mink advice please

[jason66]

Hello all, im new to shooting and hsve recently been asked to try and control mink mumbers on a local nature reserve, I understand all the safety aspects but wondered if any of you fellas havr any experience with mink ? Or any advice how to go about the job.., by the way I will be usund a 22 rimmy with mod. Thanks Jason

[andybrock]

Hello all, im new to shooting and hsve recently been asked to try and control mink mumbers on a local nature reserve, I understand all the safety aspects but wondered if any of you fellas havr any experience with mink ? Or any advice how to go about the job.., by the way I will be usund a 22 rimmy with mod. Thanks Jason

Put the gun away and get some traps down, cage traps and fenns in a tunnel are deadly you won't make much impact with a gun!

[matchking]

I have always found them easy to trap. Just whack a tin of tuna in a cage trap and put on the side of some water and bingo.

RGDS SEAN

P.S open the tin

[garyw]

as above -leave the gun at home-trapping is best -old chicken carcass works or tinned fish .

best of all though is a pack of mink hounds-ruthless!

[jason66]

Thanks, they have been cage trappimg for twrnty years and it has had no effect at all, the mink are very brave and just walk about in the open !!!its the "well known" bird charity and the mink have takrn a liking to mute swans!!

[jason66]

As the reserve is on a large river network I assume there will ne a large transient population ? Maybe constant trappin and shooting ? Are mink mainly active by night ? I seem to see plenty by day ? Apparently they are devastating to indig wildlife and ground nesting birds !!!

[happyhunter]

Trapping is the way forward as the lads above have suggested, they are very very easy to trap.

You could try sitting out over bait if you really wanted to shoot one but traps work 24/7.

[dylan5588]

Firstly as above I would work the area with suitable traps. either live capture or fenn types. But if it is your intention to shoot then this would be my approach. I would assume the reserve will be frequented by visitors during the day, also mink tend to be more active after dark, So, night time with preferably night vision would be the way to go. I would pre bait areas with some fish, stake it down to make the mink eat on the spot rather than carry it away, have a hide set up at a fairly close range, no further than 15 to 20 yards, also I would probably use cb long ammo although lr subs are ok, If you have a trail cam use it to find where and when the mink are most active.

hope this helps you, Aj

[gaz6br]

Yep trap them with a live cage trap placed near a stream, brook pond ect, normally set the trap and cover round with logs and seems to work

[22/250 foxer]

Bore hole into side of bank. Set traps. Splash some water up it to cover any scent you may have left. Mink see a hole and nine time out of ten they find it hard to resist a look

[gaz6br]

Bore hole into side of bank. Set traps. Splash some water up it to cover any scent you may have left. Mink see a hole and nine time out of ten they find it hard to resist a look

That's why I cover my traps with logs just looks like a tempting hole

[jason66]

Cheers guys advice much appreciated. Just out of interest have you seen a rise in mink population in the last decade or so ? Also is it legal to trap/shoot mink all yesr round ?

Thanks jason

[sonic]

this is a very good method http://www.gwct.org.uk/2013-Mink-Raft-Plans?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=adwordsminkraft.

Not knowing who has been trapping for years I would ask myself a few questions to see how their traps where set and in what number.

 

First how many traps per acre if there are a lot of mink you need lots of traps.

 

Where were the traps ;ie on the boundary in natural runs into and between parts of the reserve.

 

Basically if you get enough traps in the right places it will go a long way to thinning them out.

 

Approaching neighbors to see if you can put traps outside to stop them on the way in. The only limit is that you must be able to check/deal with every trap at least once every 24 hours.

[dylan5588]

The main thing is....do you have any traps? if not, then it is going to be a large initial outlay for you, especially if you are not getting paid for the work, as it sounds a large area, it is no good placing one or two, you will need to hit them hard and often, to make any inroads into the population. without knowing the full facts its hard to give you definitive advice, only a few things to consider.

Aj

[eldon]

Jason that will be an awkward area to resolve. Public access and bird spotters will be a real concern.

[jason66]

Absolutley eldon!! I think the unwriten rule is "the visitors dont want /need to know !! If you get my drift, I agree though shooting is seeming a bit futile to be honest, I think they really need a sustauned longterm trapping campaign run by people that know what they are doing, but thanks for the responses its much appreciated . Jasin

[button]

up here in the western isles we had a serious problem with mink,S.N.H spent 2 million pounds getting rid of the little b*********ds,they had half a dozen full time trappers for at least a couple of years,they used traps all the time and had some little bottle of mink musk or some thing like that,if you want pm me and i'll speak to one of the trappers and find out exactly the stuff and where to get it!!atb

[jason66]

Thanks for that sonic, great idea, I assume there considered an introduced vermin species and as such a legitamate year round species ?

[andybrock]

Thanks for that sonic, great idea, I assume there considered an introduced vermin species and as such a legitamate year round species ?

Yes legitimate all year.

[seprim]

I have always found them easy to trap. Just whack a tin of tuna in a cage trap and put on the side of some water and bingo.

RGDS SEAN

P.S open the tin

PS Open the tin <-- hahahaha

silly me

Andrew

[sonic]

Thanks for that sonic, great idea, I assume there considered an introduced vermin species and as such a legitamate year round species ?

No problem one of my neighbors (where I grew up) used to make a few quid from trapping mink.

My mate has a couple of traps on a stream where he keeps his logs seems to get one or two a month over the year.

 

The rafts work well to target the mink if you use the clay tray you can have a lot more rafts than traps putting a trap in when you know a mink has been on a raft.

As for the public using the rafts you simply tell them its a water vole monitoring station, if they ask the traps are for measuring purposes to check how many weight sex etc.

[jason66]

Again thanks Sonic, this is exactly the sort of stuff i was after, so muck knowledge on this forum by the way i used to kit all my bikes out with Hope tackle from Barnoldswick.

Jason

[Mr dippy]

Hi

You will need to supply a method statement and risk assessment for the monitoring trapping including precise dispatch procedures prior to starting any work to the charity, make sure they agree with the work and method

 

I use raft monitoring stations with a sand print tray or light clay to start or monitor, when you can confirm activity, install live catch traps whatever you do don't use mechanical or fenn traps In case you trap a water vole or a bird, that will cause a uproar if you catch and kill a non target species, a small opened up frozen trout as bait and if you can hang a couple of magpie feathers in the back of the trap as an attractant do so, but make sure you comply with the procedures of live trapping in all aspects, food and water and correct method of dispatch. Including the checking of the traps on a daily basis throughout the trapping process, make sure you record every visit, findings etc to answer any questions that may be asked

 

Good luck. - Patience is the key to trapping mink

 

 

MD

[eldon]

Jason do you know sherbie.............

[jason66]

No i dont know him mate ?

Jason