ideas on mink trapping

[Murf]

Owwwww, good point. 

Thanks fer dat one.   :D

[inspectorwoody]

I think ya'll will get a kick out of this.... ;)

Yesterday my girlfriend and I were on our way to her place. I passed an intersection and noticed a long fury lil' creature in the middle of the road and it appeared to be alive so I turned around to investigate. Indeed it was alive and appeared to be hangin' out in the road. One car stopped just before it, waiting for it to move and when it didn't move they just straddled it. By this time I could see it was a mink and didn't care to see it get smashed so on went the gloves and out the car I went. He seemed weak or injured but when I picked him up he came alive!  :D I got him to the ditch and let him go but not before he had his way with my hand!  :D Thank goodness for gloves. Fiesty lil' booger!  ;D

Never have trapped but have always been interested in it. I like to hunt and fish. Maybe ya'll could pass on some tips for a beginner.

Gadget

[asy]

WHat for trap them, if they just come out onto the road and sit waiting for you to catch them...?

Very convenient!

asy :D

[farmerdoug]

I can tell you the first rule in trapping mink. ;D

Never pickup a live mink. :D

Farmerdoug

[Part_Timer]

I don't think that will be to much of a problem.  Could you imagine him coming to in side the cab of the truck.

Season starts in a week.  I ordered some new snare making material and a few fix it parts for some conibears.  The kids hulled some walnuts last week and we have the traps died. 

Fox and coyote season is in now and I saw a grey run in the fence row last night on the way to work.  I'm gona see if Taylor can't get him this week.  I'll keep ya updated.

[Burlkraft]

Is she gonna drown it with her Super Soaker  ???  ???  :D   :D   :D

[Tom]

what's coyote taste like?  ;D

[Paul_H]

Chicken

[Kevin]

what's coyote taste like?

...Bald Eagle.

[Jeff]

They must taste good to ravens. A flock of ravens led me to this rather gruesome site when I was bear hunting.  They weren't trapped. They were shot, skinned and then dumped back in the boonies. Not far enough as I still found them.

[asy]

What are they? I assume coyotes by the thread, but just wanted to check.

Is this sort of thing legal?

asy :D

[Jeff]

Yea, they're yotes, and no, dumping the carcases on public land (or any land other then a landfill) is not legal.

[asy]

Can the carcases not be used for something? Maybe dog food or such???

Is it legal to shoot them? If not, how would they get rid of them, as I can see taking an illegally shot animal to landfill might pose a problem... I guess they could bury them?

asy :D

[Jeff]

It is legal to hunt and shoot them. They are a real problem in a lot of areas.

[SwampDonkey]

Those mink are sometimes quite brave. We were fishing in an area that was about as far away from civilization as you could get in any direction. We had walked for hours it seemed up over a hill then came down through a boulder field following the path of deer to the far end of a small lake. At that place were some springs coming out of the woods edge into the lake, the water was cold there. There was also one of those floating mossy islands and in under the shade of that were brook trout up to 5 lbs in size. Anyway I was fishing away and had caught 5 or 6 trout that I strung up and laid on the shore. I went back to fishing and I here this animal making grunting noises. I turned and there is a mink at my string of trout. I grabbed a stick of driftwood and threw it at the varmet and he fled, but not before he sunk his nasty teeth into one of my trout.  >:( I think the biggest trout I brought from there was 20 inches.    I was sure glad to see the truck though, that was too much like working.  My poor old grandfather in his 80's out there fishing with me. :D

[Burlkraft]

Come on SD he just wanted to help you share the wealth.... ;D ;D

[Kevin]

asy;
Coyotes are so full of a variety of disease you wouldn't want anything domestic to eat them.

[Part_Timer]

OH come on Kevin you know a good helping of grits will kill them diseases.

[SwampDonkey]

I go through a loaf of corn bread, with raspberries baked into it, every other day. I wonder if that will help? I bet it tastes a lot better. ;D

[Part_Timer]

Man oh man that sounds good.  Katie wants a recipe.  Now I have to go find some breakfast and fast, 

I've never had a mink try to take my fish before but I've  had a moose hunting outfitter try to steal my sausage at breakfast before. I threw a wet boot at him.

[farmerdoug]

PT

A friend of mine that is a long time trapper and use to be a fur buyer told me a thing or two to tell you.

He said mink are a curious critter.  They will check every hole and hiddy spot alot a ditch or stream they across.  But they have a large territory so they will be through only once every week or two.  He likes to target mink with hole sets dug at water level in ditches.  A little lure scent or bait will help but will also attract coon etc.  Culverts are good too if the water is not too deep.  If the ditch or strem is small and shallow you can narrow it up a bit and make a runwat set also.  I hope this helps a little.  Mink can be hard to target and most are incidental catches when trapping other furbearers.

Farmerdoug

[Burlkraft]

Hey Tom.....

Don't cha know that they sell them minks at the store already skinned  ???  ???   smiley_gorgeous

[Fla._Deadheader]

Forgot about it, but, I know of an excellent trapping forum, if yer interested. These guys are SERIOUS.  ;) ;D ;D

[Part_Timer]

Farmer Doug  Thanks I'll give it a try.  I also found a trapping site where tehy showed a 110 in each end of a plastic pipe set along the bank with a bunch of stuff thrown over it to help make it look more natural.  Tell your friend I said thanks for the help.  The kids are so fired up this will be a blast.  I can't wait for one of them to fall head first in the ditch.   Rights of passage and all.   :D

FDH  I'll take all the help we can get.  I need to get up in the loft and get my fleshing board out.  I found a couple of good sites.  One of them is mostly snaring and there are some of the coolest pics of a guy that traps wolves in AK.  The only problem I've found with most of the sites is they don't compress their pics like we do and man is it SLLLLOOOOOWWWW.  I surf them mostly at work.  Full T-1 line. 8) 8) 8)

Burlkraft.     smiley_horserider smiley_horserider smiley_horserider

[SwampDonkey]

The kids are so fired up this will be a blast.  I can't wait for one of them to fall head first in the ditch.   Rights of passage and all.   :D

: : Reminds me of when my brother and I got our first fishing poles from grandpa for our birthdays. Our birthdays are 1 week apart. Anyhow, we went up to a small brook with a deep hole where the brook passed under a bridge to the other side of the road, it gouged out a hole. I was sitten on the side of the road and it was gravelly. My brother walked in front of me where I was fishing and...  : my foot slipped in the gravel and  : out into the brook he went landing on his back first. Of all the cursing and blat'n and splash'n to get out of  : 3 feet of water. My dad laughed so hard I thought he'd have a coronary. Still laughs when I bring it up.  ;D