Read with interest Mike Marsyada's recent Bait and Lure Workshop article in the July/August Trapper's Post. Opening paragraph might've been controversial to some here as I've noted posts indicating a belief that any mink gland lure might deter some mink from visiting the set. Later on he shared that he'd caught muskrats in mink sets that were lured with mink gland lure. Hmmmm . . . so I'm slowly getting gear together for the upcoming season and thinking maybe use some lure in some sets and other sets no lure and maybe think outside my own box on some new ideas to keep things interesting . . . and then I had to go ahead and read this article.

That got me to thinking about how I diversified for a little while back in the 80s, running a typical waterline but also dryland sets for 'coon. That lasted 'til '87 when the good times quit rolling on 'coon. And that's the last year I ran any set that wouldn't qualify tor the four-day check here in Wisconsin, meaning submerged critters.

So I daily ran 42 cages in a nearby campground and maybe three dozen dirt hole sets on a couple of farms. That about took up whatever available time I had after work. But I experimented with lure at the dirt hole sets.

Some fella at the fall WTA rondy one of those years convinced me to try some bobcat gland lure to catch big 'coon. I tried it and I did indeed catch big 'coon. Whether or not that made any difference I do not recall, but what I do recall . . . were the mink caught in those dirt hole sets quite a ways from any water source using bobcat gland lure. I really didn't give it any trial and error time, just noted I was catching mink in dirt hole sets where I wouldn't have thought mink traveled in the first place. But they are up in the hills too, as evidenced by dead mink on the road in the strangest places sometimes.

Bobcat gland lure.

Others?

My first mink came when I was in college and running a small fox line on some farms near the school. I had some sets along a small creek and was using a bait made by a trapper (Gene) who caught a lot of fox and just rotted down woodchuck or beef, if he got a dead calf on occasion. And it was some nasty smelling bait but he was a 100 plus fox a year on it.

I had always read and been told you have to have fresh bait for mink. They won't come to tainted or rotten meat, so I was told. I caught this mink in a dirt hole with Gene's bait and some O.L. Butcher fox #1 and a sprinkle of urine.

I have since occasionally picked up mink in similar sets for coyotes with rotted down beaver. So apparently they aren't always put off by tainted meat. Still surprises me to pick up a mink in a fox/coyote set.

Lots of animals rhat dont consume rotten meat are attracted to the smell of rotten meat because they know they find good things to eat - things that do eat rotten meat.

???????

I think it's a curiosity thing more then a hunger thing.

Predators are all opportunists, so I would think that the hint or promise of a tid bit or meal would cause interest. Whether it be rank or some what spoiled they will come to investigate just to determine if it may pan out so to speak. Like Beav stated the Curosity factor is always part of their daily routine as well.

I know nothing about mink but years ago I developed a coyote lure that had real mink glands and rat glands in it. I send it up north to a guy to test. He put in some dirt holes using it in front of cameras. He told me later I should sell it as a mink lure as he said he had several pics of mink dancing all over those test sets. I dont have mink to test it on here so I never really have pushed it as a mink lure.

Yes sir, I’ve been using a little mink gland lure at some of my photo sets for years as a change up. If the location is good, like a weedy fencerow leading to a pond or creek, I can’t tell you how many mink I’ve caught at dirtholes at those locations. And then the remake is a coyote magnate.
Jim