I am definitely taking notes. Excellent posts guys.

I bowered one of those cordless augers. They are a bit spendy but sure makes digging dirt holes and pocket sets a bit easier. The one I used had a 3" bit and worked great I even use it to dig my trap beds. They were using it to dig holes when they were replanting strawberry plants.

For the most part no bending over.

Question on the back filling. Would it be different from creeks to a river? My thinking would be more mink on a large river to cycle through since it's where everything drains into.

I am a recreational trapper first and foremost and target pretty much all species at one time or another. Mink have always been a favorite. The pocket set in my opinion is the top mink producer when the banks aren't frozen.
Bottom edge or blind sets are next in line. The problem i have is I don't like catching coon, otter, beaver and rats when I make pocket and blind sets which for sure will happen. That is why I almost exclusively make Bottom edge or blind sets with bodygrips when after mink. Alot of my sets stay out 1 or 2 months at a good location.
Back when I used more pocket sets i caught 6 mink in one set in a months time. Had a chunk of muskrat in the hole and never refreshed it. The bank around the set smelled like mink musk after 3 or four catches even rigged
with a drowner. I'm sure their must have been a litter raised in the area that stayed around. It wasn't uncommon
to catch 2 or 3 out of one set in other areas I trapped.
This past season a couple BE sets produced multiple mink catches but is more the exception than the rule.
The mink population in the area i trap has been going downhill last several years.

I'm going to do some experimenting with bodygrips utilizing the pocket set with one on each side of the pocket like Beav does with footholds.
It's nice to see prices increase on fur.

Around here we have a lot of cut banks that a coon will never walk. See the photos below.

Could you not make pockets in banks like this and greatly reduce, or even eliminate entirely, your coon catch?

Yes, you could do that. Dig a high and dry pocket set about 5" above the water line. Depending on the water depth you may have to shave the bank and create a shelf for the trap.

50 buck avg enough to get you guys to chase winter mink?
I might throw a few more 120s in the side by side this fall when trapping beaver.
Mink are easy to pile up when beaver trapping in the fall.

Coondagger: those banks wouldn't stop a coon around here if they wanted to get to that pocket. At my age they would prohibit me though from going down the bank. Lol ( be 77 next season) I've had coon swim to sets and
also hang off roots to reach down to pockets.
I don't doubt for a second that Beav could traverse those banks though. Lol

Lots of good info guys thank you keep it going

I always figured any extra time fiddling around with secondary species meant less time for the primary one(s). But as many mink as I see running up and down the rivers during the rut may make me rethink that @$45 LOL

It takes little time to kick a hole in a beaver house or bank,shove a chunk of meat in and set a LS trap.
It takes a lot more time and effort to cover the same ground over again for separate species.
Do your otter sets not cut into your beaver setting efforts,lol.

It's all in the mentality I guess. With otter I'm using the same equipment, always an advantage, and as I cruise the river looking for fresh beaver activity I'm also watching for otters toilets. Not much extra time spent. But at $45 for mink, well that does get my attention.

btw, what's a beaver house? Never see 'em in my area.

A beaver house is where the beaver sleep.
Anywhere beaver hole up is a mink magnet.

Gotcha. Got a picture of a beaver house from my area then.

Right on BP.
leave them there long enough and a mink will show up.
I was skinning a few rats at the trapcabin one fall and tossing the carcasses under my chair.
I seen a little mink run under my chair and start dragging a rat carcass away,I reached down and grabbed the rat carcass by the tail and had about a 30 second tug of war with the mink.

We were skinning marten and the skunks were dragging the carcasses away. We didn't argue with them. But they only went under the skinning shack.
Boco I remember kicking a hole in a beaver hut then placing some beaver meat in that hole. Then we set 330s or 220sin that hole and caught red fox. You could even kick a hole in a snowbank and do the same thing and catch fox. But that was In Canada.

Yes same here. Drag way too many coon out of steep banks. Here in the Midwest mink trapping means coon in most situations.

Mink number forty and last of year in colony. Caught five in colonies, three in conibears and rest in pockets. All prime and seventy five percent males. Fur shed is now empty, hate that.

I run a lot of 110s blind sets for mink where I am coyote trapping. Picked up enough over the years in little waterways, weedy fencerows, around old ponds, little ditches, etc it’s been well worth my effort. Heck I’m out checking coyote traps anyway might as well cash in on mink. I know not your typical minky spots but they work here. And 110s work well for me.
Jim

There was mention earlier to place a trap in the pocket and then one outside the pocket. First one to catch the coon and then have the other to catch the mink. How far into the hole would be optimal for second trap? This has me thinking about the upcoming season. I'm thinking there would also be an advantage to putting a trap on the approach to the pocket set. On the right occasion I could have up to 4 traps all on the same pocket set.