Mink Cubbies, do they work?

[Drew]

i just got permission to trap a small creek, and the water is very shallow 1' and under...it is froze up now.
my question, i followed a minks tracks along the bank where he hunted and checked every nook and hole looking for food.

Do cubbies for mink work? I was thinking of making up some wood ones..and using the 110's i have laying around.

I can't just set coni's in the trails, as there are dogs that run the property.

thanks for any help...-Drew

[dj88ryr]

They do work, I just think that certain mink won't use them, but they are a useful tool, and it seems like you may be limited in your tactics there.

Is there a bank where you could dig some pockets?

[Drew]

DJ...i am limited, the banks have a real flat slope to them so no bank to speak of.

I have a couple of pocket sets in at tree root locations...although they are dryland pockets along the edge of the ice.

It's a tough area to set...or maybe i'm making it harder to set, LOL.

[dj88ryr]

Those root systems should produce for you, and by all means, use a couple boxes to see if they will go in. One of the Canadian trappers I think Gibb, uses boxes with decent success. Maybe he can be of some help.

[thebeav2]

They work In Canada In fact the mink will climb the trees to get in the marten boxes. But I have had little or no luck In the lower 48 with them.

Gary

[primetime]

For what it's worth. I had a frozen area set up a few weeks ago in hopes of getting some coon. (It was to cold, and no coon moved, no tracks in snow) Anyway I had some square buckets out baited with Muskrat along the bank for the coon. I placed the 220 in the bucket with the triggers on the bottom and also started the triggers so it was a hair trigger. 3 days later I had a mink in that set. Now I also partially covered the Muskrat carcass with leaves just to change things up a bit and that was the bucket that connected. Coincidence? Maybe, but I'll be trying it again that's for sure. We had snow, so the white bucket may have blended in with the snow - thus giving the Mink a little more confidence. Who knows, but it worked for me.

[foxtrapperwoman]

My 2nd year trapping I set a 110 in front of a natural cubby. I put some fishy bait inside. The problem is it was so frozen up I couldn't stabalize the 110 right. A mink fired the trap and left me some tail fur, then later the trap was fired again. I think I may try a wood mink box though. Maybe cover it with leaves and stuff to look natural.

Has anyone made a mink box like a weasel box, only bigger and with say a #3 or #4 inside?

[trappnman]

I've had little success with making and using mink cubbies also. I made tunnels, I made round ones (after reading in FFG about artificial muskrat houses), I made natural ones...and did very poorly on them. Granted- that was back when the season ended 12-31, and I have heard such boxes work better later in the year.

personally- I wouldn't worry much about dogs and 110s.

never, while we are at it- had much luck setting single sets of wandering mink tracks. On some creeks, I'll play at it- but they never seem to go the same way twice. Now some locations- specific ones- might be and will be used repeatedly. That is- if a mink enters the water, he'll most likely hunt the same banks, same areas, same underwater points- but on land, I find its more random than many books would lead you to believe.

If snow conditions are right- and you have stable snow- setting mink tunnels is as productive as any mink trapping can be. Those high banks that fill in with 4-6 feet of packed snow, grassy areas, log jams, etc...mink actually live beneathe the snow and, IMNSHO, come "above ground" rarely. A 110 placed carefully just at the entrance.... deadly. But be prepared to take mink and trap home with you.

Unfortunately, these tunnels are like hens teeth......

[rk660]

Ive never done very well on them either, I have wondered if using a hardware cloth pan or one of the commercial clip on types would help them out. I have had a lot of sucess with 220 w/ hardware cloth pans on blind sets for mink though. I use them on small 8-12" wide streams that they tear up the location when using a foot trap.

[primetime]

My other .02 cents...

I think Mink Cubbies work better on cricks or waterways that are froze and that don't have open waterways for miles. And that also have grassy banks and grassy areas nearby to keep the Mink around and provide them food to survive.

The area I talked about above is one such location. It is an A+ Mink habitat 9 months out of the year. I mean an excellent location, but come December it freezes almost solid. A few little areas will open up off and on. This area doesn't have an streams with open water for 3 miles or more. Because of this, I think the Mink stay put and hunt the above water muskrat entrances along with the grass for mice. Meals are a little harder to come by, so they will take about anything.

Now compare that two another location I trap. If area A freezes up the mink move down stream a few hundred yards or a 1/4 mile and they have open water again and easier hunting. They can afford to shy away from a free meal if something doesn't feel right. And also a lot of there hunting may and does take place underwater and they never see your cubby.

On this frozen area I talked about. It's nothing to walk it and see a few different sets of Mink Tracks. I've just always figured mink run the banks and edges, and Mink tracks could be seen along any waterway. Well I headed out to an open stream this weekend expecting to see Mink Tracks. I didn't. Is it because there are not any Mink?? Could be but I doubt it. It's because they don't spend there time on the banks, but in the water and under cuts in those locations. Thus making cubbies not as affective.

[trappnman]

when I tried the cubbies- it was on frozen creeks, which is why I was usung them.

If I have open water....

in any case- I hear those newspaper tubes work good for 110s- I'm thinking a man looking around might find a few on his way to work or after his neighbors go to bed....

One thing to keep in mind Mike, and I don't say this to minimize your observations- anything is possible in trapping. Anything. There is always that farmer that caught a coyote with a longspring wired to the haybine.....

[CoonDuke]

A local trapper does pretty well here with a rock cubby, baited with a trout, and guarded with a 1 1/2 coil. Don't know of too many PA guys using 110s at cubbies though.

[foxtrapperwoman]

As minkduke says- rock cubbies with a 1.5 ( or an 11 which also works if the spot of approach is tight). I have caught mink at these, it is easy. Wide open hole with fishy smell coming out.

I can't wait to go set some traps for mink! Waiting for deer season to end this saturday , then out I go to 1 spot in PA( the place were the mink toilet rock is!), then the 15th the season comes in in MD.

[trappnman]

exactly how many mink have you caught at these that you can classify it "as easy"??

[dj88ryr]

I find it easier to just dig a pocket, if you know mink habits and have mink on your stream, you can get real close with a pocket, I haven't known many mink to pass up a hole.

[dabrock]

While we are talking mink, I just got in from running my land traps, while out I checked out a beaver
pond that I will trap when our season comes in,latewr this month. I'm new at beaver trapping as well as mink. While scouting the popnd I found a snall trail coming out of open water and proceeding up and over a small overflow in the beaver dam, will mink use these type trails and overflows?

[trappnman]

put a 110 in that trail. Chances are you'll catch a couple rats and perhaps a mink. Usually those rails over the crossovers are made by rats...

[thebeav2]

I think It boils down to this,cubbies made out of rocks or wood or some type of tile all catch a few mink but aren't high production mink sets. Same with exposed body grips. Anyway they aren't In my neck of the woods.

Gary

[Drew]

i'm not after numbers in this spot...i'm gonna make a wood cubby, and a natural one and see if either connect along with a few tree root pocket sets..Until we get a warm stretch of weather.

[musher]

As Beav said, they work here. Catching a mink in a marten cubby is not unusual. They run up the pole. I place marten cubbies near streams and catch mink in them.

I prefer 120's because they hold better in the box and a fisher might happen by.