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Mink?
Sept 16, 2007 17:36:02 GMT -6
Post by Mike Prust on Sept 16, 2007 17:36:02 GMT -6
Last couple days, I have been scouting some of the creeks I will be trapping. Some are completely dry and many others are in different stages of low to, no water. Will mink still run these dry creek beds? What are some of you mink'ers thoughts. Mike!
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Mink?
Sept 16, 2007 18:14:16 GMT -6
Post by livefreeordie on Sept 16, 2007 18:14:16 GMT -6
Are there any other waters nearby? Will the fall rains bring water back to these creeks? Lots of variables, I would still set them, unless there are bigger waters nearby that still have water in them.
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Mink?
Sept 16, 2007 18:21:53 GMT -6
Post by walkercoonhunter(Aaron L.) on Sept 16, 2007 18:21:53 GMT -6
i for 1 here in pa think the mink are still hunting the dry swamps and stuff here in pa when our season opens..late november...sure mink will be round water but i dont think they concentrate on them till later say mid december or so....i would like to think the concentration of the mink are at waters edge but i for 1 dont believe they are....but im no expert
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Mink?
Sept 17, 2007 7:16:00 GMT -6
Post by trappnman on Sept 17, 2007 7:16:00 GMT -6
dry runs and washes would produce some mink if the prey is there, but I'd hate to run a line set up like that- I don't think you'd get enough mink to matter.
Not that they don't hunt dry land, away from water but there is no concentration of mink.
Water does that.
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Mink?
Sept 17, 2007 16:28:28 GMT -6
Post by furman on Sept 17, 2007 16:28:28 GMT -6
Here’s a question –Do mink population goes up and down with the water meaning if you have a dry year you will have low numbers on mink?
With the way I trap I don’t bother with the mink if there no water so my mink catch kind of follows low to high water. I haven’t figured a good dry land mink set that I can do mink in numbers.
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Mink?
Sept 17, 2007 16:36:37 GMT -6
Post by livefreeordie on Sept 17, 2007 16:36:37 GMT -6
I haven’t figured a good dry land mink set that I can do mink in numbers. That makes two of us, I either go where there is water, or catch them as incidentals while trapping rats. I do set the high banks when there is water, and do take mink in them, but again, this is when there is water, and prey, which I believe is the draw.
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Mink?
Sept 18, 2007 19:04:52 GMT -6
Post by Freak( Jim V.) on Sept 18, 2007 19:04:52 GMT -6
Have to agree to a point with Walker , at least here. I always seem to take buck mink away from the water when dry coon trapping ditches and such , more females and juveniles early on the water and as season progresses more bucks. Just a little thought from years past. All this freakin talk of mink makes me want to catch some this year.
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Mink?
Sept 18, 2007 19:24:55 GMT -6
Post by livefreeordie on Sept 18, 2007 19:24:55 GMT -6
I catch more females early on too, in comparison to later in the season, but this I believe is just because males are on the move, and looking for where the females are....in the water.
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Mink?
Sept 18, 2007 19:43:43 GMT -6
Post by NittanyLion on Sept 18, 2007 19:43:43 GMT -6
I don't think the males bother looking for the females during the mink season in PA, the season usually ends before the middle of January. I think the males (older) are hunting mostly on land until freeze up. After freeze up I think the prey has mostly disappeared on land the the males start hunting in the water. I am pretty much a water trapper, but Hern is more of a land trapper. I think I could learn a lot from Hern. I trap the water because I need water to drown the mink, I have a hard time convincing myself to set footholds on land is situations where I cannot drown mink. In PA it is not legal to set bodygrips outside the water course.
Mike, IMHO I think you will still find mink in those dry runs providing there is cover and food there. The food source would most likely be different if it were dry. Instead of minnows, frogs, crayfish, and other aquatic critters the dry ditch may have mice, moles, rabbits,and other land critters.
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Mink?
Sept 18, 2007 19:56:53 GMT -6
Post by livefreeordie on Sept 18, 2007 19:56:53 GMT -6
After freeze up I think the prey has mostly disappeared on land the the males start hunting in the water. This is another strong possibility, but I thought males started looking for females a little while before they actually started breeding them, but in either case, once the air gets real nippy and stays there, usually around the third week of December, I start catching more males in the water.
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Mink?
Sept 18, 2007 20:01:28 GMT -6
Post by trappnman on Sept 18, 2007 20:01:28 GMT -6
Wayne- I find that the advance of male mink to the water in big numbers, to be more of a factor of the snow cover, not the season. I think NL summed it up.
My point isn't that you can't catch mink on land- but you just aren't going to have enough concentration in one spot (with rare exceptions i'd guess- to make it worthwhile running a line for mink only.
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Mink?
Sept 18, 2007 20:06:16 GMT -6
Post by livefreeordie on Sept 18, 2007 20:06:16 GMT -6
Wayne- I find that the advance of male mink to the water in big numbers, to be more of a factor of the snow cover, not the season. I think NL summed it up. My point isn't that you can't catch mink on land- but you just aren't going to have enough concentration in one spot (with rare exceptions i'd guess- to make it worthwhile running a line for mink only. That all makes sense to me, but a lot of times, here in Pennsyltucky, we don't have snow on the ground by then anyway, maybe it IS just the forage is easier to come by in the water then?? I agree, the only reason I set the high banks is to counter the flooding that is sure to come, that way, I have at least some sets working. But away from water totally, I don't think many guys could set and catch enough mink consistently, to make it worthwhile.
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Mink?
Sept 19, 2007 4:43:30 GMT -6
Post by Mike Prust on Sept 19, 2007 4:43:30 GMT -6
Early in the year we had about normal water levels with enough rain to keep it stable for a while. With this in mind, could the females have succesfully raised their young before the drought dryed up these streams, and now have a higher concentration of mink on the remaining waterways?
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Mink?
Sept 19, 2007 6:20:57 GMT -6
Post by trappnman on Sept 19, 2007 6:20:57 GMT -6
all conjecture...but..
I wouldn't thnk that the number of females raising litters would have changed. My guess would be that if a significant number of streams have dried up, the remaining would have more mink on them.
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Mink?
Sept 19, 2007 7:17:12 GMT -6
Post by livefreeordie on Sept 19, 2007 7:17:12 GMT -6
all conjecture...but.. I wouldn't thnk that the number of females raising litters would have changed. My guess would be that if a significant number of streams have dried up, the remaining would have more mink on them. THAT was my original point, I doubt they will wait for rain to come to fill the stream back up, they would just migrate to bigger water, if there is any, and thus concentrate the population.
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Mink?
Sept 19, 2007 12:00:50 GMT -6
Post by bobm on Sept 19, 2007 12:00:50 GMT -6
Though I'm not a big numbers mink trapper (21 is my tops for a season), my best year was after a dry summer where all of the creeks dryed up and then we had a wet November. I caught those 21 in not too many sets in a fairly small area of about 10 square miles.
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Mink?
Sept 19, 2007 13:27:42 GMT -6
Post by markymark on Sept 19, 2007 13:27:42 GMT -6
Work the bank higher starting mid jan and you'll be surprised him many bucks don't like to get there feet wet. I am basically going to stop going in the water this year. Make a few of those pipe sets, they love em as much as mice like cheese.
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Mink?
Sept 19, 2007 13:34:00 GMT -6
Post by SteveCraig on Sept 19, 2007 13:34:00 GMT -6
"I am basically going to stop going in the water this year."
Me too Marky.
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Mink?
Sept 19, 2007 15:55:19 GMT -6
Post by trappnman on Sept 19, 2007 15:55:19 GMT -6
good luck- me, I'll stay in the water or the waters edge-
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Mink?
Sept 19, 2007 15:57:35 GMT -6
Post by livefreeordie on Sept 19, 2007 15:57:35 GMT -6
good luck- me, I'll stay in the water or the waters edge- Me too.....had to have picked up 1 or 2 things in 41 years... ;D
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