I've been reading almost all the threads on here about mink. I'm still kinda lost on exactly what "sign" I need to look for to tell if I have mink around.
I have a nice sized creek that I've been looking at for the last few years and I still have no idea if I even have mink around.
The creek has some small fish in it here & there, plenty of squirrels around.
I've seen a couple of ermine out of season but I'm in the same boat for them too.
Any advice helps. Thanks

I don't look for sign really. If there's food and water, there will be mink.

If you look really close st exposed mud/sand you can probably see the tracks if they're not trampled over by other critters sometimes you'll see scary on culverts or rocks near the water . Partial remains of crawfish and frogs in the water can be signs of a minks meal.

For me (who patrols the rivers) the sign I see is invariably tracks. On occasion I find where a mink has helped itself to a trapped nutria or rat. In the early spring I often see them.

Tracks and scat.
After a rain swells the crick, then the water drops down. Go look for tracks in sand and mud.
I often find scat here on top of culverts that the ditches and cricks go through

There's no sand or mud to really speak of, maybe under the rocks in the creek. No crawdads & the warmest the water gets even in summer mo ths is maybe 40 - 42 degrees average is bout 38 degrees. It's all glacial til, trees, snake grass with a little bit of tall grass. But mostly rocks & trees.
I went down after the snow we had yesterday and the only tracks I saw were squirrel tracks running the logs over the creek.

Got a Game Camera? If no A.I. in the vicinity, beg, borrow or steal one (LOL) for use where you might set a trap later. Leave in place for approx. 1 week (or 1 good weather change), check any pictures/videos and move to another spot. These cameras turned a lot of us into dreamers, scheemers and liars when it comes to wild animal behavior and populations. At least it did me. Then if you have animal activity on one, go and use your "baby blues" to see if you can equate any animal pictures to "in the field sign" left by its presence. It will require some shoe leather but seeing a picture is worth that 1000 words' of advice. My Experience..................... the mike