Weasel Super All Call. Have you tried it Jack? I think feathers or fur in the box are a plus too.

Yes Mark, I've tried Lenon's Weasel All Call. Bait-wise, I've tried just about everything you might imagine, including jackrabbit, muskrat, beaver, deer mice (sometimes including fur). The year we really put the effort into this, we had extremely high weasel numbers, and they didn't seem to avoid the boxes. Tracks over top, and around the boxes constantly. Just wouldn't go in. I eventually took the fronts off the boxes so they didn't need to go through the hole. No difference. I swapped out the yellow-panned Victor rat traps for #1 longsprings. No difference. I thought strange that we always pick up a few incidentals in our marten boxes, but basically nothing in our weasel boxes.

Back in the early seventies I couldn't keep them out of my southeast PA fox traps. I caught five long-tails at one set over a ten day period in a Victor #2 square jaw (the premier fox trap of the day pre-Northwoods). I haven't caught a weasel in forty years despite targeting them on a limited basis on my north central PA line.

I’ve tried chicken,pork beef livers and other parts. They work good but the best thing that works for me is beaver fleshing. When I’m fleshing beaver I have 4 ice cube trays and fill them. Freeze them and you have 48 nice cubes of beaver bait. In our cold weather the beaver still puts off a good odour and draws them in. I will also put a small dab of skunky lure on the screen on the back of the box.

Beaver cubes only last a couple years then they loose their punch. Also works good in fisher boxes and down a hole set for coyotes.

Jack that does seem odd. Here they seem to go in the box if they find it pretty much. Our snow is often crusted to the point you can't hardly track a coyote across country, so seeing weasel sign is often a no go. If we get fresh snow there seems to be a fair number of them at times.

Looks like some of the boxes that 2Poor had the threads about, back hole is hardware cloth closed ?
When I was having that problem I took a thumb tack and put a small piece of paper over the hole with a small pin hole in the center. doesn't take long for them to climb under the paper.
When the collecting rules change with Hanti around we had to sterilize after every catch. Numbers really dropped then in catch effort in the Sherman live traps

They are sure a wonderful collector of fleas and tick when dealing with them in the wintertime.

Back in the day when I was trapping fox and coyotes in Wy, on a fresh snow I noticed fresh weasel tracks, so I made a point to try and catch one. I always heard how easy they were to catch.....the hard part was getting in front of them. They were roaming around in the sage, mousing I presume, and it was the only time I had a chance at them. We don't have them but very rarely in Ks, but alas, still on my bucket list! lol

In poor years I can pick up around 30 weasels as incidentals in marten and mink boxes.
In good years over 100.
Weasels here have a very small home range so every box will connect with at least a resident,not to mention all the
juveniles dispersing in good years.

Another molt of weasel during ratting in spring 24 April

Bot flies do happen in winter months

On another note-in around 40 years trapping here,the first longtail weasel I ever caught was about 5 years ago.Since then I have caught 3 more in consecutive years including last year.
Their northern range limit is obviously moving north with the warming climate.
The ones I caught were all in mid to late november. Two were greybacks,and the other two still brownbacks,while the northern shorttails caught at the same time were pure white

Fun to trap with the kids!