Anyone targeting mink this year? We dont have any mink around here but I sent one of my coyote lures to a guy several years ago to test. He put out a test set for coyotes with a camera and reported back that he had mink all over the set. He suggested I market it as a mink lure too. I dont have mink and knowing nothing about them. Figure if I could find a good mink trapper that would know if its any good id send them some to try. Pm me if interested. I'd prefer a fairly experienced trapper than would have a good handle on its effectiveness.

i will start by saying im no mink trapper but am going to target them this year with my boy. weve been getting more and more into water trapping the last few years. got some new beaver ground the other day and while checking it out can clearly see mink coon and beaver tracks.

think i should try Hombre and no holds barred in some mink sets? heck cant hurt i guess. we're counting down the days till we can setup or coyote line.

NHB is the one that got all the attention from the mink Mike

perfect i will target mink and use it and let you know what i catch. like i said ive never caught a mink not even accidently hoping actually targeting them i can get into them. been watching and reading everything i can on mink sets.

Mr Muddy Mike i would pay attention to any verticle structure , bridges have the concrete edge they love to run either under water or dry land
before the ice comes they are incredible mousers and if you plan to use body grippers on dry land i would suggest running wires on your trigger mink seem to be able to melt around just about anything and they do not like to push with there face
if you use leg traps try to position them so the animal walks thru the trap not over a jaw they are short legged and positioning the trap can be the difference between a toe catch and a high catch
try to set cut-off sets in creeks that connect two different bodys of water
Once the ice comes you own them set all humucks at the very bottom verticle edge i take most my mink on the verticle edge humuck down stream from holes that hold creek chubs or white suckers it seems they always aproach the stageing fish from behind
if you plan to use lure or bait mink are exstreamly terretoral and a well put up gland crushes them Mr Bob Jamison has the purist sweetest mink gland offered on the market today
best of luck this season
Bob

bob thank you very much for the advice i will use it and do my best. we fish the same creeks i have permission on to catch chubs for cut bait catfishing so i know quite a few locations like that.

a minks travel route underwater can be as pronounced as there travel route up on land you just need to see it a couple times and you will understand once the ice is established you will own them once you know what to look for
if your looking to do numbers you will definetly cover some miles if i can ever help just give me a shout and pick up the book by Kenny Smiyth called bottom edge study that book and you will do well

take care

I've targeted mink every year since I started trapping (about 7 years now) but I've only ever caught 2. Both on bottom edges.

I tried throwing some lure in a natural cubby that had mink tracks nearby, just to see what the mink might do. The mink came by the cubby but stayed outside the cubby, not going in too close to investigate. This is leading me to believe that that mink did not like the lure I was using, or, didn't see any food in there and had no reason to go in.

I generally try to avoid any baited/lured sets for mink because of how many raccoons I catch. Even with me trying to thin them out earlier in the season, I still catch quite a few.

Blind sets are going to be the name of the game for me this season. Unless the winter is severe and forms a lot of ice early. Then, back to the bottom edge. Plus I like the bonus muskrats I get with the bottom edge set.

Unfortunately, avoiding coons means you also avoid a lot of mink.

Very true. I do have a few other sets I'd like to try this year that should help avoid the coons. Hopefully they work out.

I always make a few mink sets, but thinking I'll set more than usual because the dry summer has hurt the muskrats and I like water trapping.

When I trapped in Alaska, (for almost 40 years), I had a lot of mink on my lines. My beach line was LOADED with them. One year, after prices for mink really shot up, (I got $48.00 for some of my dark XXXL males), I decided to really get after them. I had a cove that had about a half-mile beach, and I took 18 mink off that beach! Of course took mink all along that line, and as it seems to always happen, the prices tanked. It took 3 auctions to sell all the mink I sent that year.
Prices are still crappy, but they are a neat critter, and as mentioned above, once you learn how they travel, they are very easy to catch. For me, I had places that a bottom-edge set worked, but I found it more reliable to either catch them where they usually entered and exited the water or made a set to get them where I wanted them.
Here is a set that will produce, assuming there are mink present, and if there is a small stream, it works even better than "any old place". If setting a small stream, find a wide, shallow area where there is little current, (if on land, find a clearing near a stream or water body). Build a little "island" in the middle out of rocks that will finish about 4 to 8 inches
above the waterline, (on land, just make a pile of rocks using rocks at least as big as a softball. Bigger is fine.). The "island" can be any size, but I like them about 2 feet across, give or take. In the middle of this island, (or rock mound), place a large piece of bait, be it rough fish, muskrat carcass, or other mink bait, (I used salmon scraps and herring), above the water and cover it with more rocks. Depending on how you constructed the island, there should be places for you to place footholds either on the island itself, or even better, slightly under the surface of the water. The traps don't need to be covered but must be stable. The mink will work every inch of that mound, (shiny traps should be avoided). Do Not place body grip traps at this type of set. For the dry land application, place your footholds around the base of the rocky mound and blend as you would any dry land set. I always ran the water islands with drowners.
You can control the mink's approach with rocks and subtle guiding, but it usually isn't needed. They work the set.
What you have created is a curiosity attractor for the mink. It knows it wasn't there before and WILL check it out. The buried bait will keep it working the set. The bait must be covered, or birds will clog your traps.
I used to make this set in streams and even in tide pools.
I'm not a big fan of mink lure. I find it a waste of money, actually. I would cut out the part of the rearend of some mink and bury them in rocks on sets just like this, and it may have helped, but I caught many, many mink with no lure at all, and have checked many empty traps that had mink lure dropped, squirted, and sprayed.
Try this set, and I bet you catch mink. If I can be of any help, send me a PM.

Great explanation and set. Thanks for posting this Alaska Viking

Here is my tip that parallels what alaska viking said about mink habits. Keep in mind rocks are valuable here and if you put one anywhere on or near water it will "head to China" with the first rain as our soil is pretty deep. Long ago (35yrs) I noticed mink tracks hitting just about every FIRST tiny (average 2-3' dia) island immediately downstream from an active beaver dam. Many times there is only one or none due to a series of dams backing up and elevating the water between them so you may have to look for the last one of the series. I am talking about 10-25 ft down from the tailwater immediately downstream from a dam on a narrow farmland creek channel. Water levels 2-3' deep in the channel and 4-6' deep directly above the dam. You get the picture of the spot. Just kept noticing tracks and animal activity there in that pile of grass/mud island. So I started setting a trap there on a slide drowner to preserve the site and started catching rats, coons, mink, and even an occasional beaver. If you lure it you catch the first coon that comes by and they will likely destroy the island. but as a BLIND set it was worth it to me, while setting up the colony, to easily check a trap set for a rat/mink. Even after the beaver are removed, if it was "on the way", I left it as a mink coming or leaving the colony pool seemed to want to get a last or first look around there. It mirrors the mink hunting habit at the metal culvert's plunge pool and climbing there to eat/leave a dropping etc., so common along a roadside..My experience. .................the mike

Gospel truth right there.

X2
Use blind sets & learn all you can about bottom edge setting.
If you use pocket sets or LURE you're going to turn your mink line into a coon line