I been looking but I have no clean awnser where do mink live? I have a pond I could trap beside a farm with tall grass around it would a mink be there? Or along a super small creek? I don't have anything big here where are they spit out locations?

Mink are land animals that are at hoe in the water and dont go far from water except during breeding time.
Look for mink sign around water,especially where creeks enter and outflow marshes beaver ponds etc.
They also use overhead cover,and dont like open areas.
Beaver houses and beaver dams are mink magnets,look for sign and places to make sets in these areas.
Usually any place there are muskrats mink will visit.

Mink live anywhere they want to......Set up any trail you find around the pond. You can set the small creeks right in the waterway where it bottlenecks. Use a 160 because of Coon.

http://thebeav.us/Setlocationimages/minksetlocations.html

This may be of some help.

Thank you this will help out alot!

Lumberjack391 and Boco are right.
Many years ago I stsrted running 110s blind sets for mink right on locations I was running coyote traps. It gave me a fun little side line to run in areas I was already stopping to check coyote sets. Very few of them have any water or creeks, seriously. I’ve caught enough mink consistently doing this it’s a regular part of my season/routine now. Grsssy water ways out in middle of corn and bean fields are regular producers for me. Some of these may have a tiny little trickle of water or trail in them and that’s what I set. 110s are cheap and light to carry. I can put a few of them in my bucket when setting coyote traps and then punch in two or three blind sets quickly and then it’s just walk by and check them on my way to check some coyote sets in the field.
Most of the mink I pick up have been very large males. Some are surprisingly big and a 110 is enough to kill them they don’t hardly move the trap from the stabilizer. If there is coon sign I use a 160 so I can catch either on. If mink only then I use the 110s.
No bait or lure needed. It’s a fast system and I don’t need to hit bridges or be concerned about theft.










See the weedy line behind the coyote in this bean field? There are two 110 blind sets for mink along that weedy line there is a small faint trail running right down the middle of it. That’s where I trap mink along my coyote line. This coyote is 1/2 mile in middle of this field, well off the road. Private ground. And I’ve caught some whopper mink out in this location plus a jillion coyotes. One of my favorite locations.

Will do!

Wow I have a lot of them! I thought mink where gonna be like a water yote! Thinks this makes me confident.

And I don’t have to ever get in the water or wear waders, and I am not close to the road either. Theft has been nil. I don’t need to carry bait or lure just blind set the traps and fence em down tight to make them go into the opening of your trap. I learn something new every year and this has been something I’ve been doing for many, many years.
First time I got a mink out in a field was in a dirt hole set for coyotes. Then the next year I got another one. Completely opened my eyes about mink and locations. So I started playing with 110s and it took me a few seasons to get the system running effectively and how to block them down, what locations to set, etc.

It’s a great option for non water trappers like me.

Mink are a lot of fun.

Creeks and bridges are always great mink funnels.
But I’ve learned so is the field drain tiles and pipes way out in fields and a long ways from creeks. Weedy fencerows and grassy water ways in fields are good spots. Any old pond dam in a cow pasture is also good. These are all classic coyote locations too. Sometimes step back and look at the land around you and the land that butts up to the land you have permission on. If the neighbors land where you do not trap has a big pond or creek and your property does not…then find a connection between the two properties. That could be a ditch or decline that runs from one property to the other.
I have one location with no features just plain ag field with one grassy waterway running through it. Hardly ever has any water it’s usually dry but farmer uses it for erosion runoff from his field down to that creek on the neighbors place. Well mink run from the creek up that waterway to this field to hunt whatever…mice, birds, rabbits, you name it. It’s been a consistent mink spot for me for many years and I never had to try to get permission on the neighbors place with the creek. He has guys hunting his place a lot. They never go into the adjacent property where I trap coyote and mink. I bet the animals hit both places but I only needed permission to the property with less cover and wasn’t interesting to the hunters.
Make sense?
Jim

Cool!!

Jabne- that 3rd picture is what I was trying to describe, water or not. 2 other things, if there isnt a trail, stomp/kick one down with your boots in line with the shore and dont give up hope- keep checking them. Chances are you may catch some coon or rats first.

Ttt

Are these good mink spots?

Any time you have a culvert It creates a pinch point. That means every thing coming down that water coarse is directed to that spot. They may not go through that culvert but they will go over It and that's where you have to look for those faint trails going over land.
Either set a trap in the water right where they leave the stream. Or set a BG In the trail.
A pocket set near that culvert will catch you some mink and coon If there are any In the area.

I'm not a big user of BG s for mink In dry land trails. I seem to to many refusals.

Don't worry about sign. Just slam in pocket sets and stuff some carp in the back.
Keep the width of the pocket as narrow as possible to guide the mink and discourage the coon.
Trail sets are ok but for one who knows what other critters are on said trail also the mink may not run the same trail twice . Good thing is they are sucker's for pockets.

Thanks

(This)

I use snares. If you use conibears set them with the dog on the bottom and elevate the trap 1 to 2 inches off the walking surface. It will increase your catch rate substantially. Picture shows more than a thousand words.

Y'all picking on this kid, and this ends up being one of the best mink posts I've ever seen. Archive material.

Picking on the Kid??
He asked for help and he's getting some great Information.

You want more?,..mink are predictable,..no don't try to corral them away from waterways,..you'll chase ghosts!
Ask any one doing it,.it's a game of repetition over and over again. Mink come to waterways,.they follow contours , they hunt those contours !

That Bottom Edge Set book helped me.
Top edge too.

mink define their intentions , they are pretty much obvious in their movement. They do not expose themselves in most cases.
They are huggers,..being so much carefully hugging the bank.
If you have the opportunity ,get yourself a copy of Phil Presjack mink methods,. It will allot that his jumper stick along vertical wall is more so a game changer,..yes its the little things.

Not on this thread, but on other threads. Sorry I didn't clarify.

Around here streams and ditches with grass and low brush cover are the best mink locations. Forest cover does not seem to produce nearly as many mink.

I thought i offered good info on this thread? Its not my intention to advise a new comer to adhere to my preference.
I have and alway will say,..you have a wealth of info here,..the only problem is .there are so many angles you have to manipulate . If there is common denominator ,..that would be . set as many traps you can cover legally.

That's what I was saying. There's GREAT info on this thread! And this thread wouldn't be here if this kid wasn't so excited and asking a million questions.

Yote, I appreciate you recognizing that . I am somewhat apprehensive commenting on most threads here. more so in a political spectrum. I find myself in most instantis thwarting my own personal observation weighed against that at what may be admissible within the confines of this platitude Beyond that will offer another tid bit to the original poster,..we all have asperations,.( goals so to speak},
There is one defining factor, and that is fortitude,..you put in your mind to do as such, and you achieve that goal.
That is defined as determination!

Oh and if you are not seeing the “tight” spots described in here or shown in the pictures, make your own. Our very own forum owner’s dad taught me SO MUCH about mink trapping in his mink book. A few jabs with your spade and a chunk of stream bank is shaved off and ker plunk falls away from the bank and leaves a little space between the bank where it was and the now little island of land that the spade shaved away from the bank. Make the set between the chunk of land and the bank.
You can move logs, brush, rocks, whatever to create interesting little tight spots to set. Keep the tight spot hugging tight to the sheer wall of a bank too.
Out in fields I can use a spade to create a channel or trough roughly the width of the spade in those little trails through the grassy water way. Makes a neat slot perfect size for a 110.
If you fin a small pipe culvert on the field implement road to the field. You can block down the bottom opening with a few weed stems and put the 110 into center bottom of the opening. Goldenrod, sunflowers, other weeds when freeze dried in late winter make nice guide sticks out in fields where there are no trees to be found for sticks. I make pilot holes with a rebar stake or my super stake driver then push weed stems into the holes. Fencing down openings to just the trap opening itself works great.
Also if you carry a pair of pruning shears with you, you can cut a neat 110 sized opening through a part of downed brush or weedy trail to make an opening better suited for a mink to access and get to your trap.
Another tip…brush piles can be magnates if they are along those weedy ditches or waterways. Pruning shears worked great for on edges of the pile. Caught a few rabbits but that also told me the place had plenty of “food” for a hunting mink, and it did.
Jim

Ok thanks guys are mink night time animals?

Some crossovers at a small bridge near my house

That's cool!

mink boxes are great on points on the bigger creeks they also work good when the creeks freeze over.

One more time up before this happens

Mink probably travel more at night but I have seen them countless times during the day doing their thing. I dont think they care when they hunt.

Probably not

Don't remember if you have a vehicle or not. Grab a bucket of traps and drive around hopping out at every big ditch/creek crossing. Take a look. Even if another trapper has a set in, you'll start seeing what they're setting and learn from it.

Remember to anchor them well. Caught a lot of coons in beautiful mink sets.

Minkktrapping.com










I would hit every little creek and waterway. I set these little body traps like this- I drop them into place and stick sticks and grass in the hole like Eric Space. It's easy. This is a mechanical snare. - The trap in the picture needs to have the trigger bent different. I like the bottom to be florist wire and make it like a snare loop.
Mink can be anywhere. Look for small trails and set those. Look for place like the lower photo where a mink is forced into the water and put a foothold where it will step in the water. There is a lot to learn. The best teacher is the mink.

Northern O LOOK at these spots. Best group of photos for a location. You can use a coniber in all those that he has a snare.

Great examples ERIC !!!!