Just got my annual first harvester survey in mail from Nebraska G&P. I've been watching our mink harvest numbers plummet for several years now and this pasr years harvest for mink year was alarmingly low statewide.
Anyone else following this? I've found it harder and harder to catch them on my own line just not seeing tracks or any sign along the little creeks and ditches I usually take them in.
I have a copy of a UNL study done in 90s showing effects of pesticides on weasel and mink populations in our state but that was a dated study. It was decling then, too.
Weasel are almost non-existent on our end of state now. I believe Dave Erdkamp caught one a couple years ago and that was last weasel I've heard of harvested in southeast Nebraska region. I am assuming mink issue could be related.
Welcome input from others.
Jim

The last mink I saw in the wild in our area was around the 2005-2006 time frame if I remember correctly. I know a friend of mine in this area had what he thought were weasel tracks and attempted to catch them for a number of weeks a couple of seasons ago with no luck.

Are fewer folks trapping these days? And if so wouldn’t that skew data?

here in my area the mink numbers are really soaring along with red fox for the first time that I"ve ever experienced here.

same here and coyote's have plummeted.

This last season was the first time I've caught one, but I never target them, it was a chicken killer for a friend. But it's also the first year I've seen road killed mink; I've seen 3 of them.

JabNE, any kind of drastic habitat changes in your area the last few years?

Here is data.

Lots of CRP removed over last 10-15 years, impacted pheasant numbers here too plus other critters.

This last year figure mink seemed wowee level of low to me...
Jim

8 for males and 3 for females will do that.

Mink were thick here years ago. Now seldom see one or tracks.

Frogs,salamanders and snakes were thick, now......

My guess is modern farming practices.

I usually pick up 1 a year in coon sets. Rarely see any tracks. I did catch 3 two years. All were caught in 220's set for coon and were quite a long way from any water. Back when I was a lot younger all our rain water basins were full of water and lot of habitat. Now most of the basins dry up, and they spray the cattails. Was beautiful rat and mink habitat. I caught 12 one year just in rat sets. Took 3 out of one rat house. About 20 years ago I bought out an old guy here in town that was a pretty good mink trapper. I got all his traps and his old records of his catches. He was catching around 60 mink a year for quite a few years. Mostly taken off the river and local creek.

Habitat changes might be the cause of them moving to a different area, hence(obviously) the lack of sign.
When a fish farmer removes the thick brush along a series of levees, i see far less mink there than in the thicker areas.

Lots of reasons ,Farming practice , Habitat , Hawks Coyotes Fox , Pesticide , Disease . No longer the good ole days !

food+cover=mink

no food+no cover=no mink

They seem to be doing fine here in PA where Im at. You would have to talk to the Nebraska mink longliners but after looking at the chart there must not be many....

Here in Eastern WI we saw rapid and large loss of mink starting about early 2000's We actually collected and shipped carcasses for a couple years to the DNR so they could do analysis and other studies. In my area now they are coming back. I am not a mink trapper but catch mink open water trapping rats on my wadable rivers. During the 90s I would catch on average 1 mink for every 20 rats or so and rats were at good numbers. Rats started to decline in the late 90s, but the ratio was similar. During the first decade of the 2000's I would catch a mink for every 40-50 rats. The last two years now I am back to the 1-20 ratio with rats and mink both at higher levels.
I don't know what causes those cycles, but I would tend to think you are in a trough of a cycle and they may return in the near future.

Bryce

There's quite a few mink here too, and fox are holding their own.

everything worth little is booming here.i figure even a slight increase in coon prices will crash the population just to spite me.

Thats weird because:
food + cover = deer
no food + no cover = no deer

therefore: mink = deer?

They seem to be thick in my neck of the woods. I hit one with my truck last week coming from the post office. Always seeing them around my ponds and the local creeks.