Mink Trapping an area "back"

[blackhammer]

I think this may apply to just about all the fur bearers out there.I do believe you certainly wouldn't go back and trap an area again unless it was very good the first time around.The second time through an extended check would be in order.I think your male theory probably holds through but I find sometimes later when the weather gets nasty you will pick up young females which make up the smallest portion of a trapper's catch usually.I think these little females are very much like weasels and light footed and easy to miss and will be around and probably hungry the second time through.Know a guy who one Dec took some pocket poppers and put them in pockets other trappers had made in the fall,it was too froze to dig and did well on mink.But of course you have got to be in good mink country.In the ditch country you trap Nick winter shuts you down so solid with ice but also ditches filling with snow you would need a mild winter who go through again I think.I run enough spring fed trout streams to make it work.But at the price of mink and gas it's hard to justify.I think going back and setting later is a great way to pick up more coon as they fill in an area that's been trapped more than most people think and to a certain extent rats do also.If you have good habitat a guy shouldn't be afraid to go in a place that has been trapped as he will still be able to catch a good amount of fur.

[musher]

Nick: Love your posts. A thinking trapper is a really serious predator and you ARE a thinking trapper.

An addition to Nick's query: would harvesting those critters affect the next years catch?

Since I trap registered lines, I have the opportunity for "testing." Way back when, I had a small line of 27 sq. km's. It was a line you won year by year by lottery. In other words, if you came out in the lottery you hit it HARD because next year you might not get it. I got it three years in a row. (This type of registered trap line line no longer exists here.)

Since mink were about $100 a piece at the time I caught 13 the first year. Year two I caught 10. Year three = three. I think that I trapped them out.

When I started on a line I still trap it was the same type of thing. If you leave good mink location sets out for a long period of time (2.5 months) you put a good dent in the population.

[Gibb]

I think you better off hitting an area hard, rather then coming back around.
My experience is that if you saturate an area you clean out the resident females them the local males then the transient males. For the most part you are talking low percentage harvest with a lot of traps over a wide area.
I think you would better off hitting new ground, run 3 or 4 lines.
More critical would be the time within your season that the mink are at their best. Mink are the fastest to prime but also the first to go off. Late season mink are not worth as much.
Jim

[marbleyez2001]

Nick,

Just Do it! You know the answer already. Those early winter prime yealing males are the cream of the crop. Fully prime, perfect leather, and on the prowl.

The advantage of this system is that you trap 3 totoaly different lines for a week each, and then go back and set them all up on an extended check the 4th week if the weather holds. No looking for set locations, no pockets to dig into frreezing soil, no new areas to learn. Just traps in, mink out. You've taken most of the coon out, as there are very little coon in your areas, so its all mink, mink, mink.

If you trap areas hard for mink year in and year out like this you will hurt the populations.

[rk660]

it had better be dam good the first trip thru, to justify a second trip thru

[marbleyez2001]

Jul 23, 2010 17:41:11 GMT -6 Nick C said:

Locations that are hit or miss, in my opinion could be related to if there happened to be a litter close by.

I think there are also better locations on bigger streams, or more dispersal route type locations that are indeed mink slaying locations, year in and year out, as no matter where the litters were raised, this is the main drag, where I-80 meets I-29, if you will, where everybody moving is passing by if they're headed anywhere.

Nick, You ask sooo many of the right questions, I love it!

Look at those two statements together. Where are the majority of mink litters raised?

[blackhammer]

I don't think in a good area mink population is effected by trapping over the long term.But it takes a while for others to filter in.I'm sure mink are hurt by distemper just like coon and suspect that is why you see an area go real dead.

[calvin]

I ran a short mink line over a small area last year just before freezup. This area was hit earlier by someone else (I could see pocket remnants). I don't know how long he/she was there but I was hopeful of the same outcome you are hoping for when coming back to a good area. I was surprised at how little I caught. I would have guessed more travelers would have filled in. It didn't happen on this stretch of small river/tributary streams. I let them sit for about 6 days...dead.

[trappnman]

yearling males are ther cream of the crop?

not for me- I'll take adult males every day over yearlings

what a concept- that rather than run and gun- mink can be taken for months at the same location.

wonder if anyone traps that way............?

[seldom]

Jul 24, 2010 6:01:19 GMT -6 trappnman said:

yearling males are ther cream of the crop?

not for me- I'll take adult males every day over yearlings

what a concept- that rather than run and gun- mink can be taken for months at the same location.

wonder if anyone traps that way............?

No time to write this morning, maybe later since this ground has been plowed before.

[trappnman]

Adult males are what are going to be the travelers-

my cousin, who was taught mink trapping by the same that taught me, swears that in 2 weeks, he can take every mink there- and I don't disbelieve this for a second.

and if I had a limited time to trap, I'd run and gun as well. (assuming you are "only one" out there, otherwise running and gunning is worthless if all areas are hit hard during the same period)

I do feel, that in normal conditions, you can indeed take just about all the mink that are using that stream/area at that time. Esp the females YOY and that includes males. Or am I misunderstanding you? to me yearlings are that years crop- thus my slight disagreement, but if by yearlings you mean the previous years young, then sure, because I only grade males by size, not teeth (if such is possible?) so adults are anything adult size- and I can tell a difference in girth, etc in YOY males.

I believe 100%, that the good habitat areas, and by good I mean 1) escape cover 2) nesting cover and 3) FOOD- get filled in. Look at stream trout fishing- if you catch 12" trout behind a certian rock- come back in a week or so, and there will be another 12" trout there- in this case, because the largest fish that particular piece of habitat can support, will be taken over by that size fish. doesn't the same apply to most if not all predators?

I've run mink all ways, using about all methods- all work, depending on your motives and conditions.

If I wanted to run mink 100%- as in your case nick- I'd run and gun as hard as I could on as much area as I could, noting those locations that are good producers, or have the potential for such in late season. Then, if you have time to go back, surely do so, but this time, you are going to have to play the waiting game. You have taken the cream of the crop, so they aren't going to come as easily- but they will come. You will also, if on good rat territories, be surprised at how the rats fill in an area as well.

[blackhammer]

All you really need to know about mink trapping in numbers is in Gerald's book or Bud Hall's.The rest is about going out and doing it and the more experience you get and the more areas you are familiar with the better.
You will get paid more for the real big bucks usually.

[trappnman]

I deleted a post, because I'm tired of all good threads turning into pissing matches,

It was asked if it was worth returning- I stated it was, and why... If you cannot accept that, I don't care-

if you don't get more money for the big males, thats not my fault, thats where you are selling.

I posted, for those that skim, -

I do feel, that in normal conditions, you can indeed take just about all the mink that are using that stream/area at that time.

and if I had a limited time to trap, I'd run and gun as well

If I wanted to run mink 100%- as in your case nick- I'd run and gun as hard as I could on as much area as I could, noting those locations that are good producers, or have the potential for such in late season. Then, if you have time to go back, surely do so,

then I also said: believe 100%, that the good habitat areas, and by good I mean 1) escape cover 2) nesting cover and 3) FOOD- get filled in.

and

You have taken the cream of the crop, so they aren't going to come as easily- but they will come.

now- if you disagree on any of that, then we can discussion- but leave the other crap out-

[BK]

Our season opens way too early for mink here in Wisc.
I don't even want any mink that early,but there are boys out there after them right off the bat.
I often use their stakes after they give up, perhaps because of ice or they have used up their vacation?
This is about the same time the males show up that I like to see.

[lumberjack]

Anyplace I have ever went back to was worse than when I was originally there. Dont matter be it coon, fox, mink, or muskrat. I wold rather have half of my traps in a new place rather than all of them in prior ground.

[blackhammer]

Trapping an area back seems like a money losing a proposition on mink unless for some reason your going close to or through the area your resetting anyway.If you were just trying to achieve numbers and had little fresh ground to set it would be better than not trapping mink and in better mink country get some more mink to add to the pile.Fur prices would probably dictate trapping anywhere harder or again.I know I reset some spots on rats this past year and it was worthwhile.

[trappnman]

you could look at it like this- I trap water now after every serious mink trapper around has hit every bridge and put in 100s of pockets. I in effect. "come back"- and take 80-100 mink in a normal year off those same locations .

[RdFx]

10-4 Steve, same here

[Gibb]

Nick, how long do you run your mink sets before moving?

[Gibb]

Do you check everyday or every 2 days, also do you start your next line as soon as you have laid out the first line?
Maybe just extend the time to 10 days, I would think you would need time to clean out the coon and rats.
How many sets per stop and number per line?
Jim