mink trapping

Eddie B

minktrapper wrote: »

Maybe you are getting on too of them.

I think to get on top of mink, you have to trap all year round. I only trap each location for a couple of weeks each winter, so doubt it. More likely, someone else is trapping the rivers I trapped

minktrapper

Eddie B wrote: »

I think to get on top of mink, you have to trap all year round. I only trap each location for a couple of weeks each winter, so doubt it. More likely, someone else is trapping the rivers I trapped

Fairly sure someone is trapping my river too. The more the better.

minktrapper

Thought I had the demons banished from the river. Caught two more this week.
I wonder would thermal be any good for spotting mink on the river during the winter when all the foliage would be gone.

minktrapper

Any mink been caught this time of year.

Eddie B

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118185797#Comment_118185797

I tried my local river a few weeks ago. Got nothing only rats. Even had a couple of trail cams out, and not a mink to be seen. Weather is very mild so far this year. Gonna try a different river next week hopefully

minktrapper

Good sigh that there is no mink around when there are rats there. Hopefully it will stay that way.

Eddie B

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118187754#Comment_118187754

Thing is, rats do a lot of damage to ground nesting birds too

Birdnuts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118185797#Comment_118185797

Talking to a guy who does it 2day between Celbridge and Palmerstown on the Liffey and nearby tribs - got nearly 50 already this year!!

JP22

Lots of mink on some parts of the Liffey, other parts have relatively few of them.

Like any wild animal, I guess its down to habitat and the availability and ease of food.

I know a chap who has caught plenty of them on the Liffey, well done to him.

minktrapper

Any of ye try a mink raft for trapping mink.

minktrapper

Or try walking the river bank with a torch at night.

Eddie B

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119843523#Comment_119843523

I made a smaller version of a raft, with a mesh Tunnel, and a Fenn mk6 in it. It worked. They work well in slow moving rivers, and probably a good choice where there are marten in the area

minktrapper

Prime Time tonight with politicians having their say on the environment. No mention about mink. Or the €20 bounty that was suggested. The sooner that is introduced the better.

dmakc

Spotted a mink on the road near me the other day. Another neighbour said he saw a nest of them. What would be the basics A-Z in going about trapping them? No idea how many are around. There are foxes, badgers, rabbits, hare and a few hedgehogs around the area so equally would like to avoid accidentally harming these.

greasepalm

I have been following The Mink Man on YouTube as he is training his Minx for rat colony removal along with dogs.

Farmers and others plagued by rats now have a solution when 120 - 500 in 1 day is insane.

Eddie B

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120776239#Comment_120776239

Cage trapping would be the best trap to use if you have little or no experience with traps and trapping. They work well. Easy to set, and none targets can be released. The only problem with using them, is, you need to find someone who will dispatch the mink for you. Someone with a small calibre rifle, or air rifle.

Spring traps, or kill traps, also work well. You do need some knowledge, and practice to set these correctly. A tunnel with an entry hole, either end keeps cats, fox's etc out, whilst allowing a mink to enter, and get caught. The tunnel needs to be just a little wider than the trap when set, and just a little higher than the trap when fired.

The mink that are seen at the moment are mostly young mink looking for a territory of their own.

Eddie B

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120776278#Comment_120776278

Really enjoy his video's. Some lads use ferrets here, for the same purpose, but I doubt they are as good as the mink

Mach Two

Anybody here use a Pest Stop double entry mink trap. The paddle for the trigger mechanism seems very high in the cage.

Asus1

They are all I use but I only bother with 1 end open as I like to dig them into the bank a bit.They work fine but they rust really quick but still work fine.

minktrapper

Anybody know where I can get fish oil for baiting mink traps. Providing it actually works. Which oil is the best.

Doe Tiden

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121692057#Comment_121692057

Don’t know if this stuff is any good for trapping but stumbled on this thread and use this for fishing:

https://fishingtackleireland.ie/collections/bait-oils/products/holy-mackerel-fish-oil-sea-angler-1l-bottle

minktrapper

How long does it hold for in the container once it's opened I wonder. What kind of fishing do you use it for.

Birdnuts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121692280#Comment_121692280

Theres stuff in Polish Shops that would work wonders i would say!!

Doe Tiden

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121692280#Comment_121692280

I inject it into dead baits for pike, I’d go thru it quickly if we’re fishing so I don’t have it standing for much longer than a couple of weeks but I do have a fridge in the shed I keep it in not sure if there’s a need tbh

Eddie B

Yea pilchard oil is good, from tackle shops or online. Also salmon oil from pet shops. (Additive for dog food). I got some cheap recently, from a shop that was closing down. I mix the pilchard oil with vegetable oil, or sunflower oil and keep it in a well washed out dish soap bottle, to get longer out of it. Squirt it into hole in bank with feathers in hole, and trap at entrance. Freshen it up every four to six days.

minktrapper

How much is pilchard oil/salmon oil. What mixture do you use. Do you fridge the mixture. A lot of mink around so they have to be caught

Eddie B

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121692580#Comment_121692580

The oils in the pet shops can be dear enough. The link Doe Tiden put up above is good price wise. In around twenty euro a litre would be a good price.

Litre would last you a couple of years. A squirt at each set once or twice a week is all that's needed. Good thick oil do a 60/40 ratio. 60 being the sunflower or vegetable oil.

Less smelly oil like salmon do 60/40, with salmon oil being the 60

No need to refridgerate it.

minktrapper

Will fish oil work in a cage on its own without bait. Might be worth freezing it if it is going to last that long. Would it be ok to freeze? Any preference to which oil is the best. Which is the smelliest?

Eddie B

No point in freezing it. It won't really go off. Pilchard, mackerel, sardine all have a strong smell. Your better off with some eye appeal, to entice a mink into a trap. Feathers, fish, rabbit skin, dried fish skin all work well

minktrapper

Is there any difference in using a straight or a diluted mixture. Magpie feathers so I expect would be perfect.

Eddie B

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121696421#Comment_121696421

Well of course diluted will weaken the smell somewhat, but just an option, to stretch it out a bit. Still works just fine. Magpie, pigeon, duck, all work well. Duck feathers work well, because they have natural oils, that will last longer in wet weather.

J.R.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2412133-invasive-mink-eradicated-from-parts-of-england-by-using-scented-traps/?fbclid=IwAR31NoLG_VcRWonTB6kqLTmnFiuBS6dcwPG7X9z4S3XNBzaQrarDvIs226E

Invasive mink, which are native to North America, have been eradicated from most of East Anglia in England after a trial used the scent of the animals' anal glands to lure them into traps

J.R.

https://youtu.be/IRb0lMYGunA?si=p1-hwo51Ccdg65JT

......

Eddie B

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121696731#Comment_121696731

You can take that article with a pinch of salt. Gland lures is nothing new, and is certainly not the magic solution to mink eradication. The idea of mink actually been eradicated from East Anglia, is not even a possibility. Think about it. A mink can travel for miles in a single night. Just like fox's, once a void is made, another mink will move into the area.

It would take a huge effort, to clear an area that size of mink. Every river, streem, lake, pond, and roadside ditch, would have to be trapped at the same time, to achieve that. Would take many, many dedicated volunteers, and it would have to be continuous, to avoid re population.

On another note, and I've mentioned this before. Mink numbers have fallen dramatically in the UK. Not from any trapping efforts, but something more environmental. I've read several articles on this, and its a bit of a mystery. Firstly, they said it was because of the rise in Otter numbers. Now they are saying, its because of the decline in rabbit numbers. I'm not buying either theory to be honest.

minktrapper

I was told that they were prone to distemper. How accurate that is I don't know. Hard to believe that a complete county could be mink free. Whoever contributed to that article is probably trying to encourage more trapping of mink elsewhere. Which is good. But I think a small army would be needed to eradicate them. But still we try out best the few we are. Of course a bounty would be a huge benefit.

Asus1

I used to bait cages with tins of cheap tuna with lid half open with great success.Only problem is when mice found it they would empty tuna tins in a night.Now I get my local butcher to save me any chicken that's for the bin and use that and can't say I've noticed much difference in catch rates.

Only difference is fox and badgers find cages easier as chicken smells awful after a few days and they will mess with cages and try to take them so peg down well

minktrapper

Would the cage be set any longer than if you used fish as bait. Hard to think that chicken would scent as good as fish bait/oil. The great thing about oil is I hope, is that it is easier to carry on you. In that a small quality will be sufficient to bait a cage.

No scarcity of them around here anyhow. And all the trapping I have been doing.

dto001

Whats the method to set fenn traps for mink stopping non target species? I was looking for cheap ways of making a mink raft and came across "mink cage" which is basically a box with one end under water (at 45 degrees) and the other end out of the water with mesh over the end and the bait is in this end. The mink has to swim into the box and across a trap but I think they're using traps we're not allowed.

If anyone has a cheap way of making a mink raft let me know🤣

Cheers

Asus1

The thing with chicken is when it goes bad you can smell it from 50yrds away and I assume for an animal you could double or treble that distance.Tuna in a tin I could never smell much.Now if you buy or get bits of fish that might be different I wouldn't know as I've not tried them

delboythedub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121692057#Comment_121692057

Try A tin of 3 day old opened tuna

Eddie B

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121698086#Comment_121698086

Styrofoam, and ply wood. Marine ply is better, buy ordinary ply will do. You'll get a few years out of ordinary ply.

Those other box's your talking about, don't work very well, but the bodygrip traps are legal here.

Eddie B

I've caught mink on most things. At the end of the day, most anything will attract mink. Rabbit, fish, bird carcase, tinned dog/cat food, feathers, oil, lure. They all work.

Personally, I like to use different baits, to change things up a bit. Some mink are very cagey. Pardon the pun, but they are. I've seen tracks leading right up to a trap, and it just continued on its way. I feel this happens, more often than we think. Un-baited tunnels, can often be the answer, for those hard to trap mink.

What's good about oil, and feathers? A, as mentioned by minktrapper, they are light. B, you won't end up with a maggoty mess with them, in the typical Irish mild weather.

minktrapper

Did you ever try the mink cage from Pest Stop I think it's called. Has a big paddle in middle of the cage. Must be over 2.5 feet long and the doors can be opened at both ends. I have one here. Would be worth making a tunnel out of it and placing it in the correct spot.

Eddie B

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121698932#Comment_121698932

I've seen them uses that way, with good success. I have two but ended up just using them as single door baited traps. P Marten can make bits of them though. They are flimsy enough.

minktrapper

I presume mink are attracted to tunnels in their search for food.. And a drop of fish oil every now and then. The steel is soft in them it seems . I see where a bar is bent on it. I presume a mink. Where are you getting bodygrips from?

Eddie B

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121699996#Comment_121699996

Last time I got them, they were bought by the gun club off that lad on Facebook called Ultimate Traps. Think his page is no longer active. The gun club gave them out to some of the members. Fourteenacre was always my go to place for anything trapping related, but customs is probably an issue now. Haven't bought a trap in several years now.

Eddie B

Lads regarding the mink bounty. I've heard it finished some years ago. Is that true?

minktrapper

Goodnature A18 mink trap. It isn't really a trap but designed for squirrels. Anyone got one.

Mink bounty €3. Pathetic.

Eddie B

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121742588#Comment_121742588

I read in an article recently that the bounty is finished since 2019.

I've heard good and bad things about the goodnature. Some say they are a great trap. Others say they are useless. Rats, squirrels just ignoring the trap altogether.

minktrapper

They are expensive. They would want to be good. Are they 100% waterproof? If the river flooded would it be ruined.

Would it be powerful enough to kill a mink especially a big one.