catching mink

[johndeerejoe]

i look after a large garden for a chap we have a river running though the garden and i have seen several mink around i have been asked to deal with them i have heard of floating mink traps and was wondering the best way to catch the ******* any advice will be great

[JohnGalway]

I've not used a "mink raft" but they're meant to work well.

 

I've caught mink in the live catch cages. John West sardines in sunflower oil work well, open the can a tiny bit, dribble the oil from the back of the cage to the edge of the stream. Put a bit of the fish at the door, and a bit in the compartment behind the treadle. Wrap the cage in a black sack, cover with stones and branches, moss or something similar. Works for me.

 

Another trap, which kills them as soon as they enter it is the Kania 2000, meant to be very good. I've yet to get one but know guys who use them with good effect. Mind yer fingers

[Quist]

What you see on the rivers are usually rafts. They have a tunnel mounted over a clay pad. The pad records the footprints of any animal passing through like mink or otters. Its a way of recording presence and activity.

If you want to catch mink, you can use a live catch trap and bait the area near the treadle with something that will attract them like anchovies.

make sure you put it out of direct sun and check it twice a day. Don't set it if you can't check it. Its illegal to cause suffering even to a pest and the RSPCA would prosecute if they found evidence of suffering.

[Tommo]

Cage trap surounded by sand (cheaper than clay!) bit of fish in the trap (make sure cage is pegged down too as the little swines will drag it about setting it off/rolling it over and get the fish! (bit of pluck works too heart/liver)

 

Then all you need is a .410 / .22

 

T

[Bleeh]

Cage trap surounded by sand (cheaper than clay!) bit of fish in the trap (make sure cage is pegged down too as the little swines will drag it about setting it off/rolling it over and get the fish! (bit of pluck works too heart/liver)

 

Then all you need is a .410 / .22

 

T

 

Or a 12ft/lb air rifle.

[bullet boy]

A good airgun will do the job if all else fails.

[JohnGalway]

Forgot to say that Kippers make good bait too.

[hambone]

I use fenn traps in tunnels for the rats that come from nearby allotments backing onto a river. These traps have occasionaly caught mink and would prabably catch more if situated closer to the river.

[nipper]

When I set my cage traps ,I decide where the trap is going then make a flat base for it to sit on .The only thing different is that I put the bait (kippers sardines etc )actualy underneath the trap in a little hollow directly below the tredle plate .That way the mink has to mess about inside the trap to get the bait up and will def set the trap off. It also means that when you lift your trap ,you leave any old bait behind.

Just a slightly different way of doing the same thing !

 

While I am here !, I also have thick black plastic cut to the size of the traps and wrap it around them to make it look like a tunnel.That helps when you put grass earth etc on the trap as a disguise .

 

 

AND DEF PIN THEM DOWN !!!