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Mink
Dec 3, 2007 18:51:42 GMT -6
Post by NittanyLion on Dec 3, 2007 18:51:42 GMT -6
Question for the minkers that frequent this board. It seems to me that most critters on this planet are not very active on a very windy night, yet it seems to me I've read in method books or articles in the various trapping publications that mink are on the move very much on a windy night. What has been your experience. The weather conditions in my area are calling for constant wind tonight with the temperature a bit below freezing. The wind is expected to be from25-40 MPH. Will I need 2 trucks tomorrow, or should I stay in bed?
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Mink
Dec 3, 2007 19:10:40 GMT -6
Post by trappnman on Dec 3, 2007 19:10:40 GMT -6
I know a good snow helps- had a nice run today, with the other loop to check tomorrow.
I think wind does turn mink on some. I think that any change, gets mink moving. I've always thought its because they usually feed everyday, and the more windy, rainy, etc the night, the more they need to move.
I'd say- you will have a bigger than normal catch tomorrow.
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Mink
Dec 3, 2007 20:10:54 GMT -6
Post by Bob Jameson on Dec 3, 2007 20:10:54 GMT -6
I have some of my best runs on mink with foul weather including high gusty nites. Never can tell for sure at times.
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Post by coonhangman1 on Dec 3, 2007 20:14:04 GMT -6
Not near the caliber of minkers a lot of you guys are, but have found to connect on mink on crappy nights as well. Drizzle and windy combined.
Last season, it started drizzling one evening, and the family and I went out to eat and almost hit a mink on the road. I mentioned that it's good to see the mink moving so early, and had a nice buck mink the next morning in a set that already took a female early in the season.
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Mink
Dec 3, 2007 20:47:23 GMT -6
Post by NittanyLion on Dec 3, 2007 20:47:23 GMT -6
Thanks for the input. I will get out of bed, but limit myself to 1 truck. I'll let you know how do.
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Mink
Dec 3, 2007 20:48:07 GMT -6
Post by markymark on Dec 3, 2007 20:48:07 GMT -6
You need good eye appeal for them to hit a set.
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Mink
Dec 3, 2007 21:12:00 GMT -6
Post by lumberjack on Dec 3, 2007 21:12:00 GMT -6
I cant begin to tell you how many of those spring hole tunnels I set up a year but it is definitely hit or miss with them-more miss for me, maybe because I am using bodygrippers at them.. Cant imagine anything more inviting to a mink but I dont get real excited setting one up. The 2-3 days a year I get a run of 5-10 mink it seems the weather is just average. Blustery days when I think, "Wow, I will have a nice take today" I end up short most often. Flooding, when most sets are inoperable, are my best days.
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Mink
Dec 3, 2007 21:22:40 GMT -6
Post by trappnman on Dec 3, 2007 21:22:40 GMT -6
use footholds....
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Mink
Dec 4, 2007 9:52:29 GMT -6
Post by primetime on Dec 4, 2007 9:52:29 GMT -6
Snow, change in weather, all help that is for sure.
Example: I've had some sets in since water opener about 4 weeks ago. Some of these sets have set untouched since then. Not even a Muskrat. First check after snow. Two of these had Mink. Nothing else changed except we got snow. These locations have produced Mink every year, so I knew they were good locations. But the Mink were just not using the water yet.
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Mink
Dec 4, 2007 12:42:14 GMT -6
Post by bobwendt on Dec 4, 2007 12:42:14 GMT -6
I`m not a minker by any standards, as the most I ever caught in a season was 28. but I`m positive weather affects them not in the least. in fact the worse it is the more they travel. I`ve seen them working in gale force blizzards where their tracks blew in almost as fast as they moved.
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Mink
Dec 4, 2007 13:55:31 GMT -6
Post by livefreeordie on Dec 4, 2007 13:55:31 GMT -6
Your take will be totally dependent on how many Blue Bucket sets you have on your line, they will all be full as with the drop in temperature, the increased winds, and the green stuff as lure, the blue bucket will be the one variable that fills your pick up up with mink today.
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Mink
Dec 4, 2007 15:46:37 GMT -6
Post by walkercoonhunter(Aaron L.) on Dec 4, 2007 15:46:37 GMT -6
wayne now you know the blue buckets has caught on every where...so the minks are getting used to them......im already stocking up on the red firetrucks for next year....look out because i will be buying all i can at the yard sales this summer....but i think im gonna take it a step further and buy yellow tonka toys as well and see which one performs best round my lake area...... ;D ;D
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Mink
Dec 4, 2007 17:01:25 GMT -6
Post by NittanyLion on Dec 4, 2007 17:01:25 GMT -6
As I approached the fire truck set the lights were flashing and the siren shorted out my hearing aids. Much to my surprise the set nabbed a prime female mink, the total mink take today was only 2, so much for the wind theory. The wind blew all night and all day today, I think it is supposed to die off tonight. Maybe tomorrow will have a better yield.
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Mink
Dec 4, 2007 17:03:34 GMT -6
Post by livefreeordie on Dec 4, 2007 17:03:34 GMT -6
Lows of 18 tonight and tomorrow night too, hope you have a couple pockets stuffed up with muskrat carcasses.....
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Mink
Dec 4, 2007 17:07:27 GMT -6
Post by NittanyLion on Dec 4, 2007 17:07:27 GMT -6
Holy cow, the sets will be iced over.
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Mink
Dec 4, 2007 17:31:56 GMT -6
Post by livefreeordie on Dec 4, 2007 17:31:56 GMT -6
Some maybe, not all, I have seen your line....
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Mink
Dec 4, 2007 18:00:17 GMT -6
Post by jim on Dec 4, 2007 18:00:17 GMT -6
Lot to be said about the color blue, I know it isn't a mink . I know some think mink trapping is better when winter starts to set in however I have always said its like rifle deer season most are taken in the first few days of the season. I have reached the 100 mark only once (come close a few other times) have had several 12 to 14 first day checks and one year a first day check of 18(didn't get 100 that year)it drags into week 3 and week 4 and I can't find another mink. What is your experience N. L. ? Jim
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Mink
Dec 4, 2007 20:34:12 GMT -6
Post by NittanyLion on Dec 4, 2007 20:34:12 GMT -6
I run my mink line for 3 weeks. It takes me about 3-4 days to get it set up as I don't move as fast as I did when I was younger. It would take me 2 seasons plus to catch 100 mink. I do catch as many if not more the 3rd week as I do the first week. I usually lose 2-5 days to high water. I set up most of the same locations every year making almost the same exact sets at those locations. My trapline consists of what I call 4 sections. I don't know off the top of my head if I ever connected with a mink from each section on the same day, I suppose I did, but I can't say for sure. Something I did notice that happens frequently is days of multiple catches many times they all come from the same section. I have not figured that one out yet. Another thing that seems weird to me is one year the majority of the mink I catch are in pocket sets, the next year bridge abutment sets, and sometimes the majority are in blind sets and tunnel type sets. I haven't figured that one out yet. I do not keep records on which foot I catch them by, but on a normal year I would only catch 2 or 3 mink by the hind foot. This year I would say at least 15 of the mink I caught were by the hind foot. Every mink caught by the hind foot was in a pocket set, the mink I caught in blinds sets were all caught by the front foot. Granted, some of them were caught when the water level raised an inch or 2, but other years the water level may have raised an inch or 2 too. Some of the method books I have claim the mink does not enter the pocket, but just pokes it's head in. I think this would prove the mink are entering the pocket.
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Mink
Dec 4, 2007 20:53:25 GMT -6
Post by jim on Dec 4, 2007 20:53:25 GMT -6
It has been a very long time since I have made anything except a fish baited pocket set for a mink. I have trapped very little this year one week for coyote and one week for mink/coon. Out of twenty three mink this year I had four by both front feet, usually maybe one out of 75 by both front feet. Seems to me that a guy should get most of them by both front feet. Jim
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Mink
Dec 4, 2007 23:09:39 GMT -6
Post by mountainman on Dec 4, 2007 23:09:39 GMT -6
I believe its when a front comes through that puts them on a move. I'd like to have set on the nice sunny day before the rain came through. It would have been a good warm day to work in, easily see into the banks and maybe one of those times to catch a few. I'll wait a while so I can help while dad recovers from falling out of a tree stand. Give me the late season and plenty of good sets out before a storm.
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