I have 1 1/2 gallons of ground mink carcasses with glands. I pulled out 1 QT. and will ROT this down to a paste this summer.

The 1 1/4 gallons was aged for 10 days before preserving with a mixture of SB. ZV. & MP.

The ground mink has a strong gamey odor! My dogs are not very interested in eating it. But they want to rub on it.

I am pretty sure this would be a poor base material for bait. But a small amount may add some curiosity?

Also I think it may have a bit more attraction to mink, marten, otter and bobcats? lol It needs to be tested!!

I know a lot of people have used Mink Glands. Maybe the ground mink can be used in a similar way?

Any suggestions on how to best use the ground mink would be helpful. Thanks!

I have read in a few mink trapping books of trappers using half a mink carcass in pockets to attract mink. One did note he used the back half with glands still attached. I would think most predators would be attracted to it. Sounds like a great base for a curiosity lure. You are on the right track with putting it up a couple different ways to test and see which works best for you. Keep us posted on how it turns out!

Yes, I'm thinking Curiosity & possibly a Territorial reaction is possible with the ground mink?

Waiting for the preservative's to settle down right now.

Contemplating, adding a fixative or two and the best way to get it all mixed together? Will probably warm up some skunk oil, then add the fixatives to the warm oil. Sorry, I'm just thinking out loud.

Mark, have you found animals that want to eat mink, otter and other mustelids?
Eventually, 'possums and hawks and vultures will eat mustelids around here but not much else...( besides rodents).
My thoughts are that the mink odor is the draw...let us know how it works out.

I know some mushers that feed the snot out of mink to their dogs.

I wouldn't think that mink snot would be all that nutritional.

Good one, Paul.

I do not think Mink or other Mustelids are a good Base Material for Bait? that tastes good?

How many lure ingredients do we use with good results that Taste Bad? Of course they are used in small amounts and blended with.......?

Doing some research on mink glands and find some canine trappers having very good results with mink gland lure! I also believe Bobcats are attracted to Mustelids odors. Cats are weird.

Other then the concentration of mink musk vs. ground mink carcasses? It will be interesting to see how they compare. The ground mink is going to have the gland smell plus much more?

A LOT of them!!!

Did you pick up the ground mink at Glenn's Ferry? I know I packed a couple of buckets of it out to the miscellaneous frozen stuff shed, there.

My dad told me how when he was a kid he used half a mink carcass for bait. He was trying to trap otter and said he had heard otter hated mink, so he would take mink carcasses and chop them in half and nail half a carcass to a log or shove in a pocket and set traps for otter. He said he caught quite a bunch of mink on them,. But never did catch an otter in one of those sets.

bearcat2, Yes at Glenn's Ferry. From John Hopple, President of the South Dakota Trappers Association.

I think he is bringing some more when he returns for the NTA. Western.

One thing to consider when comparing ground whole mink to mink glands in formulation use is if the glands are the only thing that really has enough attraction to be useful then you have diluted the formulation down with a bunch of neutral or negative material that doesn't need to be in there. I personally would test the base by it's self to grasp the target animals response and the products attractiveness. An ingredient and the amount used can bring down the quality of a formulation just as easy as it can add to it.

Best way I can think to test it is get some ground mink that has had the glands removed and test it to see if it has any valuable attraction

I do wish when we as members ask trapping and lure making questions like this and others give advice there would be more follow up information as to the results. I think it would make the trapping and lure making threads more vibrant. It would make them more valuable as a learning thread. Advise then results.

Another thing to consider is, mink glands are somewhat volatile and fade a fair amount over time. There's ways to fix mink glands that would be too impractical in a base with the whole mink ground.

Yes Sir, Thanks for your suggestions.
I have been Pondering, How to test and compare the ground mink vs mink glands?
Was going to do a side by side test the first time. But like you mentioned. I better see IF this ground mink with glands is any good first? Let the coyotes decide!
Maybe I should make a few pocket sets by the water. Let the water animals decide also?

I will try to let you know the results?

Mark, I believe you're incorrect in your assumption that they won't make a decent base for bait. They may not want to eat it, but they will dig like crazy to get it out of a hole. I've ground and used maybe 30-40 gallons of them, so not a giant sample but it has worked for me and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by your results. Good luck to you.

ADC, Thanks for sharing your knowledge about ground mink! I'm starting to see the same results You have seen.

The first Coyote test sets, had the mink bait fully dug out!!! They must have eaten it? No sign of rolling? I will be checking some more tomorrow. Augured a 1 1/2 inch hole 12" deep and one tablespoon of bait was used.

The Water line had 3 test holes. All 3 where visited by mink and 2 of them had mink droppings left at the set. Looking pretty good so far?

Mark I'm glad it seems to be working for you as well.

Interesting stuff....hope it produces a good attractor for you. Keep us updated.

Little Update.

The second check on the ground mink was dug up by coyotes also and I did see some rolling & kickbacks!
Followed up with some Beaver Tail Oil test holes. Very mild reaction?
Next test was Cultured Egg base. Good reaction, holes where all caved in and tracked up. But not dug out.
Last test was a Bobcat meat & Fish base bait I made and it was dug up also!

The tainted Ground Mink seems to have a strong attraction to Coyotes for some reason?
Now the fun part begins. Trying to find good ways to utilize it?
I have a hunch that those slow thinking Bobcats may find it interesting also? For two minutes! Maybe?

The best coyote bait I ever used had mink glands in it.

If your dogs want to roll on it, it’s a sure sign they’d dig it out to roll on it. That’s what those test holes are telling you.

My understanding is that Carmen's Bushwhacker is made from mink meat.

Archeryguy, I believe you are correct about Carman's Bushwacker lure being a mink base?
I bought some Bushwacker for comparison and have not tested it yet.

This ground mink carcass project has been fun and educational for me.
In 2024 I was making two baits one was the mink meat base and a bobcat meat base.
I just got home from testing both of these baits with traps for about one month of trapping. Coyotes, Badgers & Bobcats. Of course, had to snare a few coyotes!!
To test I used the bait only, down a dirt hole or under a rock flat set. No urine!
I'm very pleased how the animal's responded to these baits!! I did add one cup of mink meat to the Bobcat bait also.
So for me it's a Thumb's UP on the ground mink carcasses!

2025 projects so far is coyote & bobcat glands, bobcat livers and badger carcasses.

A mink farmer in NY sold the mink carcasses to Carmen and the glands to Thorpe. He said Carmen used the mink carcasses in bait making.

We use to grind some mink for bait. along with the gland ( no guts) with just a light taint. We discovered beaver meat and mink gland was substantially better in the midwest and Alaska
Mink glands and beaver meat seemed to work great on fox, coyotes wolves . A marten trapper thought it was the best he used. Never had any one use it for fisher. But I believe it would have been a great fisher, wolverine bait.