Photo Phriday 18

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.

https://trapperman.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/6379063/old-guys-weasels#Post6379063

"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!

I keep one on my wall. He was visiting a moose head I had in a tree for a wolverine set.

I also read about the big weasel catches and thought that would be great fun for the boy and me. I see lots of weasel sign. We didn’t go huge but we had a half dozen boxes figuring several weasels each check. Our results were poor. We did catch a few and had a lot of fun.
We caught a lot more of these.

We used beaver for bait.

Thanks Range. It appears you did a lot better than I. Once we get good snow, I'll see what the sign looks like, and perhaps give it another try. Did you get long-tails or short-tails? And yes, I did well on deer mice also.

Jack

You want a set that will let the mice and shrews work the bait without buggering up the set for the weasel that goes in after the bait/mice.
A marten box set with the opening down with a waxed 120,and an L shaped trigger,and a fist sized chunk of beaver for bait will catch every weasel that visits the set.
It also produces a very high percentage of double strikes on marten,as they trigger the trap with a front foot.Weasels trigger the trap when they climb on the trigger wire to acess the hanging bait.

This guy spent all of last winter in my backyard, disappeared in early spring and I haven't seen him since!

Love these wee rascals ! When I had my chooks I used hardware cloth wire with small squares for the run attached to the coop. Not even a chippie could get in. My idea was to keep these cute mini wolverines and mink out . Below is an old old illustration of the two species . Then, the colour that I had such fun doing. Really love these guys. I call them slinkies !

Jack, do you catch long or short tail when you catch them? I can not remember catching many long tails in a box. Maybe they don't like them. I know I have them I have caught them in other sets and my old dog would catch one once in a while. He had on in the frame of the pick up once. I thought it was neat until he grabbed the brake line and started trying to pull it out of the way. That was when I decided I had to get the dog out from under the PU and kill the weasel.
I caught a long tail in a 220 on a badger hole once and another in a 220 in a trail set. The trail set one had a thirteen stripped ground squirrel in its mouth cross wise and I would bet that was what set off the 220.

Mark -
Here in Idaho where I am, both the long-tails and the short-tails are here. The incidentals I catch in marten and mink boxes are invariably long-tails. The single catch in the weasel box was a male short-tail. The short-tails are generally at higher altitudes than the long-tails, but they do overlap. In Alaska, many incidentals in marten sets, always short-tails. Alaska has no long-tails, but the short-tails up there are nearly as big as the long-tails down here. Alaska also had least weasels, but I only caught them in museum special mouse traps.

One of the strangest catches I've ever had was back in the 70s, catching a long-tailed weasel in a neck snare set for bobcats. Thing would have had to jump 10-11" up from the ground to reach the bottom of the snare. Choked him down though. I could never figure out how he caught himself.

No non target

Here in Pa I used to set for them a lot. And I also set trail cameras for them. On the trial cameras I got a lot of long tails to see. In the box I got the short tails only and in an 1 1/2 or #2 coil just outside the box got a few long tails. I even picked up several long tails that were road kills but never a short tail. I am not sure if I ever saw a lest weasel or even know how to ID one. Now dont get me wrong as I only caught less than 75 all together. The trap outside the box was really for mink, coon and fox that liked to play with my boxes, the few bears just destroyed everything......jk

Jack, I thought I did good catching a long tail in a 220 and here you snared one. I am sure that not everyone can say that. I never tried to snare a weasel. Maybe I will try this winter. I was thinking maybe the long tails didn't like boxes was why I ask what type you had. We have least here too. I see one once in a while and even had one in the house. We had a cat that would catch a couple least a year.

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We got all long tails.

Mark -

I thought about it all night. Don't know why it never dawned on me, but I think there's something to what you're suggesting. Perhaps it is indeed a difference between the long-tailed and the short-tailed. As we get decent snow cover this year, I'll plan on getting out boxes again. Unfortunately, where I usually see the majority of the short-tail spoor, I can't access very long into the winter because of the snow. In year's past, you're right, I'm setting mostly on long-tailed tracks. But I'm still confused as to why they seem to like my 120 boxes (for mink and marten), but won't go into a smaller box (the weasel boxes), even with the front removed. I'll keep playing with it, I hope.

Jack

Jack a friend in New Mexico caught a raven in a snare set for bobcat. Raven was dead when snare checked. Never say never with wild animals

I love weasels! Spunky little guys with a big attitude. Here are some shots of one I lip-squeeked up and took photos with my phone. A few seconds after I took these he literally sniffed my boot which I got on video.

Havasu Falls

Sunset

What are you looking at shorty.