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Posted: 1/16/2017 10:09:44 PM EDT

Two of these fuckers were helping themselves to my pond full of fish today. One fucker got popped and the other hasn't been seen since.

Posted: 1/16/2017 10:36:49 PM EDT

[#1]

Quoted:
Two of these fuckers were helping themselves to my pond full of fish today. One fucker got popped and the other hasn't been seen since.

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Got a pic of the one you popped? Your description leads me to believe you may have shot a small otter.

ETA: Mink don't travel in pairs. They are solitary and will kill each other over territory. Otters, on the other hand, will be happy to pair up to clean out your pond. Should an otter get trapped or shot, it is my experience that the other(s) will make itself/themselves scarce. I thought the first otter I ever caught was a mink until I actually got physically close enough to pull it out of the water and remove it from the trap. I can see how you may make the mistake down the barrel of a firearm.

If you don't have a pic, you can also tell the difference by how they were swimming.

Posted: 1/16/2017 11:13:55 PM EDT

[#2]

And since you have me thinking about otters, just for giggles, here is the one that guards my safe.

Posted: 1/17/2017 1:09:40 AM EDT

[#3]

Hmm, interesting. This fucker was a pretty small shit. Pond has goldfish and a few bluegill in it. I believe the bastard is hold up under the front deck where a groundhog had previously been. Hell this summer I popped 2 or 3 damn groundhogs.

Posted: 1/17/2017 2:25:06 AM EDT

[#4]

If he's a mink he has to eat constantly, as he doesn't carry an excess of body fat. Chances are, if it is a mink, it is miles down the creekbed along his journey. Otters will be similarly nomadic and won't hang out either. Actually, otters run slightly larger patterns. Both can be patterned.

A mink's need to travel is the same reason that you can call in or trap a coyote when it gets below about 20 degrees, but you will only rarely find a coon in your trap at the same temperature. Mink and coyote require food regardless of conditions; coons have fat and hole up on the really bad days.

While I have a significant number of pelts in my reloading room to claim otherwise, I may be wrong. My comments are just based on time spent trying to get them to put a foot on a 2 inch pan.

Posted: 1/17/2017 10:57:37 AM EDT

[#5]

Muskrats run in pairs also, and can vary in size. I've popped quite a few out of my big pond from time to time. I've had several friends mistake them for Otters when they show up briefly. They can ruin a pond dam over time.

Posted: 1/17/2017 6:27:40 PM EDT

[#6]

The easiest way to tell if it is a muskrat is that they always float. Mink and otter normally sink. I've had beaver do both.

Posted: 1/17/2017 6:29:51 PM EDT

[#7]

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Quoted:
Muskrats run in pairs also, and can vary in size. I've popped quite a few out of my big pond from time to time. I've had several friends mistake them for Otters when they show up briefly. They can ruin a pond dam over time.

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I don't know where you are at, but if you want them gone and are anywhere near the center of the state, drop me a line next fall. Pelt prices are WAY down, but I've never trapped because of the money anyway.

Posted: 1/18/2017 9:09:47 PM EDT

[#8]

Haven't seen the fuckers since I popped one of them off!!

Posted: 1/19/2017 3:12:15 AM EDT

[#9]

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Quoted:
Muskrats run in pairs also, and can vary in size. They can ruin a pond dam over time.

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I had a real bad rat problem on my acrerage a couple years ago. They burrowed right through the clay core in my pond dam in 3 different spots. Drained the whole pond in less than a week.

Posted: 1/19/2017 11:02:49 AM EDT

[#10]

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Quoted:

Got a pic of the one you popped? Your description leads me to believe you may have shot a small otter.

ETA: Mink don't travel in pairs. They are solitary and will kill each other over territory. .

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Tell that to the three mink that I watched from my deer blind for two days during bow season.

Posted: 1/19/2017 11:18:03 PM EDT

[#11]

I've pulled in twofers on traps that were 10 feet apart. In my experience, it just isn't the norm.

Posted: 1/20/2017 10:04:30 AM EDT

[#12]

I saw two mink a few days ago at my farm near Melcher-Dallas. I wonder if the only two times I have seen them in the daylight is because they might be escapees from near by domestic mink operations and are not that adept at hunting alone or are so used to being near other mink that they will stay paired up?

Posted: 1/20/2017 6:10:04 PM EDT

[#13]

The fact they are farmed made me question my observations, so I looked it up. Turns out farmed mink are significantly different from wild ones and while wild ones are solitary and intolerant of other minks, apparently they do interact a little more than I thought.

I love to trap, and I've gotten a lot out of this thread. Thanks guys.

Posted: 1/20/2017 8:33:32 PM EDT

[#14]

Used to be a mink farm 3/4 mile from my place and my wife said when the farm was operational a bunch of PITA people went and let hundreds of them out and they wondered all over the place searching for food. lots died and some raided my father in laws pigeons and bird food for his pigeons

Posted: 1/22/2017 9:14:41 PM EDT

[#15]

Jes,
Where are you at? There used to be mink farms west of Ankeny years ago and we have more than our fair share of them. And they will raid a fish pond in pairs. I have an acquaintance who has a Coy pond in his back yard just west of the Ankeny John Deere plant and they have been fighting this war for years with the local minks.
kwg

Posted: 1/22/2017 11:17:34 PM EDT

[#16]

As a little kid I remember the mink farm west of Ankeny on old Hwy 415.

Posted: 1/26/2017 10:52:01 PM EDT

[#17]

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Quoted:
As a little kid I remember the mink farm west of Ankeny on old Hwy 415.

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I used to find dead mink on SW Oralabor just south of the DMACC pond every so often while I was working night shift years ago. Apparently, they don't dodge cars well. Since trapping in Iowa is almost a thing of the past, there should be a good population of Mink in Iowa.

kwg

Posted: 1/29/2017 11:58:38 PM EDT

[#18]

Quote History

Quoted:
Jes,
Where are you at? There used to be mink farms west of Ankeny years ago and we have more than our fair share of them. And they will raid a fish pond in pairs. I have an acquaintance who has a Coy pond in his back yard just west of the Ankeny John Deere plant and they have been fighting this war for years with the local minks.
kwg

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Bremer County south of Waverly. I'm not sure of there could be a mink farm near here or not. This is the first time in my life that I've seen one of them.

Posted: 2/1/2017 8:00:48 PM EDT

[#19]

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Quoted:

Bremer County south of Waverly. I'm not sure of there could be a mink farm near here or not. This is the first time in my life that I've seen one of them.

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A couple of friends of mine used to trap in the early 1970's. On a rare occasion they would get a mink. They trapped in a prime area for them but they just were rare. Fast forward 45 years and very few folks trap anymore. I'm sure the population has recovered. My guess the prime time to trap for Mink and like animals was prior to the depression up to WWII where trapping was probably curtailed by the numbers of folks who went to war. There was probably a short period after WWII where trapping made a recovery and this reduced the total numbers of mink again. We used to have several places that would buy pelts in our small town up to the middle 1970's. I came back from the Army in 1976 and they were both gone.

If you are close to big water, either a river or a lake, that might put you in the middle of mink territory. If the mink numbers are up, they are probably looking for fishing opportunities where they do not compete with other mink. I think they pair up and like a lot of territory to call their own. My wife is from Jesup. I know the Wapsi runs close to her folks place.
kwg

Posted: 2/1/2017 11:43:27 PM EDT

[#20]

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Quoted:

Bremer County south of Waverly. I'm not sure of there could be a mink farm near here or not. This is the first time in my life that I've seen one of them.

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If you want to know more about their normal habits, I suggest an internet search outside of this thread. A good place to start is here.

Posted: 2/3/2017 12:14:48 AM EDT

[#21]

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Quoted:

If you want to know more about their normal habits, I suggest an internet search outside of this thread. A good place to start is here.

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After reading this and see that mink eat muskrats, apparently the mink are more prevalent than I assumed. It's been a long time since I have seen a muskrat. I also see that male mink abandon the females after they mate. Is this bad?

kwg

Posted: 3/1/2017 6:00:14 PM EDT

[#22]

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Quoted:

After reading this and see that mink eat muskrats, apparently the mink are more prevalent than I assumed. It's been a long time since I have seen a muskrat. I also see that male mink abandon the females after they mate. Is this bad?

kwg

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Quoted:

Quoted:

If you want to know more about their normal habits, I suggest an internet search outside of this thread. A good place to start is here.

After reading this and see that mink eat muskrats, apparently the mink are more prevalent than I assumed. It's been a long time since I have seen a muskrat. I also see that male mink abandon the females after they mate. Is this bad?

kwg

Guys I know use rats as bait for mink. I work In Jesup.

Posted: 3/1/2017 6:58:16 PM EDT

[#23]

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Quoted:
Guys I know use rats as bait for mink. I work In Jesup.

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I do.

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