Hello everyone, I’m looking at running my first dedicated long line for mink, I’ve caught a few in the past but never got real serious about it. I have stock square and round jaw 1.5 coil springs. Are the mink pans worth the money? Do you guys worry about double jawing them if they’re only a regular jaw? What other mods if any should I look into to increase my catch? My traps are a mix of north woods round jaws, Bridger’s and northwoods square jaw, has anyone put she wild river pans on these specific traps with any success? Thanks guys!

I don’t know if they’re truly worth it, but I’m upgrading to a few dozen of them this year. I’ve caught plenty of mink with 1.5s and stock pans, but at $40/mink, if you catch 2 or 3 more each year it’s probably justifiable. If you’re doing a lot of blind sets it’s definitely worth it, but I run mainly pockets. Mike from Wild River Traps is on here and might be able to answer your fitment questions if his website doesn’t already. The double jaw would come into play if you have a lot of coon on your line. Make sure you don’t have much if any pan tension, and the traps you won’t have mink pans on file the notch down to almost nothing and make sure to square everything up nice. Check out the trap mods in the archive for a lot of good info. Good luck on the mink line! Happy trapping! ScottW

Hey thanks a bunch, I might focus on mostly pocket sets just cause we’re in a severe drought and not all culverts have deep enough water for drowning. I just want to make sure that they absolutely fit so I don’t order some and have them not fit. Good thing I have a little time before the season starts. I did send in a questionnaire on his website earlier today so hopefully I can get some information on the traps I have.

Between friends, my brother and I weve caught thousands and thousands of mink( me not so many) All stock pans on1.5 coils Really no need
Get on
https://www.furtakertv.com/https://www.furtakertv.com/
Ron Hausers Mink trapping will teach you the most perfected pocket set.

I still use my old Victor #2's square jaws with a mink pan. I don't think a better mink trap has ever been built. IMO I will say I way over modified them. Base plated and 4 coiled with #1 coil springs and night latched. These traps are super fast.

Years ago I acquired 14 dozen Duke 1 1/2s from an old mink trapper…I put Wild River two post pans, and extended the chain to 30” with a lap link at the end. No further modifications needed in my opinion. I did it to 165 Bridget’s too with the 1 3/4 pan…I I have plenty of water traps now. The Bridger 1 1/2 is fine stock but with the chain addition. Any of these traps are best left stock for your dry land settting near the waters edge…up around beaver ponds and such out of the water where you might want some covering over the trap,,,,the larger mink pan is for water sets.

The longer chain aids in drowning especially if you employ a tangle stick.

This may be repetitive to some of you and not relevant to others.

Les

At 80 yrs of age im still minking, and some yotes but mink easier to handle. Just go out there and set, i learn something every year and from some of my trapper ed students.

Light trigger tension #1.

Wax them and your conibears too = for speed. You want it to close FAST......jk

Night latch the pans so pan travel is almost nothing and set the pan so that it sits above the jaws ubstead if the traditional level pan .

That’s interesting……can’t say I’ve ever heard anyone recommend that before. I like night latch but grew to further love a nearly non existent notch that when set is automatically a hair trigger.

For sitting above, what is the reasoning? Do you use mainly pockets or blind sets? I personally prefer a nice deep catch on a mink, and also the occasional coon is better held.
I’m no expert, and super curious on this! Happy trapping! ScottW

I’ve been seeing a lot on the pan level being above the jaw level is that to give the mink something they think they can stand on?

Roger that!

Sounds like maybe I should lengthen the chain then for sure. Do the bigger pans help that much on water sets over the stock pans on water sets?

When they're swimming this let's the minks foot kick the pan instead of swimming over it when it's submerged in an inch or two of water

That makes sense catching a swimming mink, thanks for the insight.

I've got a couple hundred 1.5's rigged with the Wild River pans. They work well!

I just bought enough to use on my Montgomerys and when they get here I’m gonna see if they’ll work on my northwoods square jaw.

If I set a trap with the whole pan level with the top of the water and then set a trap with the just the far edge of the raised pan level with the top of the water which one has a better chance of connecting? Seems to me the whole pan would have a much better chance of connecting than just an edge of an elevated pan. The elevated pan gradually slopes down from the surface.

Plus with the pan above the jaws it can lead to toe catches or misses. I set the pan level with the jaws and with very light pan tension. I also use the double post Wild River Pans. They allow you to get the tension lighter than the stock pan. I always filed the notch down to almost nothing on stock pans and left just enough so I could set the trap. Once I tried the Wild River pans on the advice of Fossil i found I could get the traps to fire with even less pressure than the stock pans. Are the Wild River pans necessary? No but they can help to increase your catch just a bit more.

I dont think Mink are really swimming in an inch or two of water. If Im setting a deep water bridge abutment Ill set the trap about 3" under the surface.

They aren't. Probably 3 to 4 inches deep depending on size of the mink before they start swimming.

I've caught mink with the trap 5 inches or so under the water. I don't start there but small water rises or much higher receding water has put the trap under that much or more sometimes when I find a drowned mink in the set. Obviously in the lesser rains the mink could have been caught before the water rose but when the empty trap is under a foot or so of water one day and has a drowned mink in the set the next day it opens your eyes. Usually when resetting, the trap it is still 4 to 6 inches under water when I'm done. I always figured the mink just recently got caught and have been surprised at the depth they had to have been caught at.

Yep, someone stated mink swimming in an inch or two previously. Its a chore guessing the water depths with our fall rains. My best year was a year (I forget) that had very minimal rain fluctuation.

The high pan is is because once it starts falling its game over. P.S. you dont need a bigger pan, just a smaller pocket...

That bigger floppy pan is trippier, less pan tension

Couple things on that night latch, one obviously for setting at night. Two more control of pan throw. Three more room for error and extends the life of the pan. If you shortnotch and go too far you will need a new pan or do some welding.

Having the own above gives them a landing spot that they can see if the pan sticks out of the water a bit and for the swimmers on top edge sets. When you do have coon get caught the higher pan plus short throw helps get more of a pad catch instead of a buried one so chewing isn't as bad , especially if you add double jaws