Mink Scouting

Whats the easiest way to tell how much mink activity there is along a stream that is very rocky making it hard to see many tracks.

Toilets, places they will use regularly, where they will deposit piles of fish scales/vomit.

Wouldn't that look like an otter toilet?

I always see where mink have shat on top of the end of culverts.Culverts are deadly spots to set for mink.Even if there is no scat.

Is it a safe bet to say that most bridges with a healthy stream running under it will have mink passing under it.

Good chance there are mink there, not saying they will go under instead of over tho.

I look for tracks in soft mud along the creek.

Best way to find out is to set it up. I just assume there are mink and set it up.

Poo. Look for it. Spend a little time watching in the evening and morning. Its amazing how many cross over the bridge instead of going under it.

personally i don't scout. granted i have only targeted mink for the last 5 years or so but i don't bother with it. most places there is water at least a couple months out of the year will have mink. set traps.....

I see that here.
Also look for cattails

Now the hipster made some good points.
Some of those smaller culverts are bit to restrictive and mink will cross the road Instead of going through them.

The one thing about large culverts Is don't get to excited about the amount of tracks. Those tracks don't ever get washed out so they can be a bit deceiving.

Boco also made a good point. Mink are always taking a dump up on those culvert ends.

joe pennanti why have you been scouting 20 hrs a week?

how do i distinguish between mink and muskrat in a culvert or a crossing? besides tracks?

I scout for fur everytime I'm out. I commercail fish for bait fish in the spring,summer and fall.I'm always look'n for animal sign.

Some of the best places to look for mink sign.Have not been talked about on this post,so far.
Dont know if I'll open up on them here.

I WILL do a talk about what I have learned over the years at the MINKFEST this year.Also Those who have attended our SOUTH JERSEY TRAPPING AND SNARING SCHOOL.And those who will attend this year WILL get this information.

Vinke

I know that I could really help you with your mink and muskrat knowledge. (Wink, wink) Probably even allow you to pick up your cage trapping game. (More winks)
I do not advertise but I offer one on one instructions for many animals including mink. I have quite an area that I will exclude potential students from but I think you are far enough away.

Part of the instruction will include how to determine mink poop from muskrat poop. Believe me, I know my poop. I have tread through plenty, and some of it has stuck.
You will learn where mink raise their young, which is typically not near culverts. You will learn about the fall migration of mink and how to take advantage of that movement.
You will learn that you do not need to know a skinny million mink sets. You just need to know what the top two sets are and stick with those. And, those sets can be modified to work with cages.

Vinke, just private mail me and we can work out the details. For the record I have taken lessons from many of the best trappers in the country, past and present. You are really in luck that I am willing to fit you in.

Mac

When eather is in the trap/snare, you'll know.

Just like otter trap'n/snare'n You catch a lot of beaver.

Actually I think It's pretty much a given If you stop at all bridge and culverts along the road system and do a little scouting your going to be able to tell If you have mink on that stream.

Taking long walks down all these small or large streams Is going to be a waste of time In my opinion. In most cases If there are mink on that water coarse they are going to make It to those bridges and culverts In their travels.
Female mink will raise their young In small brushy areas that lead to those steams. But for the most Those mink aren't going to stay In those areas once they are weaned.

The way our road systems are today you should be able to cross most steams multiple times. Gang set every stop and you will be good to go.

Mink don't leave a lot of sign so not seeing tracks Isn't a game changer. And to be up front with you I have never seen where mink are up chucking like otter do. And I have trapped a ton of mink In my day.

This Is my parting shot.

Once the season Is over for you guys that have freezing conditions and snow. This Is the time to SCOUT FOR MINK. Tracks don't lie.

Come on man a mink Is going to be up chucking like a otter. LOL

Big mink

For the most part rats don't do much dry land traveling unless It's In the spring during the mating season. Rats during the trapping season have established their home turf and will have under water runs leading from their dens to their feeding areas. And for the most part If there are large culverts or bridges they will travel through them. Rats are preyed on by just about everything so they pretty much stay In the water where It's bit safer. But that only applies before the Little head takes over the thinking for the big head. LOL


So If you find nice tight narrow trail through the grass leading around the culvert. You can pretty much bet It's a mink trail. So Instead of trying to hang snares or place body gripes In those trails just place a foot hold where the trail enters or leaves the water.

Good luck.

Beav is right.
Altho I have a dyke on my trapline. Where I snare muskrats crossing it .High and dry.Water in both sides.

Now when actually trapping them do you guys try blending in your conibears at all in blind sets?

I blend in the sides a little.

Another point i see is that mink like to travel cover(doesnt have to have water in the cover) between larger bodies of water.

I would say no.

Mink can live in small streams and drainages and marsh land not so with the larger otter.
You may find mink living in otter habitat but you won't find many otter living In prime mink habitat.

Water sheds change with the seasons as do populations that can die or migrate, so for me personally, it doesn't seem worth my time to scout during the spring or summer months. It will seldom be a true indication of the population, come late fall or winter, when mink are prime. If I have that much time, I'll spend it fishing !

they do on Newt's line in Jersey. Otters and mink and rats in the same big marshes. Newt is the go to guy on that.

Nobody has came up with the first places I find mink sign.

Along a creek?

Boat ramps

The woods...

Well are ya gonna leave us hanging? Or do we have to pay?

The fish cleaning station.

I set alot mink traps on bridges. Not all bridges are mink bridges. Some mink pass under a bridge never to return again. Looking forward to minktoberfest. As Don Powell once said mink don't always do anything. Don't ever forget that.

I will say the number one mink set for me is not under a bridge. Every trapline varies to some degree. Always keep an open mind and never get stuck in your ways.

Must be a lot of fish cleaning stations in NJ...….none on my line.

"Sign"
In "Newt's World" means
Tracks
Scat
Trails
#1 -Places most likly where a target animal is most likly go as they make their way around their home range.
With mink,on a salt marsh .Tracks and scat are seldom found.

Dont ever rember making a set at a fish cleaning station.

who said anything about making any sets. We were talking about sign. I have even fed a few mink at those fish cleaning stations.

I will remember salt water marshes the next time Im on a coast trapping mink...…. No wonder nobody got that one.

Sign doesn't usually hang around long here either Newt. Water is always going up and down.

I scout when i'm setting traps. They're here, no sense scouting really.

Sign lasts longer under bridges protected from rain.

I don't scout, I just set a likely line. Not just for mink.

You can certainly go out with the theory that mink will be on any waterway so just set them up. In areas with good populations of mink that is probably quite true, so the trappers that suggested this are correct.

But having said that I think that it is not a bad idea to confirm there are mink on a given waterway. I have talked to some very good trappers that cold rolled into an area only to find that they were not going to catch many mink. In the summer months a lot of mink are raised way back in the willy whacks up on feeder streams or in old ponds or bogs that have a lot of feed. Sometimes you can really luck out if you hit these areas early before freeze up. Sometimes they disperse early in the fall but not usually. If the back in area has a lot of groceries many of the mink do not venture near a road until things freeze tight, and sometimes not then.

Finding sign as Newt described is what I look for. For me it is mostly tracks or droppings. Even on rocky streams there will be sand and or mud patches to find track on. Droppings are often left on culverts as mentioned or on rocks near culverts. Also you will find dropping on trees that lean out over or that fall across waterways. They seem to like to find a rock to deposit their droppings even away from roads.
Mink trails? I have never trapped in an area with a high enough population to say you could find trails. I suspect there are such areas
The exception would be one of those back in ponds or swamps I referenced above.

If there are mink on a waterway you can usually find sign, if you take the time to look.
mac

Old muskrat trails through the grass are mink trails!Set them and be patient. Also mink trails are sometimes quite obvious in snow. The most obvious mink sign I've seen is where they are fishing like an otter and tunneling under the ice. Also mink dens with piles of scat.

Scouting doesn't hurt a bit, lots to be learned.

Some people are comfortable not setting foot at a place until they set a trap and some need to look for where the critters are. I was taught by a fella that could cold roll into a place, look at it and know right where to set his fox traps. He did extremely well too.

It's like anything, some folks are a natural and some have to work at it. Walk them banks, even old pro's learn something new every time they walk a stream bank.

Beaverponds here are fur pockets,and beaver houses as well as dams are mink magnets.
It takes hardly any extra effort to kick in a couple of pocket sets at a beaver house or dam if you are trapping some beaver before or at freeze up.

That was my point...….sarcasm.....

I caught 2 mink this year, bringing my life's total to 4 mink. 2 5ish years ago....1 I caught at a small seasonal stream in spring, 1 I shot along a roadside ditch while waiting at a beaver pond as he ran the bank. The other 2 I got this winter, late Dec, in -30C weather, in the same set,a mile away from any water in a foot of snow on my coyote line. Both were big males and one got me top lot at NAFA, the other a grade less. So why were they there? What kept them there...methinks I know.
I have seen their tracks in the same locations on my coyote line in the winter for years and this year I set 1 box for them, thinking it was big ermine. In both locations, meaning woodlots, are many bunnies. One is new growth polar, lots of rabbit food. One is the dense-est h$#llhole of a bush I know, many rabbits live there, as there is a lot of cover
That's my theory, anyways, as to why the mink are there.Food. And in both places there are many voles, so many I chase them from my boxes on almost every check. (I only had one box apiece where I saw the mink tracks) I believe the voles increase in population is also responsible for the Marten I'm now seeing and trapping in agricultural Manitoba. They go where they have the best chance of finding food, and where that is depends on your trap line's habitat...again this is just me speculating. I will see if I get more in those woods next year.

When I trapped In Ontario our go to mink sets were baited boxes along open water sources. WE even caught a few mink In elevated marten boxes set along creeks and lake shores.

In January and February I catch the odd huge bush mink in elevated marten boxes,miles from any water.
I wouldn't scout for mink there.
Feb 24,I bet he was travelling between watersheds like otter often do,looking for a mate,when he was lured in with the fish oil.

My mink scouting if you can call it that consist of riding 4 wheeler and checking habitat but I often come across fresh mink sign in the process. These are the locations I checked this morning. I live in the middle of flat farm country and have little trapping competition especially for mink. There is only one natural waterway (Big Cicero Creek) that holds water year round and all of the man made drainages have to drain into it fortunately it runs near my home. In the fall when water levels come back up the mink and rats leave Big Cicero and head back up the creeks making them slightly predictable. I have been working on trapping mink more the last couple of years and thanks to guys on here am starting to figure them out a little better.

The second pic is a typical drainage you cant tell but there is about a foot of water under all of those weeds. The fifth pic is of fresh wet mink tracks where he left the ditch to cross over the road.

Do some of you get several mink in 1 area, and then find that that same area producea well again the next year?

Like otter,there are some spots that produce year after year.
Good blind sets are often like that although a good baited set on target can also be a yearly producer.Often several mink each season.
I start looking for scats and tracks in September while grouse hunting to see what kind of numbers are on the landscape in any year.

What Boco said. I make a lot of mink sets around culverts and field tiles.

great post but come on newt and tell us the secret.

if i had to find mink sign,first place i'd head is one of the 2 trout hatcheries on my line.

I was playing, but trail cams are an option.

Just a few observations; I have never seen signs of mink regurgitating their food, mink scat and muskrat poop look entirely different, culverts are dynamite, but the first place thieves look.
I want streams with good cover, mink don't like crossing long open areas. Often on rocky streams sign is hard to find. I like to move up or down stream and locate blind locations that force the mink into the water.

One final comment. I love trapping mink, but with today's prices I will not put much effort into chasing them.

Good catches of mink can be made when trapping other water based furbearers without going out of your way or adding any extra expense to your operation.
Never in my life have I set out a trapline exclusively for mink.I always take mink when trapping beaver.

Most long line coon trappers take huge numbers of mink. They probably catch more by accident than I do on purpose. The trick is trying to keep coon out of mink sets.

2X. Remember when rats “covered the gas expenses “. Now it’s almost all furbearers. lol

I had some baited mink pocket sets (water) out in February and still caught 4 raccoons!!

I think that is the case with a lot of people. Too bad the prices are so low.

That's 160 hours.

Joepen. 160 hrs scouting with maybe a catch of 10 or 12 mink at 10 dollars each comes to about 120 bucks. Not a very good average 1.33 EACH. Now subtract your gas at 3.00 dollars a gallon and you are going to start your season way in the hole.

You would be better off spending those hours getting permission. 160 hours adds up to a lot of land to trap.

Locations, Locations, Locations are the 3 most important elements in significant mink catches. Many good points in this thread. I agree even the rockiest areas have areas where tracks can often be detected. Mink in our area are have a low density so finding sign is often by good fortune as trail cameras prove that some of my areas may not have a mink go through for months at times and then during season it may be possible to catch a couple. Habitat can be a good indicator of a probable population (just as a cornfield often indicates that whitetails will likely be present). I like to understand where the water I'm trapping is coming from and where it is going to. Then the location gains value if above is a swamp and below is a bigger stream as an example. Are there fish and crayfish in the water? Mice and rabbit along the banks? Muskrats? Personally, I like to run my line throughout the year to know the amount of miles I'll be travelling, How far from the truck will I be setting and walking? What type of sets?- pockets, blinds, surface blinds, depth of water, types of anchorings and platforms needed as well as stabilizers. Will I hide anchors/ plates? I'm not a cold roller but rather a line developer with a progressive approach to cover more locations then add as I go down to check yesterdays sets. This keeps me adjusting- "Patience has no place on a mink line but rather diligence is what is needed". To many I have rode with take a peek and move on. Good Mink Trappers I have seen like Nittany Lion who is probably approaching 60 years of age goes down to the trap and breaks the ice, or makes the bed deeper or raises it up depending upon the need." WIN THE MOMENT and WIN THE DAY!
All trappers face 4 concerns
#1 A Mink may pass along your chosen location only once per season.
#2 Trappers may not cover the course the mink may choose
#3 Trappers may aid the mink in missing the trap by using poor guides or stepping sticks incorrectly.
#4 Often weather may make a properly located trap inoperable because of ice or water depth
#5 It is a numbers game and infrequent catches sap the energy from a potential minker - I Work to reach critical mass so each day I have something to show for my efforts. This catching of Mink After Mink On Purpose is more rewarding. - Just don't ask me how you can make a profit trapping them as I haven't figured that out yet.

As usual, Don is 100% correct it is Location, Location ,Location.
One thing I might add (I only use snares in dry land blind sets), is get down to look at your set location. The average trapper is viewing the set from an eyeball level of 5+ feet off the ground, the mink sees it from an eyeball level of 4 inches. Many times that height difference makes a blind set location look completely different.
The 3 locations that I look for are a tree stump or log jam in the middle of a stretch of stream that has no obvious cover (see first picture). Every mink will explore around it for a time before zipping thru the area of no cover. Almost always there is a toilet spot there. Second is a pinch point between a rock, tree or in this second picture an old bridge abutment. Third is a beaver bank lodge, abandoned or active, either attracts every mink traveling the stream/river. Eric

Tracks. More tracks. When the first snowfall hits just walk the creeks. Won't only tell you if you got mink but will show you some dandy places to make blind sets

I personally don't worry about finding tracks, or if there is a swamp above or below me, location or populations- how do you figure that out anyway? I just make sets that fit the situation and hope for the best. Concentrate on bridges, culverts, tributaries and pools and you will eventually connect. There are always a few around.
You guys stressing location, do you mean "micro" location or "stretch of creek" location?

Fmjoutdoors, being your are from PA, you ought to buy Don Powell's Mink Trapping Book and/or Mink Trapping DVD. If you are not confident in picking locations, Don's book and DVD will greatly shorten the learning curve. Plus Don is from PA also, so the information he shares, is exactly what you need to know for your area.

Just google it

hmmmm

I never look for mink sign , i look for mink set locations .
Come to Minktoberfest , you will learn alot from stream line demo's .

Hey Newt
How about anywhere there are muskrats and or fish.
just

I'm wanting to catch some here in GA before I move out to mink-less AZ

you'd be hunting snipe looking for sign on 75 percent of my line.learn how to blind set a bridge or sluice right and go do that 50 times in a circle ending and starting at home.after 30 yrs,there will be places you don't go anymore,and ones you can't wait to get to.and just cause you draw a blank at a stop one year,don't think it won't have mink another year.

What about ponds...
Do many of you like trapping mink around the edges of ponds?

Inlets and outlets on ponds and marshes are about as good as it gets. Think pinch points, it's really no different than trapping anything else.