What's a respectable seasons mink catch in your area?

30 plus

I know a small number of guys that hit 100+, but half that is great here.

5

My best years going after mink was over 100.

If a person listens to the supposedly “real” trappers in my area, you know, the ones, the ones who get in the newspapers and love to bloviate at public hearings as well as any former fur buyers still alive in my local, there ain’t none! LMAO

One!

There are no mink within 1.5 hours of me....so one would be a respectable catch.

No muskrats either.

Pretty much what Swamp said. There was an old timer back in the 60's that took a little over 60 mink one season. That was a tremendous catch for our area.

Thought some do much better 10 is respectable number here

There were lots of MN guys that you have never heard of that would take 100 in a Fall. I was never one of them. I hate skinning mink.

i love skinning mink. that smell is great. 125 was the expected catch for the first week. 100 the second week, and 75 the third. after that the weather was a killer. 300 in 3 weeks was a successful season.

That, sir, is impressive. May I ask . . . average number of traps out during this time period?

All my mink over the years were incidentals to 'coon and 'rats. This will be the first year I focus on mink.

i ran 2 lines every second day. about 500-600 traps total. 99% baited pockets, and maybe 1% blind/bottom edges. problem with pockets will be the coon. didnt used to be an issue as they were worth as much as a female mink. good luck with the mink this fall too!

40 - 50 would be a real good catch of mink here for a multispecies trapper.
My best year for mink was 48 I never have more than about 20 boxes set for mink.
Season is short-for a good catch here you need a year when mink numbers peak and the weather co operates.

50+ here if you're working full-time and running your butt off at the same time. If you could devote time to a 10-hour line, you could probably break 200 if you were smart about it. Nobody does it around here. I hit 100 coons last year, and nobody's ever even heard of those numbers in our area, and only trapped about an hour and a half a day.

If I see a guy here with 25-30 mink at the fur sale I figure he’s a minker. But, 50 is very possible. We don’t have the mink or rats that we used to have.

Disease or parasites wiped out the mink here so right now a great catch would be 5.
Up until a few years ago catches of 150 were doable, mostly with snares.

Ack catches really impressive numbers of mink in Ohio, over 100 per year. If I caught 30, I would think I was doing really well.

Keith

My best year was 63 but we were able to trap the right-of-way. I knew a guy that took over 400 here in Wisconsin but he had out hundreds of traps.

2 very low skill here wouldn't take much to excell

I've never done it, but there are some Iowa boys that catch 100 + every year.

Back in the days when we had lots of lake shore muskrats and out in the sloughs out in the forest 30,40 years ago there were many trapper catching 50 to 80 plus mink up here.Now I think you would have to cover a fair amount of ground to get 20 to 25 mink probably 100 plus traps

For a long liner maybe 100 or more. A recreational trapper 25 or 30. No ROW trapping and mink population fluctuations are the limiting factors. They aren't hard to trap every thing else being equal.

you need unlimited ROW trapping to take numbers. minnesota and iowa are right in the mink belt. good water access most places. we always hoped for 3 weeks of open water, but one year we had a mild fall, and had 6 weeks of open water. basically 2 seasons worth. that year i had a day catch of 64, and a seasons catch of 831.

We are seeing more mink here, I have never targeted them. I caught 3 one year, might try and top that this year. Most of my trapping is damage control, keeps me pretty busy

wws

Should be way easier now for big numbers now that those darn pesky muskrats arent plugging up the sets.

Would be tough here. I have witnessed mink numbers declining here in SE Nebraska. My catches are nowhere near where they were in 80s and 90s, and the sign gets harder to find too.
No clue why but just my observation. My buyer has commented on this to me several times too. Way fewer mink come through his door.
Jim

The last five ,six years at least our mink numbers have fallen off. A number of good minkers across the state have noticed the same thing. Bridges where you basically have been guaranteed a mink or two a season all of a sudden have none. I caught forty this year and in the past the same area would probably had twice that. I assume disease maybe as far fetched as it sounds Covid? I’m in the driftless area in the southeast so the best mink areas are west of me. In my general four county location a hundred mink at one time would be considered an excellent catch. In the flat ditch county of Minnesota I suppose 2,3 hundred would be the elite guys numbers.

If you ran a long line exclusively for mink and didnt do much of anything else in the fall, 50 would probably be doable.

I’ve caught a couple dozen in a season just in beaver and otter traps in a fairly small area. I imagine 100 would be possible if I put my mind to it

Around here if the muskrat numbers are low, the mink numbers are lower too. Mink eat a lot more than muskrats, but there is an impact

When I could trap the Road right a way and we had No check laws for water sets I would normally break the 80 # when trapping mink. Never caught a 100.

That's good trapping, in this area I would have to put on many, many miles to catch that many.

Mink cant be eating muskrats around here, they are virtually extinct and have been for many years, maybe a bonus meal once a month. My mink population has been booming and great the last I had trapped, anyhow.

As you can see traps set and time involved makes a difference most guys i knew considered 20 a great year for 1 /2 weeks trapped back then you had to slip into the water way downstream from your set wear gloves and cover your set with leaves from across the creek I prefered trapping land but always interested in tracks when you had the first good snow of the year every creek had mink tracks nowdays nothing

I’ve never really long lined for mink, but in 2013 I set 15 spots with almost two traps per spot and just trapped around home to the next town west 6 miles…caught 17 mink, and the following year caught 20 in a good rat year out near the lake while rat trapping and 4 were females that I released.

Do you remember what year that was? 831 is an incredible catch! Pics by any chance?

My best is 40. I think it’s dumb luck I got to that amount but I did it one time! A lot of work and a lot of area to cover

Like I said, "Around here..."

Folks like Gerald Schmitt, fossil and blackhammer are in the top spots for mink catches!

Areas that have a good mink population, have open water all season, and can trap during breeding season all important factors to consider.

Many people think Minnesota is the best, but there are at least three other states that have had larger numbers taken in a season than the year Gerald and Fossil have done.

beaver peeler,,,,i believe it was 98 or 99, but not sure. normally we did everything in 3 weeks time, no open water all season, and no trapping during breeding season, like Arkansas. the year we had 6 weeks was a fluke, or a blessing. taking 130+ mink a week for 6 weeks is something i wont soon forget. over 600 coon and whatever beaver, rats and otters were all incidentals also. busy busy.

I’ve caught my share but Gerald and Fossil are in a class by themselves in Minnesota with the numbers they put up. There’s a trapper or two in Iowa that have made some huge catches as well. Be interesting to see what mink catches will look like this fall. I personally doubt they get overproduced. It’s always fun to talk about big numbers in trapping. Talked about and running a longline are two different things. I’m making plans for fall and like everyone else thinking mink.

I d probably pick southern Iowa because of milder winters but a good quality mink. The South doesn’t have a great mink. Maybe with this year’s market that wouldn’t matter as much I don’t know. What states you thinking Mike?

blackhammer,,,good luck this fall. i'll get out a little at least. at my age, its good to remember the good years past, but i aint dead yet. like you say,,,see what happens.

southern iowa and arkansas have decent conditions, late season open water trapping, and a long time to catch. i dont have the time to run a couple hundred traps for so long down there. need to get in/out with the mink. southern mink keep coming all season off/on.

Fossil, go get them this fall so I can live vicariously through you lol. We should meet up in Sunberg one of these nights for supper.

Steve

steve,,,give me a call when youre in the area. im always hungry.

Tim I'm in Alex until the snow flies. I'll call you.

As far as what a respectable mink catch is, in my neighborhood I would say a 100. Weather can shut us down in days. If the weather cooperates higher if a feller can go all day every day and is willing to maybe spend the night somewheres.

In my immediate area,1 . But if you get in the crawfish ponds, a couple hundred.

A few years ago an Iowa coon trapper took 4000 coon. He took 800 incidental mink. He told this at the Iowa convention. He is not a story teller. He uses one basic chunk of carp in a hole at waters edge over and over all day long.

ROW trapping is not possible here anymore the theft rate is to high ,And they dont care if you know ,Watched a guy with a spotting scope once lift one from my set at the next stop he showed me his mink .Guy had a lot of money but no mink .

99 here couldnt catch that 100th , alot of traps, alot of hours.

I used to envy the areas Jim Spencer had on the farmland portion of his Arkansas line. The mountain portion I already had.

Spent many years trying to hit that 100 mark, very close but I couldn’t buy the last couple.
Then something clicked and started hitting/and or going above.
(This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) I miss those days!

What bait and or lure did you use in the pockets? Thanks.

What kind of trap numbers do you guys run? I want to do a couple hundred this year but see if I can acquire the extra hundred traps I need. I have right around 100 1-1/2s

You need more unless the weather cooperates

All depends how many traps you can run! If you can keep 100 traps set, baited, and moved regularly it’s time to look at getting more. Many trapping MN running full time will have 300+ traps out for mink.



Easy to get fish is the most popular things used. Bullheads heads are my favorite. Carp are popular. Muskrat is popular in areas, and I have used beaver before too.

I am not a big numbers mink guy but we have access to thousands of walleye heads so I used them for all my water sets-worked great. Going to set a couple hundred sets this fall for mink and see how many this older rat trapper can catch. Muskrat population is pretty good here right now and after our wet spring and summer I am sure the population will be good. I still remember when I started trapping muskrats heavy each fall and the mink would eat me out of house and home-buggers. Until I started chucking the leftover chewed up rat carcasses in baited pocket sets-they paid the price LOL. That got me hooked for a few years on mink-they are fun to catch. Love pulling up to a stop and seeing that furry tail floating-pure joy right there!

That furry tail sticking up is a feeling that non trappers cannot understand. I can see my first furry tail around 1978 like it was yesterday.

Same here, 1966, 1 1/2 coilspring, blind set.

1969 , , , in a #110 Conibear in a 'rat run into a bank in open water

Yep, 1962 1 1/2 long spring baited pocket set

Depends how hard you are willing to work, as much as a high population.

At an average of $50 a mink, I think we will all see what a respectable catch will be. I hope to hit 30. most years its 4-8. First mink was in a bank set in NJ, Denville area. It was a female. I think it was 1985.

Everyone is going to be a mink trapper all the sudden…

Yeah and that will drive the price up! I’ll sell ya the Brooklyn Bridge cheap. lol

Seriously doubt if the major auctions will be receiving much of a wave of prime, properly put up mink. There will be the bunch that will start soon as the season opens and take their carcass and/or skinned 'rats and mink to the local buyer or traveling 'rat wagon. Weighing $2 'rats and $10 mink they'll soon fold up when weighing fur check against expenses.

Next up will be those that will wait a bit, get out there and do a fair to good job with the catch and put up. They'll likely call it after a couple dozen mink and settle into the couch for the balance of the winter. Will sell to the 'rat wagon or send off to auction.

The group that will make a difference will more than likely be those mink trappers who have been waiting for this window of opportunity. Many of them realizing this might be the last hurrah in their trapping lifetime to match up a decent fur take with respectable prices offered. They'll be after 'em from November 'til the fur is no longer worthy of taking. Hoping the whole time the $40 average will be sustained through the later auctions.

If nothing else, there's a little excitement in the fur shed this year for the water trappers prepping for the upcoming season. Lets us be kids again.

I haven't made a mink set for years. This season I'm going to concentrate on beaver coon and rats.
With no ROW trapping mink trapping is not going to happen.

If I pocket set mink I will catch 6 or 7 coon for every mink in my area.

The ROW’s in Michigan will be crowded with trespassers that will also come with sticky fingers!! The one thing that could be a deterrent is that there aren’t any local buyers anymore whereas there was 5-6 at one time in the County years ago. So I think the days of seeing a person come into a buyers shop with an animal in one hand and a trap in the other asking how much for each are gone!!

2X. Our county is over 2800 sq miles. Zero local buyers.

My county is twice that size and no local buyers either.

No local fur buyers, sounds like an opportunity.

Yes, an opportunity for trappers that put up their own fur….

I'll take theft, competition and ROW over no ROW trapping and low prices.

You mink trappers are going to be a year late. If the basis is thirty dollars on mink that would be about the ceiling I think next season. Which I would be happy with. The issue to my thinking at least for me will be population. The bad flooding we’ve had won’t help and even before that we had much lower than our population of say ten years ago.

Many mink trappers. I'm afraid, are going to find out mink numbers are down most places. Wish I knew why.

Can you trap ROWs with permission from property owners?

Seldom did you not read the mink "catcher's" manifesto? Any bridge they can get under without being seen will be fair game come November is my guess.

Be just like decade or so ago when had ok prices. When you crawled down into the culvert/ditch that you had permission on, found it had already been set. Even if it was opening morning.

There will be no shortage of "catchers" out there. Mink catchers just like canine catchers----a dime a dozen. Upside is that's about all they will catch too. Hardly any canine trappers left and way less mink trappers. And last go around there were at least two buyers I can think of left in business in my parts (and probably 1-2 more up north of you). One is long deceased and the other lost enough money back then that you wont see him or the family ever buying again.

LOL! I agree with everything you said by golly! I’m too old to take care of business like I once did/could and besides, life is too short so I just move up stream & down and cut’em off.

I thought you were in a drought

We can get permission from landowners on some roads. But I'm not going to knock on 100s of doors to access a few wet culverts.

I'm sure I'm gonna have to share bridges and culverts this year I've had to myself for years. I'm okay with that, just part of the game.

I’d say several will quit after two or three gas fill ups. I’m fairly sure we don’t have near the mink, or rats, we used to have. Lots more coon, beaver and otters though.

Twelve inches of rain in twenty four hours ended that. One extreme or the other.

I could but I like it this way better, I'd prefer to not have to knock on hundreds and hundreds of doors. Also here the state and county rows are almost exclusively owned by the respective government agency. It's my land just as much as the guy who owns the land along side of it

Also here, the water is owned by the state. If we can legally access a navigable water body we can legally hunt, fish trap recreate etc on or in the water body regardless of who owns the land underneath. I hope to keep it that way. We have a long history of such accessible privileges, the only group whom lawmakers try to take it away from is trappers and the push is from anti trappers. Anything to make it harder and discourage participation.

In NY at least on County and Town roads the landowner pays taxes on the land including land UNDER the road. ROW would be ok only if I wasn’t taxed on that land.

What are the ROWs?

Right of way

The navigable waterway did not hold up for the Pa Steelheaders.
On one hand the fish are paid for by license,
and logs were floated on
those waters at one time.
On the other hand, the fishers act like entitled slobs.
It looked to me like Pa Steelhead Association
didn't stand a chance in court but I was not there.

Out of curiosity, are you related to Mort Neff that hosted Michigan Outdoors in the early years of that program

My strategy will be to figure out how to put the mink in the traps. Focus on the details as they develop. I’m excited for some opportunity and intend to exploit it. That’s trapping, figuring it out.

As a blind-setter by choice, I learned that knowing & understanding the inherent behaviors of mink to be most important along with prey habitat being of equal importance.

You guys that can consistently catch mink in blind sets deserve respect.

Its the only way to consistently catch them down here

In rural MN most county road R/Ws are owned by adjacent landowners, unless platted. County has an easement that they have sometimes purchased. Landowners do not pay taxes on acreage contained within R/W. State highway R/Ws can go both ways for sure.