This may be a silly question for you experienced guys,but where do the mink go when all the ponds and rivers and everything freezes up?
Thanks guys

they still stay on the lakes and rivers mostly at springs though

They'll still be along the water ways. Poking along the banks, running the shelf ice, going into the water anyplace they can get under the ice, ect.

If you want to catch them after ice up, you still can. Do a search and check out the archives on the "bottom edge set".

-Skunkly-

This is a great time to take mink. They hunt hard when it is cold.(at least that is true in Ky) If you can find muskrat dens, leave your 110 there. Minks often work under ice. Also if you find moving water in mink territory you will find mink when it is cold. This is a great time for baited pockets. Sometimes it will be so cold, I set a rock or something in the water to keep water flowing into the mouth of pocket (keeps my set from freezing)If legal where you are you might find that eye appeal works well for mink also. I like to use rabbit fur or feathers at hole in bank.
Good luck

i know they move alot during that time though, they burn up alot of callories

Big mink,(in my area)are meat eaters, especially late in winter.
...and that's rabbits, birds, mice, voles, etc... This also will include smaller mink that are killed and eaten by the larger and older males. The bigger males are up on the banks, seaching out nook they can get their noses into. I have trapped mink in several states...but they have all been in the eastern part of the U.S. I couldn't tell you what mink, say in Alaska, would do under those conditions but here, big mink are not fish eaters under these cold winter conditions. They are searching out different prey than in warmer seasons, when then, yes, they eat their share of fish.

So....back to your question. I snare and conibear trap most of the mink I take in late winter on dry land or in trails through the snow. Before that, most are taken in hole sets along open streams.

Yours are probably a lot like mine. I wait until it freezes hard before setting mink. In sloughs look for old rat runs up on the banks or along the shoreline. On the small rivers just follow the shoreline and eventually you find places where they are getting under the ice. I use strictly 110's-120's for them this time of year. You will almost always find tracks around old or new beaver lodges. I always trap them when I trap beaver through the ice.

I have found similar to results as LT Grey. Mink in my area are rarely interested in coming to a bait. Blind set their tracks and cracks in the ice that they are using.

On creeks, dig a big hole half under water. When it freezes, there will be an area in the back unfrozen. Mink will crawl in and go down into the water. Put a 110/120 over the opening. And if there is a tight spot in the creek then.... Block of some of it off, and use body grips on top of the ice. Remember mink still run on top of the ice after it freezes.

I have not trapped a whole lot of mink but one set that I like after freeze up is to kick or chop a good size hole in the ice right at the waters edge and make a muskrat slide from the hole going up the bank. I'll put a couple 110's in the slide and will catch mink and rats. If the temps are not to cold the hole should stay open for most of the night

I think are at the best at this time. I like the winter mink over the early caught ones.