I seem to only ask about mink trapping on here, since it’s what I enjoy the most, but I have a few culverts that are frozen, about half full. Obvious tracks in the snow going in and out under the road. I know how to trap it before freeze up here in IN, but I’m not sure how to go about it with solid ice. They’re about 3 feet wide, not a huge culvert, narrow down the entry point somehow? Any advice would be great. Thanks.

Any pictures? Can you snare? Lots of snow that you could use to constrict the entrance?

Without pics hard to say for sure but narrowing down the entrance will probably be your best option.

Depends what you're setting for traps. If just mink, I would place 4 squirrel size cages side by side, set up for both directions. Block the rest with sticks, chunks of ice, or whatever. Or #160's if coon and otter are going through too.

Bottom edges

A pocket set of some kind at the approach to the culvert. Make a dry land rock tunnel place some dry sand for trap bedding material in the tunnel. Bait in the back end.

If the ground isn't too hard just dig a trench and cover It with something to create a tunnel.

Mink box (either wood or mailbox type on the ice in the culvert would work here if coon aren't a problem as they mess up every baited mink set they come across. ..................................the mike

My advice with the ice.... dry trail sets like mentioned...bodygrippers in trail and blended. If willing to chop ice Botton Edge sets.
The problem with the B.E. sets if you should have ALREADY have located the location for the set PRESEASON.

The culvert in question.

Set a 110 on either side right where the pipe meets the ice

Like AK Timber said, a bodygripper or a snare if legal set on each side. Pile the snow up in the middle to help force the mink to the edges.

Eric Space takes 2 liter pop bottles and cuts the ends off and puts them in the middle of the culvert opening. He then packs snow all around them leaving a small hole-tunnel through the snow. He sets a snare in the opening.

A body grip in each circle and put more grass in the opening similar to what’s already there

This. Mink are huggers to terrain/walls.
If serious about mink, for next year scout & find good bottom edge sets

The only problem with BE sets Is you miss all the mink that travel the dry ground. And in my opinion mink spend more time on dry land then they do in the water.

I agree.

Bottom edges occur in and out of the water, I don't set for mink in the water, if I catch one in a water set it was set for muskrats and I got lucky. I do set the edges of culverts and bridge abutments, as well as along the edges of creeks above the ice, but under the over hanging banks or brush

The same could be said in reverse, you will miss all the mink that are in the water if all your sets are on land. But I agree, mink are probably on land more than water, but by how much, I dont know....? That scenario in the picture is just a tough one to keep working in this kind of weather, I would brush the heck out of it with grass/weeds and 2 conis on each side like stated earlier.

I've stated these facts over the years about BEs but since there are probably new trappers on this site I'm going to repeat the story. Back in the early 2000s I was hired by Michigan State University to trap mink for a Dioxin Prj that encompassed 44 miles of the "river of concern" and 10 miles of 2 tributary rivers. This Project & waterways were specifically within Midland Co, Saginaw Co. & Bay Co in Central Michigan. What I'm writing does not pertain to WI or OR or AK! I was required by the University's Oversight Committee to only use Bottom Edge sets! The "river of concern" was below a hydroelectric dam which caused the river height to rise & fall 2.5'- 3" every 24 hrs but the tribs were of normal flow.

I trapped the rivers for 3 seasons from Nov 1st of each year until the river ice made the rivers unsafe to work on which was usually around mid-Dec those years. All data from the mink I caught I was verified by other Techs & Scientists that were required to accompanied me on the traplines. This data is recorded in scientific papers at the University and published in national, scientific journals! I would catch a specified number of mink for a required sample size before moving onto another river if conditions were safe.

Since this Project was highly political, there were public hearing during the 3 years I trapped mink and local trappers would give testimony at these meetings that it was impossible for me to catch mink of any number on rivers that they'd trapped for decades and I & MSU were liars. Also, two local fur buyers testified that nobody every caught mink in numbers in the County let alone the rivers! These hearings were published in local newspapers and because of their public accusations the MI DNR agreed with the trappers and required me to repeat my catch performance on a particular stretch of river where their Techs said that there were not enough mink for me to trap. I repeated the catch numbers within their prescribed time period and on that stretch of river again with only BEs!

Now to address this out of water-in the water replies. As I stated previously it is documented in scientific papers & journals that 81% of all the stomach contents of the mink I caught through the duration of the Project and within the time frame I stated previously, contained "aquatic material" with the remaining 19% containing mostly mammalian(voles) material. In addition, every year starting at the season opening I would catch large, older males to such a degree that the Professor always worried that I wasn't catching enough females & younger mink of both genders! So, that's some of the objective, documented facts , not subjective trappers tales, a snapshot of my background of BE experiences in my part of MI that is documented fact! Again, this took place in my part of the country not anyone else's.

This discussion has me cranked tonight, maybe get me a lifetime ban instead a year eh but I love talkin BEs?

As the mink portion the Dioxin Prj just finished with the mink study, the USF&WS had a meeting with my Professor about the mink population on their segment of river and attached marshes. They were getting conflicting info from both their Techs and from trappers who trapped the marshes saying that there were no mink! Their stretch of river was within our testing area but I didn't trap it because we had all the mink the Labs needed. The USF&WS ask me in a sit-down meeting if there were mink on that stretch and I said there certainly were because that stretch of river had the best mink prey habitat of all the rivers I'd trapped during the previous 3 years. They gave me permission to set it using BEs so the next day after the meeting, I with the help of a MSU Tech set 42 BEs. The next morning's check I had a 4 mink and 28 rats! End of story except the river froze the us out 2nd night until spring the USF&WS gave me soul permission to trap all their marshes without bidding!

So, back to this discrepancy about where the mink are, in the water more or on dry land more? Well, I have an educated and experienced opinion about this other then the scientific study. Sure, mink travel on dry land, heck, I've twice seen mink carrying voles in their mouths but I believe these mink are traveling & hunting from one water "honey-hole" to another. Anybody who has trapped mink in freezing conditions has seen were a mink has traveled along the bank, come down on the ice and entered the water. If these folks had paid attention they might have seen where the mink got out of the water and headed out along the bank. What was the mink really doing? It knew from past experience that there was a favorite hunting spot in the water because it contained good prey habitat & structure so why spend time hunting along the bank unless opportunity presented itself! The mink hunted the area, got back out, and proceeded to travel on the bank to the next favorite wet hunting spot!

This is not to say mink are only traveling along the bank. Scientific studies have proven that mink, both male & female have linear distances they use as their own territory but also a preferred distance perpendicular to the waterway!! I also worked on another mink study within the overall Prj where we measured prey cover 100m from the edge of the waterway outward on dry land. Again, this was not a subjective study, measurements were taken every 25m with a special prismatic tool and recorded and we did this every 500m along the rivers.

Thank you Seldom
Very informative and interesting read. Thanks for the report that definitely comes from many days and years of "boots in the water". I trap land and water when out for mink. BE sets are something I'm always looking to improve upon.

Open their stomachs and see what they are eating (that time of year).. Assume the lab techs are checking liver concentrations of/for PPB or PCP or Lead or whatever chemical/element Michigan politicians are providing monies for now. Keep in mind that mink are opportunistic predators so in the summer their diets may drastically change and ingestion of prey species may or may not contain the the substance you are testing for (drinking water is a separate issue). That is where Seldom comes in with his mink knowledge providing real world experience to the pencil people with predictions using "T" tests and probability amounts in the environment obtained from animal sample sizes. You check YOY's and adults and try to account for their time in this sample area, weighing any exposure and dietary uptake in the conclusions. My experience .. ...................the mike

This Project concerned the extent & impact of decades worth of Dioxin’s released from the Dow Chemical Plant on the Tittibawasse R in Midland MI. The reason for the 5-year study was due to a 2000+ class action lawsuit against Dow. MSU studied all wildlife found on the floodplain and UofM did the human study. I mentioned all animals from bugs & worms up through the entire food chain. Mink were the most important animal of the Project because their lifespan was all in the floodplain.

Lab work would start down at the MSU Labs then all samples were sent to a lab in New Zealand of which there were only 3 labs in the world that could give the definitive analysts required. Though the primary focus was on dioxins, all contaminates were researched and analyzed. One of the 2 tribs I trapped has a Super Fund site upstream (DDT & PCBs), every mink I trapped on that river had cancer of the jaw bone. After the MSU work I was contacted by a Dept of the EPA person to trap mink for them on that particular river. After several meetings that fell through.

Wonderful insight guys, and thank you Seldom for the interesting read, glad to have folks like you on the forum. I did have some results this morning.

Good job!!!

From the pic, it looks like a female. If so, there will be a male or 2 looking for her soon.

How did you catch it?

Seldom you are one of the EF Hutton's of the trapping world to me. When you share your experience and insights, I listen. Thank you sir.

Not on the culvert that I posted, but a 110 on a field tile that dumps into that same ditch about 10yds away.

Field tiles are mink magnets.

Seldom, were any other mink from other watersheds or other states compared to those that had that jawbone malignancy? Dioxin was the culprit in Agent Orange and not 2,4-5 T yet 2,4-5 T got the wrap and was for sale in most hardware garden shops in Winsor Ontario (right across from Detroit).as an effective broadleaf herbicide for a long time after it was removed here in the states. It may still be for sale there. Case in point to compare the results of various testing sites when concluding opinions. You showed them there were mink where the techs said there were none so your field experience was pretty valuable to the hypothesis and summation that no mink were there. What happened to the fur on those mink? .................the mike

Yes they were. Mink were sampled from the 2 major tributaries upstream of the Dow Plant, one was the Super Fund river with the cancerous jaw tumors. The other tributary that was sampled were clean and did not have a contaminated chemical site upstream. I sampled mink from the hydroelectric dam down to the Dow Plant which the 2 tributaries flowed into. Then I sampled mink from downstream of the Dow Plant for approximately 25-30 miles. The only mink that had the cancer was from the one tributary and none showed the tumors once the tributary entered the river of concern. In order to determine extent and impact of the dioxin all sampling of animals had to be done upstream & downstream in order to compare contamination.

LOL, my professor had a mink coat made for his wife! LOL

For those who have not done this type of sampling before I could take the mink out of the trap, me and the other occupants in the boat (scientists, techs, students) had to document and photograph the catch & site and record the transects. It proved not to be much fun sitting in a boat in the cold writing in your log book! Rain, snow, it made no difference because everything was waterproof and had to be done for the lab work AND for Court testimony! The mink once removed from the trap was tagged and wrapped in sterilized foil that we had washed with different solvents in the Field Lab before checking traps each day. Once back at the Field Lab I skinned the mink and wrapped the carcass in the foil to be sent down to the MSU Lab. The pelts were rolled & frozen and I never saw them again.

The professor told me that if there was a $$ value to the mink I caught it would be about $2300/ea.

Seldom, that is an awesome read, thank you for sharing!! Sorry you didn't cash in on the $2,300 mink, hope you got paid well enough otherwise!!

Nice

As is trapping, we tend to overcompensate the obvious. Often the real prize is under a cloak of camouflage.

If you cannot use a snare cut the ends out of a gallon milk jug and use a 110/120 BG.

I grew up not far from you Seldom, about 7 miles outside of Pinconning. I trapped all the drainage ditches around my house and caught a fair share of mink while trapping rats.
I come up every year to bow hunt, ironically, in Midland County. Take 10 to 18, head north towards Beaverton. State land off of Baker Road.

Well Hello ksp!
I learned to trap mink in the northern 1/2 of Midland Co and west 1/2 of Bay Co. before going to work for MSU. You mentioned Baker Rd area which I know very well, I trapped beaver , otter, & coyote in that area of Mud Ck & Black Ck as well as deer hunted on the northern side of Curtis Rd. That’s all behind me now because as of 1/15/25 I’m retired after 70 years trapping and most of it in those areas I noted!
Nice to meet you!

You guys ever meet up with Ken Smythe?

`No. I was told by 2 of his friends and a local fur buyer that he wouldn’t trap in our County because there weren’t enough mink. They all told me the same thing that his lines started 50 mile north & Northwest of our County. His thoughts, as told to me by the same people were that trout water equated to higher populations of mink, otter, & beaver.

If you read my previous posts you maybe now can understand why there was so much widespread controversy about my MSU catch numbers on the Dioxin Prj!

I remember Ken well. Bob Noonan had just left being with me for a while and shared with me that he was heading up to be with Ken for a while the next week.

Ken had a very intimate understanding of mink and their behavior. He obviously developed and fine tuned his Bottom Edge system with this vast knowledge. I was saddened to learn of his early passing. He was a joy to talk to and hear of his passion for mink trapping.

What a small world! I've always said I'd like to come back for about 10 days and do some trapping there. I have never hunted the north side of Curtis Rd., stay mostly in the "East Woods" as I have several spots I've found over the years and hunt them as the wind allows me too. Next time I make a trip up I'd love to meet you and pick your brain about mink trapping! So, you are not going to trap anymore?

After 70 years trapping I decided to retire from it. I might put in a few beaver floats this spring on our bigger rivers that are easy to get to but that’s only a 50/50 chance and if I don’t, I’ll officially be done/retired. If and when you come up I’d be glad to have you stop in and bs about mink! Love to talk mink!

I don't blame you, that's a LONG time to be laying steel!
I wish you the best and when I make a trip up Ill be sure to holler at you.
I know you post on MichiganSportsman Forums from time to time as well.