I squeezed the spring on my #110 bodygrip trap and set it over an old muskrat den. I staked it down, walked away and struggled to sleep that night. I dreamed of a mink getting caught in my trap.
That day I managed to get through school and as soon as I got home, I eagerly ran back to check my trap. When I arrived, my heart sank as I saw that the trap stood untouched, just as I left it next to the creek the night before. I was going to pull the trap, but I knew it was a good spot for mink so I decided to leave it one more night.
The next day when I rode my quad back to the woods to get firewood, I didn’t see my trap. Filled with joy that maybe, just maybe, there could be a mink in my trap, I stopped the four-wheeler. I ran over to the bank as fast as I could. Lying on the edge of the creek, sprawled across the grass, was a beautiful mink with its head caught in my killer trap. I was overcome with excitement and delight.
A week later, I was riding in the car hopping around like a rabbit in the front seat as my dad drove. In the back were my mink and all of my other animals I had caught that year. There were seven raccoons, 12 muskrats and one opossum.
We arrived at our destination and walked in with my catch. I sold the ’coons for $5 apiece, the muskrats for $5.50 each and the opposum for a dollar. The mink sold for $15. That is the story of my first mink.
“School Days” is sponsored by Duke Traps and the Wisconsin Trappers Association. Winners receive six traps, a Wisconsin Cooperative Trapper Education video, an NTA handbook and a membership to their state’s trappers association. To be considered, send a 300- to 500-word story and a photograph of the trapper or hunter with a catch, kill, fur or trap to: School Days, The Trapper & Predator Caller, 700 E. State St., Iola, WI 54990.
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