''Mink Trapping'' is an American reference book focused on

trapping Animal trapping, or simply trapping or ginning, is the use of a device to remotely catch and often kill an animal. Animals may be trapped for a variety of purposes, including for meat, fur trade, fur/feathers, sport hunting, pest control, and w ...

mink Mink are dark-colored, semiaquatic, carnivorous mammals of the genera ''Neogale'' and '' Mustela'' and part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters, and ferrets. There are two extant species referred to as "mink": the A ...

. It was published on August 6, 1906, and is part of the collection "Harding's Pleasure & Profit Books." The book comprises mink trapping instructions and tips from the author and other trappers in the United States and Canada, including photographs and illustrations. It provides information on where and how to set traps for mink, covering land and water setups, blind sets, baits, and scents to use. Additionally, it discusses methods applicable in Northern and Southern states, as well as guidance on the size and care of skins..Harding, A. R., "Mink Trapping", Internet Archive scanned book,

Harding Historical Books, Fur-Fish-Game Magazine

Excerpts

Chapter 2, Mink And Their Habits, page 23

"I have had a world of experience trapping but very limited at catching, says an Arkansas trapper, "yet plenty of both to be fully capable of solving the question as to whether or not mink are afraid of the scent of iron. It is simply this. Some mink are positively afraid of it and some are positively not so."

Chapter 14, Many Good Methods, page 113

"The mink is very cunning and hard to catch in a steel trap unless you know how and where to set, which is about the only secret there is in catching mink. I have had people write to know what scent I used and how I set traps. A man can learn better methods as long as he traps—
experience is the best teacher ''Ut est rerum omnium magister usus'' (roughly "experience is the teacher of all things" or more generally "experience is the best teacher") is a quote attributed to Julius Caesar in ''De Bello Civili'', the war commentaries of the Civil War. Si ...
and unless he is willing to work hard he will never make a successful trapper of any kind of game." – Moses Bone

Contents (First Edition 1906)

1. General Information 2. Mink and Their Habits 3. Size and Care of Skins 4. Good and Lasting Baits 5. Bait and Scent 6. Places to Set 7. Indian Methods 8. Mink Trapping on the Prairie 9. Southern Methods 10. Northern Methods 11. Unusual Ways 12. Illinois Trapper's Method 13. Experienced Trapper's Ways 14. Many Good Methods 15. Salt Set 16. Log and Other Sets 17. Points for the Young Trapper 18. Proper Size Traps 19. Deadfalls 20. Steel Traps

Publication

First published by A. R. Harding Publishing Company in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

, dated August 6, 1906 (

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

). Later editions are currently available in

hardcover A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as casebound (At p. 247.)) book is one bookbinding, bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other clo ...

and

paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, also known as wrappers, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, ...

Critical Response

Hunter-Trader-Trapper Magazine, Vol 15, No. 1, Oct 1907

MINK TRAPPING – ''While this book has only been upon the market about one year the first edition is nearly sold and the second is being printed and bound. While this book contains less than 200 pages 5x7 inches it is by far the best book for mink trappers ever produced. The author in his introduction says: "While there are some excellent mink trappers no one man has studied out all the methods, for the conditions under which the trapper in the South makes his largest catches would probably be of little to the trapper of the Far North, where snow covers the ground the greater part of year. Conditions along the Atlantic are different than the Pacific, and the methods used by thousands of trappers along the Mississippi and its tributaries differ from those used by Eastern or Western Coast trappers, for the mink's food is not the same along fresh inland waters as the coast or salt water. The methods published are from all of the country, and many experienced trappers tell of their best methods, so that it makes no difference in what part of you live, something will be found of to trap in your section. Most of the articles are taken from those published in the H-T-T with slight correction."''

References

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External links

Internet Archive – Mink Trapping by A. R. Harding, scanned imageProject Gutenberg – Mink Trapping by Arthur Robert Harding, free eBookAmazon.com – Mink Trapping by A. R. Harding, various editions
Animal trapping Fur trade Hunting 1906 non-fiction books