Unwelcome Pond Visitor removal advice.

[Jeff]

I knew whenI built this pond in the middle of basically wilderness, and put fish in it I would have to find ways to defend it. So far it has been air attacks by Herons and King fishers. Dye in the pond fends off the diving birds,  and a line of knee high cotton string with martigras beads attached  thwarted the waders.

Now the attacker is coming from land with submersible capabilities. HE HAS TO GO. Any trapping tips?

[SawyerTed]

A 12 gauge trap with #4 steel shot will remove that visitor.

[YellowHammer]

He's a little cutie!  

[GAB]

Jeff:
If Robert thinks he is a little cutie maybe you should rehome him or her as the case may be.
GAB

[aigheadish]

It is cute but look at him, he's friendly enough to let you get close enough to shoot it. I'd worry about their smarts and ability to destroy a lot of stuff and eat a lot. You dog may make a nice snack out of it too... How about snapping turtles trained only to go after the mink (Is that what it is? Muskrat?)?

[Tom K]

Mink can be tricky to trap. They roam wide areas and don't regularly use the same trails or go to the same places consistently. If he is coming in through the same trail regularly you can blind set the trail with a #1 long spring trap, or a 110 conibear. Your best bet would probably be to make a baited box set. Use some scrap wood to make a 4 sided box or cubby. Either use it as a pass through with bait in the center and a trap at each end, or block one end. I build the box sized to use a 110 at the entrance with a notch in the sides for the spring. If you set it next to the pond you could also use a foot hold at the entrance with a drowning rig into the pond. Use a fish based bait, canned tuna or mackerel work, the stinkier the better. If you catch it live they are mean, and they stink.

[Peter Drouin]

How much can one eat?
When putting food out, fish or whatever the wildlife will come.
So you either stop putting food out or more food. 
Killing everything you don't like at the dinner table is not good. With food out, they will keep coming.
Or till you kill them all.

Wildlife always gets the short end of the stick.
I have a big heart for wildlife as you can tell.
At my place, they all eat.
Sometimes when I go out the wildlife is there waiting for me.
Like the cfarm, when he yells the deer come running.
I wish you luck Jeff, to find a way where all the wildlife doesn't have to die to keep your fish.

[Peter Drouin]

Maybe you can catch them and send them to YH. He has more fish than he wants. 10 or so should do it.

[TreefarmerNN]

I didn't realize a mink looks so much like an otter.  If it was an otter, I'd say just let it be as they typically move on rather than staying in one place. 

I don't know about a mink, never have seen one here.

[WV Sawmiller]

Jeff,

  What kind of fish did you stock in the pond? Sorry if I missed that on an earlier post. How many fish can a mink eat? Can he really make an impact on the overall population?

    They often steal my bait since I use small live bream for bait on my set hooks and I once rescued a 3 lb channel cat a very large mink had just pulled up on the bank. It was still flopping when I got there. I  have more problems with otters as they eat my big fish but I write it off as the price I have to pay to fish where I do.

  If the mink is not causing too much damage I just enjoy having him there.

[Jeff]

Hybrid Bluegills and some largemouth bass. He may be hunting frogs. There is no end to the frogs. I can tell you that my neighbor that has the pond on the corner, that has been there 40 years thinks its bad. That is honestly what I have to go by, but come to think of it, I think he might of voted for Biden.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I guess that means any solution will have to be eco-friendly, organic and carbon negative. You better check to see if the mink speaks Spanish and if so it may just be simpler to move and let him have the place.

    Good luck.

[YellowHammer]

That mink would have to be a lot bigger and meaner to eat my hybrid bream.  I once saw the bream eat a cow that had fallen into the pond before the cow finished mowing.  (Mooing?) 

[TreefarmerNN]

That mink would have to be a lot bigger and meaner to eat my hybrid bream.  I once saw the bream eat a cow that had fallen into the pond before the cow finished mowing.  (Mooing?)

They must have cross bred those bream with piranha!

[Jeff]

So, I found this den about 50 yards from the pond. I'll put a camera on it. The hole I estimate 5-6" diameter, with a goodly amount of soil removed, dug into the hill so water doesnt go in it. 

[WV Sawmiller]

   I wonder if mink dig their own dens or just take over one from a muskrat or other critter? They live in the rocks on our local lakes and rivers but there are plenty of washouts and such for them there. 

   Good luck getting another video of him.

[Jeff]

Both I think. This is new, I traverse past that spot at least weekly, and where it is, that excavation sticks right out.