Big Buck Mink's Diet

[markymark]

I was going through my mink records for the year and took note that I caught bigger and only bucks further away from the shoreline later in the season. The closer I got towards the water the more females and smaller mink I picked up. I went a step further and checked out the contents in there digestinal systems. None of the larger males had any fish in them that were taken further away from the water. Some had mice, chipmunks, rabbit but no sign of fish scales. Some of the droppings I came across that were further away from the bank didn't have any fish scales in them. The ones that were found closer to the waters edge most contain fish scales.

Are some of the larger males primadonna's that don't like to get there feet wet? Do they want a bloodier diet? Now grant you I had an unusual winter, plenty of rain to kick off the season, then a cold snap but not much snow on average and then a warming trend. It wasn't like they had to fight a deep snow. I understand that some never even set a trap 2-3 feet from waters edge.

Should one have a few sets further up on the bank as standard?

[bobwendt]

I don`t fancy myself a mink trapper, but used to get 25-30 a year in canine sets and accidental catches in rat sets ,when we use to have rats. also tracked quite a few in the snow for fun, over the years. I`ve caught many big bucks in canine dirtholes far far from the nearest water, like a mile. always big boers, never a kitten or female. also noted tracking biggies in the snow that they were heck on songbirds, mice and rabbits. twice have caught big bucks and a mature cottontail at the same time in 220`s and twice in 110`s dragging the rabbit into an underweater rat den. just observations of a non mink trapper, but a guy that keeps his eyes peeled at all times and keeps a large memory file of observations of all potential trapping related opportunities.

[trappnman]

Mink are going to be like any other predator- and take what is easy. Its long been know by mink guys that mink in general and males in particular spend a lot of time hunting away from water in the brush and fields.

Bigger mink feel safer further from the water, IMO, and with the weather conditions you have, there is no doubt they can make a good living hunting the land and with less work.

What exactly is the most popular food of course varies. I'd have to guess on their "off season" diet- but common sense tells us its going to be hatch lings, small mammals, frogs, etc.

When they work the water, the two most common things I see are fur and crayfish parts, depending on the water. In the big marshes during warm water, its many time all crayfish parts. Along the creeks, its more fur.

On my creeks, most of them, the bank animals most common are shrews, then mice. I believe simply by availability, these are the most prevalent sources of food for the bulk of my mink.

Fish are also an important food source- but the "soft" fish in my area, trout and chubs, break down very easily, and sign in scat is hard to see.

Each creek is different as to what the primary sources of food are.

Males vs females. If, IMNSHO, you trap mink by putting in a few traps for a week, then moving on, your % of males to females will be more on the female side and YOY. The reasons for this are simple, females and YOY are usually still in loose family groups in early mink trapping and they also have smaller defined territories.

You move a lot of traps around, and you are going to be setting up on those small family groups.

Now- if you set up and play the waiting game, you get a much higher % of males. I've often had 85% of better big males in Dec-Feb mink trapping. And the reason is just that with the wandering of the males, with the large non water terrain they roam in, you need to wait for the mink to come to you.

So if you set up, take a female and a few YOY, you have cleaned out that pocket. Now- any mink coming through- will be big males.

Regarding setting on land. Thats entirely up to you, your weather patterns and your check laws. If trapping in no snow and above freezing conditions, land sets can be good producers. But they also bring in other factors of keeping land sets open in freezing conditions and snow. It doesn't take much snow to bury traps under a couple feet of snow. Flat fields and banked creeks...

With cold weather- the freezing of the seeps, small ponds, little marshes and big marshes.....with snow covering the ground, the mink are going to come back to the creeks. And it doesn't matter if they are hunting the grassy snow covered banks, or the bottom edges or the water line....they are predictable and over a season, will be caught. If open water is available, mink are going to use it at some point.

The snow and ice push those land working males into where it now becomes easiest to make a living, into the water.

It all comes down to what it always does- you need to understand your area, your conditions, to determine what works best for you.

[mustelameister]

There was an older fella who made his own lures here in Wisconsin, I believe his name was Don Seymour, from Arlington area if memory serves correctly. We chatted about upland mink one time at a Wisconsin trappers convention, and he talked me into buying a bottle of his bobcat gland lure, specifically for mink.

I used that bottle for two seasons, sparingly, at dirt hole sets that were at junctions of drainage ditches and woods, rock walls and woods, and on trails through marshes. Simply took a rerod, banged it in for maybe a foot, rotated it enough to bore out a three-inch hole or so, and set the trap up tight to the hole, with crumpled wax paper for a pan cover, and slightly covered. Didn't get into the snow end of things with the set however.

Scored many (relative term here, caution!) mink, most all male if I recall correctly, and an occasional grey fox.

The next year and since then I've stuck to playing in the water and haven't returned to dryland sets since. However, that bobcat gland lure continues to stick in my mind and I guess I just haven't taken the time to apply it to the waterline.

[cowman]

don seymor used to make a fine packbasket too, and some good trap black. about 1980 or before i think.

[fishadict]

"Should one have a few sets further up on the bank as standard?"

I keep my traps in the water most of the time, because it allows me to take advantage of extended checks. However, mink run the tops of the banks on the streams I trap and if I know I will not be out of town, I will set for them. Setting the sides or tops of banks is also a real advantage on streams that are prone to flooding. Blind sets and pockets will be out of commission frequently on these streams, while bank sets and bottom edge sets will keep on ticking.

As Steve points out above, if you stick it out on a stream, your catch will be heavy on the males - greater range = greater opportunity to encounter your traps.

fa

[bobwendt]

a now deceased trapper, herbert harris from cambridge city indiana had a super mink set he made where creeks flowed thru hard grazed short short grass pastures, places with essentially no habitatat and the mink just passed thru to the next area as fast as they could travel. he caught maybe 95% bucks and the odd fox and coyote in this set. just a blind set in the cow trail at the top on the outside bank of a curve , where the cow trail ran right next to the steep cut bank. I`ve taken many a cat or other furbearer in this set also. peat moss the sets in good and the colder and worse the weather and the later in the year, the better the catch. the snow usually blows off these areas also

[BK]

I'm glad no one has brought up the virtues of the Bottom Edge set here. ;D
I'm not awake enough yet to help pose a good defence for it.