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#418819 - 11/18/07 04:12 PM Mink after freeze up
bohe Offline
trapper


Registered: 06/30/07
Posts: 2
Loc: Saskatchewan
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

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#418830 - 11/18/07 04:25 PM Re: Mink after freeze up [Re: bohe]
mntrapperboy Offline
trapper


Registered: 07/08/07
Posts: 1101
Loc: Minnesota
they still stay on the lakes and rivers mostly at springs though
_________________________

just try and run

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#418833 - 11/18/07 04:27 PM Re: Mink after freeze up [Re: bohe]
skunkly Offline
trapper


Registered: 12/24/06
Posts: 537
Loc: North Central Wisconsin...29
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-
_________________________
"No way guys...my cod-piece is the coolest!" Toki, member of DethKlok on the show Metalocalypse

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#418929 - 11/18/07 05:23 PM Re: Mink after freeze up [Re: skunkly]
kybeaverman Offline
trapper


Registered: 10/21/07
Posts: 421
Loc: kentucky
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
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#418949 - 11/18/07 05:39 PM Re: Mink after freeze up [Re: kybeaverman]
ketchikan Offline
trapper


Registered: 02/02/07
Posts: 1152
Loc: S.E. South Dakota
i know they move alot during that time though, they burn up alot of callories
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#418958 - 11/18/07 05:42 PM Re: Mink after freeze up [Re: kybeaverman]
LT GREY Offline
trapper


Registered: 04/09/07
Posts: 5551
Loc: Central Ohio
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. ;\)

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#419125 - 11/18/07 07:15 PM Re: Mink after freeze up [Re: LT GREY]
bvrtrpr Offline
trapper


Registered: 12/22/06
Posts: 58
Loc: minot, ND
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.
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#419206 - 11/18/07 07:49 PM Re: Mink after freeze up [Re: bvrtrpr]
white17 Offline
"General (Mr.Sunshine) Washington"
trapper


Registered: 03/17/07
Posts: 5070
Loc: McGrath, AK
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.
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Mean As Nails

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#419278 - 11/18/07 08:25 PM Re: Mink after freeze up [Re: white17]
foxfur94 Offline
trapper


Registered: 02/26/07
Posts: 334
Loc: Waco,Texas
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.
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#419597 - 11/18/07 10:39 PM Re: Mink after freeze up [Re: foxfur94]
minktrapper6099 Offline
trapper


Registered: 12/25/06
Posts: 364
Loc: northwest Ohio
Try box traps under the ice in rat runs. I caught 7 one year doing this.
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#419612 - 11/18/07 10:52 PM Re: Mink after freeze up [Re: minktrapper6099]
NDtrapper Offline
trapper


Registered: 12/23/06
Posts: 910
Loc: North Dakota
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
_________________________
Live everyday to it's fullest because death may only be a heart beat away


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#421584 - 11/20/07 09:25 AM Re: Mink after freeze up [Re: NDtrapper]
LT GREY Offline
trapper


Registered: 04/09/07
Posts: 5551
Loc: Central Ohio
I think are at the best at this time. I like the winter mink over the early caught ones.
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