Not again.... I am so sick of frigging mink!

[syoungs]

I've got some duke doles traps I could send your way later this week.

[Smossy]

Ed. I got a few traps u can borrow if we can meet up somehow. I live in yelm and work in seatac. I got 8 orn so colony traps for mink and muskrat if u have any water by the house. + a few other trap door traps.
Don't think ill be doing much trapping this year.

[lokidog]

Thanks Guys. I will get in touch with you both, I'd like to saturate the island with traps.

So, I went out before bed last night and my small trap was dragged about four feet and the chicken head I was using for bait was pulled halfway out the side, I guess it was close enough for the turd to reach through.   

I woke up a bit ago and couldn't get back to sleep, so I figured I'd check out the traps...  got the little (*&%*&$#* !!

 

It looks like a small female, I'll see after I whack it later.

[Old Dog]

I feel your pain.  I had a family of raccoon hit me about a year ago.  I lost over 50 chukar in one night!  The carnage was unbelievable. 

[jackmaster]

A cheap rat trap , like the regular old over sized mouse trap and a wooden box with a hole big enough for the rascal to get In will work fine, I think they cost about 3 dollars each

[lokidog]

A cheap rat trap , like the regular old over sized mouse trap and a wooden box with a hole big enough for the rascal to get In will work fine, I think they cost about 3 dollars each

Some of the mink out here are way too big for a rat trap.  We have mixed stock of wild/native mink and fur farm mink (from way back when) which are a lot larger. But, I might try a couple.

Has anyone had any luck using a scent lure for mink?

[BOWHUNTER45]

The best bait is before your eyes ,,,That really stinks ..Doubt I would be worrying about how I was going to kill them ...That's your dinner they are killing ...

[wolftrapper]

Once you get a mink, cut out the anal glands and put them in a small bottle.  To attract  mink, just take a small twig and stir the contents, and place the twig where the mink has to be caught getting to it.  Add glands to the bottle with each catch.

In forty years of trapping in Alaska, this is all I ever needed.

Good luck!

[seth30]

I have a raccoon trap you can borrow

[lokidog]

The only good mink is one that looks like this... 18 inches nose to tail tip.

[WapitiTalk1]

Loki, I haven't trapped for many, many years (mink used to be one of my favorite critters to trap in NW MT).  They are generally not a furbearer that is easy to bait into a trap.  Are there streams by your place (a pond will work well also)? My all time favorite set was to find a water covered shelf on a stream (just covered with an inch to two of water).  I'd wade in the steam in my hip waders, wearing rubber gloves (mink have good noses and do not like human scent in the least), I'd place a foothold trap (probably illegal nowadays in WA so check what is legal to use here) under water on the shallow bench with a 4 foot piece of wire attached to the trap, and the long end of the wire staked to the bank.  This is a drown set.  The mink would get caught and start fighting and once they were off the shelf, the weight of the trap would pull down and drown the mink.  Bait?  I only used Hawbaker's #1 Mink Scent.  Just dip a dry stick in it and shove it into, up underneath, the bank the shelf borders (if there is an old muskrat den/hole, that's a plus... I'd put the scent stick back in there a bit with a tuft of dry grass in the hole).  Mink love running the banks of streams/ponds looking for food.  At any rate, good luck on your trapping adventures!   

[lokidog]

Thanks Phantom, we are stuck with live traps.     There are no streams, but the island is surrounded be "bank".  We see tracks on the beach all the time, especially at low tide.  I'll be working the driftwood piles and there is one marshy area that has lots of trails in the grass around it.

I have a bottle of Hawbaker's #1 in my cart on another site.   

[WapitiTalk1]

Thanks Phantom, we are stuck with live traps.     There are no streams, but the island is surrounded be "bank".  We see tracks on the beach all the time, especially at low tide.  I'll be working the driftwood piles and there is one marshy area that has lots of trails in the grass around it.

I have a bottle of Hawbaker's #1 in my cart on another site.   

Ya, just ran through the trapping regs real quick.. Wow.  I'm sure trappers that have been in the game more recent than I will chime in but I'd recommend attempting eliminate as much human scent as possible from the box/live traps (boiling in a big old tub perhaps), handle them with clean rubber gloves, and yep... put a stick with the Hawbakers on it back in the trap, covered by a bit of dry grass or moss. Good luck and please keep us informed of your trapping adventures! 

[h2ofowlr]

Do they just kill to kill?  Surprised they just don't grab one.

[lokidog]

Do they just kill to kill?  Surprised they just don't grab one.

YES!     It wouldn't be so bad if they would just take one down.  The last episode was 16 in one night and before that was 14 young ones.