Should I just go straight to a pan and not even mess with the wire trigger.

Yes ..a wooden pan

Yep I have wooden pans on mine and they seem to work.

I wax my 120s,and catch every mink that visits the box.

So no pan, just the wire trigger?

I also like waxing mink bodygrips. How do you position your trigger wires?

Mine are waxed also but I put a piece of fishing line (fireline, 8 pound test) loosely across the wires......jk

Look for some of these old mink triggers I don’t know if they even make them anymore during the boom years new stuff pops up then fads away when the booms over. With mink I always went by feet on the ground to the mink’s advantage feet off the ground trappers advantage
so I put my trigger on the bottom so he jumps through the wires as gravity impacts us all.

God luck with the mink boxes.

Twisted together dead center or in a slight v both from the top.

I have trapped hundreds of mink in boxes. I use 120's with wood paddle triggers.
BCtomcat has pictures of his set-up, which is very similar to mine.
I also put 1/4", or 1/2" mesh on the back of the box. The whole back.
Fresh bait is critical for consistent catches. Don't waste time or money on lures.

I have also caught lots of mink In boxes but not In WI. When I trapped In Canada you could hardly keep the mink out of your marten boxes. Mink would even climb the tree to get in your marten boxes.

Beav's experience parallels mine, as calorie requirement causes animals to prioritize food consumption. The only response to bait boxes here is if I have a mink eat a rat or rabbit caught in a trap and then put the remains in a mail tube set. They will BE BACK. My best mink set ever was 4 X 110 size BG's set on mink trails to a 300 lb. 1 month old dead hog drug out to the edge of of a tamarack swamp in North Central MN. Did not matter to 4 mink (1 check) what it smelled, looked or tasted like,,,,, they needed the calories in a bad winter. More snowfall eliminated that set after 1 check ...........the mike

I had a similar situation. I found a dead deer that had washed up In debris pile In a creek. The mink had a beat down trail and then they would jump out on to a large rock to get to the carcass. I replaced the rock with a large chunk of sod. Placed my trap on the sod and I caught 5 mink off that one set. This was In the dead of winter and that trout stream was open all winter.
So then I decided to replicate that set up on some different areas that had open water. All these set ups were at culverts and bridges along some back roads. Easy checking and no competition. Mink at that time were averaging $40.00 and more.

Good thinking, Beav!
I also catch "climbing" mink in marten sets. Little buggers can climb a vertical spruce tree 5'.

I can expect mink in the marten boxes during a mid winter thaw..Often,for some reason we will get a couple days of above freezing temps and rain in January.The water comes up under the shell ice in the creeks and pushes the mink up top.
Also get a few big nutted male mink in Feb in marten boxes when they are on the move looking for love.
And in fall when the water is still high in the creeks,we get the odd one in the trees,most likely dispersing juveniles..

If setting mink boxes and you are doing daily checks you dont have to use a bodygrip if you prefer pans.

This goes back 20 years or so, but I had a guy show up on my line one year and ran nothing but boxes for mink. He had them everywhere. I went by them day after day and never saw a mink in any of them.

He finally pulled his traps and left the boxes and I never saw him set one of those boxes ever again. Over the years, they slowly rotted away.

I wouldn't put a whole lot of effort into mink boxes in WI either, but good luck.

Boxes will catch a pile of fur when set at the right place.
Like any other set,you wont catch anything in them just setting them anywhere.
I got hundreds of pics from the line with tons of fur caught in boxes.
The only species I have never caught in a box is Bears wolves or beaver.

Boco It's a Canadian thing.