Rethinking my minking,.................

[BK]

That's interesting stuff Seldom, the mink I take close to home here are considerably larger than the ones I take 60 miles North of here by my cabin.
If I go another 40 miles North from there they seem a little smaller yet.
Another thing I see that I can't explain is these Northern mink often have shorter legs.
I've proved this to my self different times when I spread them out on the back of the truck.
I think there is little doubt that a big buck mink's weight can change a lot if he just got done eating all the muskrat he can hold.

[seldom]

Interestingly BK, Very, very few of the mink (both sexes) had any remnants of muskrat in their stomachs. All had fish and field voles and mice though, fish being predominate by a wide margin. The stomach contents were very closely analyzed since this project had to to with the effects of dioxins in the food web.

[Steve Gappa]

Its an interesting question as to do mink consume a large number of rats.

I remember you mentioning this study and you sent me info- but I can't remember- did the area have a lot of easily catchable rats?

I see several things here.

1) mink and rats go together. Not to say I don't catch mink on streams without rats- but I can't think of any "good" stream for me on mink, that doesn't have a lot of rats.

Part of it is good habitat of course- what attracts rats- grasses, burrows, deep water- attracts other critters.

So are mink there because of the rats- or both living high?

The way that mink eat trapped rats- indicated that perhaps there wasn't a lot of rats in the area, because you should have been catching them and a % should have been eaten in the trap.

A full grown rat I believe would be a good match for a mink. I don't know how much they prey on full grown rats, but I'm guessing immature rats are high on the list.

I had one odd thing this year. Found a dead rat floating next to a set- fresh- with a couple of bite marks on the chest, neck. Looked mink sized to me, so it at least happens a little.

I do see here that mice and shrews along with fish re the main meals.

I think thats one reason unbaited pockets are good mink sets- shrews, mice, wood rats fall, jump into water, and gravitate to these calm, hidden areas. Mink know that at thats why they hunt the waterline.

[trappnman]

steph- it wasn't a giant mink- I get a fair amount of males that size.

Just over 30 inches at base of tail on stretcher.

No, I'm not into weighing things. Never was. Even fish, but I do like to measure trout-

Weigh a big coon or coyote once in a while, and weighed yotes that one year for the coyote study.

[BK]

Most of the stomach content I see here is aquatic, I used muskrat as an example as the ones I catch that are really stuffed
often have muskrat in them,...... once in a while it's rabbit or duck.

An exception might be when a pond is freezing out and there are lots of sick or slow fish or minnows that have found some open water to suck air, they stuff themselves there too.

Years back I saw many more frogs in their guts, but hey I don't see that many frogs anymore.

[NittanyLion]

Hey Steph, was that the road kill you posted on another site?

This year I was asked by a college professor at Susquehanna University to save all my mink carcasses for him. He is doing a study on the stomach contents. He promised me a copy of the report when finished. When I receive that I will do a post about the study.

[seldom]

Hi Steve,

I remember you mentioning this study and you sent me info- but I can't remember- did the area have a lot of easily catchable rats?

All of the watersheds had rats with some holding more then others. The last stretch of river I trapped on first check of 44 bottom edge sets held 28 rats and 4 mink.

1) mink and rats go together. Not to say I don't catch mink on streams without rats- but I can't think of any "good" stream for me on mink, that doesn't have a lot of rats.

Because of various water level fluctuations and soils some areas within stretches of river bank had great rat habitat where others for hundreds of yards was void of it. Regardless, good rat habitat is also good mink habitat for similar reasons. We did Habitat Suitability Indexing (overhead cover & prey cover) every 500m of all the rivers (40 some miles) I trapped (where we had permission) and it proves itself. All trapping was done on private property so I setup where I had permission with a possible bottom edge location not necessarily where I would've liked to. In most cases though, property owners were very good to deal with.

So are mink there because of the rats- or both living high?

Strictly my opinion is that it has to do with the time of year. I started with the regular season which is early November. No snow cover, no ice yet, things are just brown. There's no need to work too hard to get a meal. Mice, shrews, and voles are seen literally everywhere along the banks where there's adequate habitat. Every root ball in the water has schools of lake perch and gizzard shad holding in the eddies. Many, many times I'd swing over the gunwale of the boat and wade into an eddy looking for a bottom edge location and the fish would swarm out of the water and ground themselves a couple of dozen at a time.

The way that mink eat trapped rats- indicated that perhaps there wasn't a lot of rats in the area, because you should have been catching them and a % should have been eaten in the trap.

The university's Animal Advisory Committee only allowed me to use the bottom edge set with 110's for the project. I never have had a mink take a rat out of a submerged 110.

[Jeffrey]

Those are huge mink, I catch 4 and 5 lb rats, and I've never weighed the few mink I've caught, but they were never that big. I would think if I had mink that big I would catch a few beaver trapping in 330's but I never have. I think I missed one last week, because when I opened the hole it smelled real minky and the trap was set off but no mink. You people keep showing off these huge critters and now I want to try and catch one that big.

[NittanyLion]

I was re-reading a magazine the other day and came across a mink trapping article. The author was along on a friends trapline and they were at a location where the trapper had a bridge wall set up with a 1 1/2 coil. He told the author of the article that he had not caught a mink there but was sure there were mink going under the bridge. The author told him he should use a #1 longspring as the coil had to much tension for the light footed mink since the current of the water was semi fast. He had the trapper make another set with a coil spring and the author made a set between the two 1 1/2 coil spring traps. He told the trapper that he should get any mink that were caught in the longspring. A couple of weeks later the trapper shows up at the authors door with 3 mink that were caught in the longspring while none were caught in the coilsprings. I thought that was interesting.

[trappnman]

that is interesting, but.....

since the coilsprings were in place too- was the new set the better location?

I do like the 1.5 ls and #2 dls though- top notch mink trap.

Last year lost mink because I used a bunch of 1.75s that were simply too stout. This year, handpicked the 1.75s I used, and saw a difference in # of mink in them.

I'll tell you honestly Jim- I had a ton of #1 ls- because that is what we used in the marshes and most of the ones I had were dads- as most of my 1.5 ls.

I've lost a lot of mink our of them over the years in the type of trapping situations I have. Too light, too easily tangled up.

With good current, and 100% non entanglement possibilities, then yeah..

but generally.....no.

and really, a #1 ls properly adjusted with a strong spring- should be about the same tension level as any 1.5.

Secret is- always have the free edge of the pan towards the bank.

[BK]

I'm not real sure about that Steve,...........I honestly believe as far as foot traps go the 1/12 LS is the best bet for MINK.
Now notice I didn't say a mink line where you're trying to hold coon too.
That 1 1/2 LS is a heavy cumbersome trap for a mink to fight, and the pan drops like a ton of bricks, no screws or pinching to hold it up,........... it just falls.
I get tremendous holds with it so high on the leg there is little chance to fight it.

[Steve Gappa]

whos disagreeing? LOL

My first choice for mink is a #2 dls. 2nd is a 1.5 ls. And both are dandy rat traps.

But far last, is a#1 ls

in any case, I feel the tension on my traps- be it 1.5 coil or 1.5 ls- is the same.

[foxtrapperwoman]

30 inches to the butt on that mink, steve? Wow, that IS a big boy!

Regarding mink stomach contents, my last 1 had something in it so I opened it up and it was all fish parts. Hunting the underwater holes for fish no doubt, not muskrats- or maybe looking for both.

I finally caught a rat there today, in a 330 LOL, the one the otter was in yesterday.

[trappnman]

Steph- my adult males are just about all from 25- 30 inches at base of tail.

[NittanyLion]

FTWBS......... I suppose you need a big trap to catch those giant muskrats.

[musher]

Since a 1.5 l.s. and a #2 dls are basically the same trap what difference do you see between them?

The #2 is more stable in my opinion. It is also heavier. I also find that 1.5's don't close as fast. Sometimes they "lock up" and don't close unless that spring is cocked hard to the side.

I remember reading a thread about those ankle worms. It listed a few web sites that showed a similar parasite that affected humans. It was rather nasty.

[trappnman]

I agree with your thoughts on the #2 dls.

You can poke 2 sticks into the bank a couple of inches below the surface, and slide the trap on them- makes a good stable shelf setup.

[mustelameister]

. . . and an inch below these two, dead center between the two, you can shove another stick into the bank, that will reside below the trap, that has a spike on the end that protrudes above the water's surface, that if you set a baited small pipe onto, will cause the 'coon to step onto the pan to reach the pipe . . .

One of my favorite sets on banks with trails close to the water but is immediately deep. I use #3 longsprings.

Cabled to a drowner system.

[Steve Gappa]

innovative set

[trappnman]

here you go steph- 3 30 inch horse males