Any sign of female mink

patdahat

I have the cages and traps set now with 2 months and have about a dozen males and not 1 female. Has anyone been catching big numbers of females?

Longranger

All males bar one for me in the last three months too!

minktrapper

One male caught

Eddie B

It's much easier to catch buck mink than bitch mink, mainly due to the fact that buck mink have a much wider territorial range than the bitch! So when you set a cage and catch the first mink, it's usually bucks that take over the territory, and so you catch mostly bucks!

The bitch mink is happy enough staying in its small hunting range, and so unless your lucky enough to set your cage within that range, you wont get many females!

Terrier

Hopefully the NARGC will release all the data from the Mink Bounty system for each county. It would give a good picture of where mink are being trapped and may also show potential areas where Mink could be targeted.

( and before the NARGC bashing starts I know plenty of Mink will be trapped and not recorded because trappers are not part of the NARGC)

anthonyos

any mink near Dublin i seen one on the canal near lucan few years ago early one morning just wondering would there be more around or is it a lone ranger

patdahat

where there's 1 there is 2

anthonyos

what part of the county are you setting your traps you seem to be having luck

Eddie B

anthonyos wrote: »

any mink near Dublin i seen one on the canal near lucan few years ago early one morning just wondering would there be more around or is it a lone ranger

Practically every river, canal, stream in the country will have mink present! Those that aren't trapped regularly, will probably have a large population of mink, and if your seeing them during the day, well that's a sign that there's lot's about!

anthonyos

are mink not territorial i do be thinking that there might be lets say 1 mink per squire mile and placing a trap for they is like a needle in a hay stack or is it a case there could several in the same area?????

Birdnuts

anthonyos wrote: »

are mink not territorial i do be thinking that there might be lets say 1 mink per squire mile and placing a trap for they is like a needle in a hay stack or is it a case there could several in the same area?????

They are only really territorial during the breeding season - there is a large "floating" population that will quickly move in to fill any gaps left when the most dominant males are removed. A number of female mink will be present in the territory of any dominant males during the breeding season.

anthonyos

thanks for the info really appreciated...i have 3 new traps coming tomoro will i have weather them or can they be used straight from the box

brahma

Use gloves when taking them out and setting them, with our weather they shouldnt be long getting weathered.Where did you get your new traps?

anthonyos

i got them from limerick poultry supplies 67 euro for 3 incl delivery {e20 each} to Dublin it the double entry type one first time getting them any good

brahma

anthonyos wrote: »

i got them from limerick poultry supplies 67 euro for 3 incl delivery {e20 each} to Dublin it the double entry type one first time getting them any good

Ya I get stuff from them aswell, the same ones are 33 each at maceoin.

anthonyos

brahma wrote: »

Ya I get stuff from them aswell, the same ones are 33 each at maceoin.

ye i seen that quiet a big difference are the dimensions the same as the mac eoin ones i was thinking after a bought them the might be smaller considering the price difference.have you been trapping recently yourself

patdahat

I have used many different type of cage's and them double entry 1's I found are the worst type going. You will find the way the door's are hinged it's not very secure, the bars can move slightly left and right. Also the weld/tack doesnt seem to hold for very long on the door's. The first 3 I got I payed €25 each in a hunting supplies shop happy with that i was, a week later i got another 3 in a hardware shop for €20, identical to other's id seen priced by the poultry suppliers. At the start they were great job catching and holding mink but after a couple of weeks the cage 's were been set off bait eaten and empty. I found that the mink find's a piece of the cage with the slightest bit of give in it they will hold at it until they make thier escape. I lost to many mink with them cages so i burried them.
Now i found what i consider the best cage to keep a mink from escaping is'a a single entry cage with a double hinged door, they are around the €27 ish mark and well worth the extra few quid. Sense using these cages i have never had a mink escape out of them. That's what I found anyway.

the single entry double hinged door type cage

brahma

I have a couple set around my own site but haven't seen a mink in ages, they are the same size alright just goes to show you should shop around. The double entry ones can also be set as single entry by just setting one door. My ones seem to be well built anyway.