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Post by BK on Mar 19, 2006 18:16:17 GMT -6
This could be interesting to see that the group thinks, by all means add to the list if you like.
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Post by 17HMR on Mar 19, 2006 18:52:56 GMT -6
Im shouldnt have voted but I did, chose poor locations, I tried for most of three weeks with out any sucess this year and after reading Falers book last week I belive I was trapping where the mink didnt want to go.
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Post by NEPISIGUIT on Mar 19, 2006 19:13:48 GMT -6
Too many changes in water fluctiations this year. Especially early when i wanter to trap for them.
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Post by oldmink on Mar 19, 2006 19:40:30 GMT -6
The biggest shortcoming is a cross between poor set location and not knowing about mink and/or their habits. Too many trappers approach mink trapping like they do canines, attempting to catch them where they want to thinking their bait or lure is going to draw the mink. Well that may work in a very very few select locations where mink are thicker than fleas on a cur's back but for most of us the little critters aren't that plentiful.
The biggest shortcoming I see is with guys attempting to longline mink with their jumping out of their vehicles everytime they pass over water and plastering that water with 4 or 6 sets and think they got the angles covered. Perhaps if they walked downstream or upstream a few hundred yards they would find a location that jumps right out and grabs you by the eyeball. I'm thinking in terms of a logjam, maybe hung up into a deep pool. If you know mink and their habits you might well know that any mink using that creek, irregardless of which side the mink is traveling is going to stop and investigate this minky supermarket for food and cover. But alas most mink trappers are like state troopers, of no earthly value 25 feet away from the highway or their vehicles and these set locations are left by the wayside so the misguided guy can hurry on to the next creek and slap in some more sets.
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Post by DaveLyons on Mar 19, 2006 19:47:04 GMT -6
water access
There is lots of good mink waters here but the darn state doesn't let the roads go across the water like they do down state. And you have to drive a little ways back into the woods to hit public access on the water.
Dave
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Post by dj88ryr on Mar 19, 2006 20:22:14 GMT -6
Hmmmm, seemed pretty straight foward to me, and that would be number one. You can't have much success trapping where they ain't.
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Post by BenAround on Mar 19, 2006 21:48:18 GMT -6
Where's the all of the above choice? Ben
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Post by BK on Mar 20, 2006 5:31:14 GMT -6
Ben, my first thought was the single most shortcoming, but perhaps it would be best one could list several. I'll see if I can get one of the moderators to change the poll.
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Post by trappnman on Mar 20, 2006 6:54:46 GMT -6
my vote would be for one you didn't list- not understanding mink.
If you understand mink- all the rest falls into place.
Now- for the mink trappers that don't understand mink- I would think they would have several shortcomings- including watershed and location problems, poor sets and lack of management.
Polls on Probards are limited to 1 answer..sorry
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Post by dj88ryr on Mar 20, 2006 7:31:51 GMT -6
For someone changing geographic locations it gets a little tricky too. Until you understand the LOCAL mink habits, and habitat, it will be hit and miss. I would still be experimenting if the Lion hadn't taken me along on his line with him.
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Post by trappnman on Mar 20, 2006 9:24:26 GMT -6
its often said that a coyote is a coyote..and I think that applies more so to mink than anything.
Once you undrstand mink- or at least get a good working knowledge of mink- you should be able to go anywhere and if there are mink present, you should be spot on.
all conjecture of course.
I do have lots of varied mink spots- from the slow warm creeks in the plains areas to the fast cold brooks. In addition, as we all know streams can change dramactically in a year. Many times- I'll come back and there will be a different channel for the creek- and where I set last year, might be 50-60 feet away from the creek this year. So its always different.
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Post by dj88ryr on Mar 20, 2006 9:37:36 GMT -6
I am talking about the difference between our mountain streams and the farmland streams is the difference between no mink and abundance of mink.
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Post by 17HMR on Mar 20, 2006 9:43:33 GMT -6
Tman, in a post above you say "lack of management", care to say more on this? Im as green as can be on mink and water trapping and would like to know all I can on water trapping management.
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Post by trappnman on Mar 20, 2006 10:29:08 GMT -6
Dj- that was my point- I HAVE mountain streams (kinda) and also flat plains streams. No matter what the number of mink there, I trap the same. Perhaps not as many traps per location- but same principles and same thought processes.
Management- to put it concisely- have your traps where the mink will be when you are trapping them. LOL- doesn't help much?
I feel that whatever animal you are trapping- be it gophers or coyotes, that the more information you have both in research and in personal observation, the better off you will be. If you are trapping coyotes oy uthink like a coyote, and if trapping mink you need to think like a mink.
For example- pick any stream you have. WHY would mink be there? Food and Shelter? Or travelling by?
I have creeks that have little food value, yet they still produce mink. Not a lot, but one here, one there. Other streams have what the mink want all year. When conditions change- usually ice and snow when talking mink, you need to know how that effects the habitat and the streams.
On some streams 2 traps are too many, on others 15 is about right. Knowing where to concentrate, knowing when and how to bait lure (depending on weather conditions, etc), knowing when to stay and when to go- are all learned factors.
mink are, at least to me, the hardest animal to casually trap. I could go out and set 10 coyote traps, and know that I'll have at least 1 coyote in the morning more times than not. Can't do that with mink.
You are on their schedule and not yours.
Now- areas that have large concentrations of mink, take less management and it becomes more production trapping.
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Post by primetime on Mar 20, 2006 11:06:41 GMT -6
I voted for sets not in place long enough.
I'm guessing I could have added 5 - 6 mink to my total if I would have waited them out just a few more weeks. These were on areas I came back to weeks later to see fresh tracks in areas I had sets. I set them back up and never seen any fresh sign. I missed the "DAY" he came through. Most Mink tracks I found late in the season where there and gone all in a few minutes. Traveling a long ways. I would cut a track on a creek in fresh snow and follow it say 100 yards. Drive up stream a 1/4 mile or so and walk down to the creek and find the track again and follow it another 100 yards. And I'm guessing he didn't stop there. So I had one opportunity and I blew it by not having traps ready. And like I said I would then set up hoping for him to come back, and didn't see it happen in the next month at least.
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Post by dj88ryr on Mar 20, 2006 11:31:14 GMT -6
T-Man, I guess we are talking the same thing but different.. ;D
In my mink trapping here, I see little if any sign. The mountain streams had shelter, food, and just looked minky to me, there is the same habitat at both locations, except the farmland streams are in the bottoms of the valleys.
When the Lion went with me, I showed him where I was planning to set traps for mink, he said....Don't bother....I did....he was right, no mink at all, even over time. Moved to the farmland streams....BINGO. The only thing I found in abundance on those mountain streams were coon.
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Post by trappnman on Mar 20, 2006 11:47:04 GMT -6
fast streams going through rocks often have little food value in the fall- I thinks thats the key.
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Post by BenAround on Mar 20, 2006 12:44:47 GMT -6
Tman - that was my thought when i wanted to say "all the above"--each of the listed shortcomings could -be the most important--as habit and region- and considering time and weather -could alter or change any of the above --as to how important they really are during you season----but this is just a southern opinion Ben
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Post by seldom on Mar 20, 2006 16:12:04 GMT -6
I voted for poor set location, which really covers two, of what I feel are the most problematic factors for folks trapping mink.
One has already been mentioned and that does not understand the animal, specifically, as it relates to the trappers chosen territory.
The second has to do with not being prudent or accomplished observers. Simply meaning, we look a lot but don’t see. Many trappers (talking mink now) truly THINK they’re being very observant but have never thought beyond the obvious to find out! Many “cookie-cut” trap and think they are seeing what somebody has told them things should LOOK like.
IMHO, few people are born natural observers; most of us have to spend a lifetime learning how to do it!
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Post by BK on Mar 20, 2006 17:20:37 GMT -6
OldMink brings up an interesting point in regard to areas mink care to spend considerable time. For example, I've seen sets in excellent locations that were off quite a bit in placement of the trap yet they connected only because the mink was so busy there he finally took that route.
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