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Post by bballou on Jan 25, 2013 19:36:33 GMT -5
Every year I try to trap a few mink----- I think the mink is one of the most written about ---HOW TO CATCH --- animals we have---- boy there is a pile of books about how to catch them ------- for-sale today--- along with the Coyote and Fox---- BUT ---with all the books and how to methods today----I think the mink is the hardest to find in the field---and the most miss understood as to how to best catch them----because with each area THINGS CHANGE.---- Meaning the minks habbits----feeding---- home range---- and the amount that survive each year. .
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Post by jsevering on Jan 25, 2013 20:09:24 GMT -5
they are kinda funny bill... kind a like it when you scout the waters edge.... then cut the high bank back to the truck... the head scratching over the amount of sign at times just 20-25 feet off the water you see... in some of those high sandy banks... or the trails, snow tunnels off the end of some of those stone walls perpendicular to the brooks...
last year ed was logging with a friend for about a week middle of winter... snow was on pretty good... a real small tributary ran through the property they were logging... darn mink were all in the hemlock swamp on top at the head... hardly a track along the stream, past 100 feet from the swamp... think they were dining real fine on red squirrels, not many fish in that particular stream that high up.... little buggers can be head scrathers for sure...jim
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oldeman
Fulton Montgomery Fur Harvesters Ass.
Posts: 581
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Post by oldeman on Jan 25, 2013 20:33:46 GMT -5
There have been years when I think I caught more mink by accident in other sets than i did on purpose.
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Post by jsevering on Jan 25, 2013 21:11:10 GMT -5
think we all been there at one point or another and not only with mink...fun part is figuring out how to repeat the accident or pondering on that famous question... why... jim
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Post by bballou on Jan 25, 2013 21:21:03 GMT -5
Oldeman ---know what you are saying ----I have cough mink---10 and more feet up in downed trees---(in fisher sets)----some years it seams the mink are all in the woods----you have to do a bit of looking --- but when you find them---go to work---- you can get your share. The story Jim told about ED--- happens with mink quite often --- in my openion.
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Post by centro44 on Jan 25, 2013 22:53:36 GMT -5
in front of a beaver dam(old one) there was a patch of grass missing that represented a rat run......was only 3 feet long......had a friend that wanted to start trapping....was easiest place to deminstrate....through a 110 in it to show how to set up a rat run.....this seemed far from a rat run just a good example......left the set it for giggles.....week went by with nothing in it....thin layer of ice came.....picked up a male mink and next day a female......could just assume it was the easiest travel route......a set that seemed stupid picked up 2 mink.......bottom edge set and dam crossovers seem to do good for me
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Post by jsevering on Jan 26, 2013 6:45:41 GMT -5
the feeding part in your post bill sure rings a bell with habits.... or at least perverting them some... in so much that a steady food sources sure can localize the densities they can create.... pervert the written accepted social structure "gospel" some, that were all taught... dont think i ever read a paragraph in a book that really touched or went into that much... jim
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Post by bballou on Jan 26, 2013 7:51:20 GMT -5
JIM--- THE feeding thing can rely make you scratch your head----I have found mink in a deer yard feeding on squirrles and mice and (such early) ---then feed the rest of the winter on the dead deer. This is not 1 or2 mimk-----I have cough 8 to 10 off a deer yard and left seed. Eric your set discription----- says a lot---after a time you will realize---there is no such thing as a stupid set------ if you are catching fur. Hells ---Bells give me a bunch of stupid sets if they are catching me fur. Id love it.
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Post by chappy on Jan 26, 2013 7:57:30 GMT -5
It's an ever changing trap line.....that is why I love the mink. That ice on the above post was probably the key element that pushed those two mink through that run. The conditions on my line now are way different then they were two weeks ago. Nothing more magical on the line then standing in a half frozen stream with a light snow and pullin that mink up out the water.....little piece of heaven...boy am I simple man!!
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Post by mole on Jan 26, 2013 8:04:18 GMT -5
Remember a picture of EJ Dailey making a set . Said it was for coon, looked like it was on a Beech ridge. Seen mink up there hunting chipmunks.
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Post by bballou on Jan 26, 2013 14:32:32 GMT -5
ED---your post brought back memories-----(the beach ridge part) -----back a few years ago N.Y. had some rely nice beach trees----today I dont think there are near as many beach trees ----but if my memory is correct ---all kinds of mother natures kridders liked beach nuts---- (includeing me) and of course Mr Mink---- (one day) sitting on a ridge ---eating beach nuts---I started to notice mink in the leaves ---feeding on the big crop of beach nuts. The wheels started to turn----and through the years I have cough many mink when there was a good crop of nuts.-------If any of you have read the late BILL NELSONS writting on mink ---he made a statement that has haunted me for a lot of years---He said he belived there was a lot of mink ------that lived a full life and seldom got there feet wet. His statement has helped me catch mink----when they werent on the water. ----( sure makes ya think dont it. ??)
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tomsnare
It's a good time to be a trapper!
Posts: 514
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Post by tomsnare on Jan 26, 2013 16:07:01 GMT -5
The one thing I miss here are mink---------never caught 100,always seemed to be after other animals as well, I guess trapping one animal to the exclusion of others isn't the way I do stuff probably the best week I had was trapping beaver they were just there and we used a lot of bait and we were both working so time was short I guess you run harder if you're hungry.
One thing about the midwest that contributes to the high catch is the roads and the way the land is surveyed into neat squares-------not the indian trails in the east----Tom
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Post by jsevering on Jan 27, 2013 8:01:40 GMT -5
kinda related to the beech nut deal... if im remembering correctly didn't doug say he feed his farm mink, apples as a treat and they loved them... when i heard that the first time, it kinda struck me funny... thought he was playing with me some...... jim
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Post by jdpaint on Jan 27, 2013 8:28:31 GMT -5
Have a good bowhunting friend who told me he saw mink come thru his apple orchard twice while on stand, no water there either.
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Post by jsevering on Jan 27, 2013 9:45:04 GMT -5
quick story jd... my father use to have a hunting camp... before one of the guys died and they had to sell, to even up his share, with his wife...
nice wild apple orchard on the left hand side of camp... long L shaped stone wall around the apples ... 6 x 8 spring box near the top back wall, we use to keep left over minnows and crayfish in when we got done fishing... the closest real stream was well over 1000 feet away... and there was two of them one on the flat below and a trib further to the left off the hill... remember as a young kid my father taking a few mink off that spring box while deer hunting while he was at camp....
when you think about it the area offered a lot.... kinda like hitting the dry 12'' culverts in some of those mountain pastures, old farms with the high grass ditches that run past the ends of different stone walls while your fox or coyote trapping ... half the time there will be a trib there also that the farm roads and trail ditches cut... just another access travel route is all across the open when you think about it... jim
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Post by bballou on Jan 27, 2013 21:03:38 GMT -5
IN---- MY OPENION---Jim you jest gave one of the best lessons in mink trapping I ever saw on this site.
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Post by nightwish on Jan 28, 2013 1:49:34 GMT -5
There have been years when I think I caught more mink by accident in other sets than i did on purpose. Alan Claycomb - Creekboy, says he catches a lot in hay sets by accident. I have never caught a non- target mink in any set...
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Post by bballou on Jan 28, 2013 14:49:25 GMT -5
Nightwish----think you have an idea for another thread----- "accidental catches" Me I dont belive in 99 % + of the accidential catches----when you put lure ---bait----or set on location---you have a very good chance of catching---a great many other animals---- ( other than the target) ---people are always saying ---(FASTEN YOUR TRAP FOR THE BIGGEST ANIMAL IN THE AREA)---SO I ASSUME ---others feel the same way. Ought to be intresting ----at the LEAST.
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Post by jsevering on Jan 28, 2013 17:37:52 GMT -5
don't really think allen thinks their accidental either bill, other than they accidentally beat the fox to his set... think he's a pretty smart man myself.
don't know if you read the hay set thread bill... but he likes to bait his hay with crumpled doritos's scattered just outside and threw out the hay bedding ... know he had mentioned tonquin as a lure in one of his post and sets a good percentage of his sets along water courses to include the narrow dry land crosses from one tributary to another, quite the few of his pictures he posted would be in range of bank running mink close to or near a pinch point... gotta say don't think those mink caught in his hay set are to awful accidental myself... jim
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Post by mole on Jan 28, 2013 17:59:50 GMT -5
Tonquin being mentioned, is there anything that does not show interest in its odor?
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Post by jsevering on Jan 28, 2013 18:18:57 GMT -5
you know i never really heard it put that way ed ... good question... jim
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Post by bballou on Jan 28, 2013 22:00:29 GMT -5
Jim --havent read the thread---your description--leaves little dout---about accidents.---ED --Jim is right---never heard it put quite that way------My answer has to be a big ----NO----Have you tryed Graws tonquin yet
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Post by nyerluvs2trap on Jan 29, 2013 0:56:53 GMT -5
Jim S / Austin p / Bill B Do you or anyone else know of a NY trapper that has passed the 200 mark on Mink in 1 season?
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Post by jsevering on Jan 29, 2013 6:29:53 GMT -5
i dont know of anyone frenchie... but i dont know the end numbers either... cause i never asked... but think if two hundred was broken... i might of heard something about it... sorry not much help... jim
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Post by scott on Jan 29, 2013 6:53:15 GMT -5
"Mac, NY and PA have way more licensed trappers AND milder weather than Maine. Catch #s aren't reflective of population #s... Alaska has more mink than any several other states combined, but that doesn't mean a guy can catch 1,000 mink per season there." At that risk of being considered argumentative, I understand that catch number may not be the absolute end all as to reflection of numbers, but can you offer up any more scientific means to measure catch numbers? I am not a scientist, biologist or wild life expert, or trapper with a bunch of books and or DVDs to my name. I am just a dub trapper that has been beating around the game for well over forty years. It would seem logical on most every level that catch numbers would in deed be a good indicator to most obseverers, or common folks. Thank you for your insight. Mac
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