Mink and the catching of - getting desperate - can game wardens help

[Inkheart]

Have lsot several hens to a wiley lil mink - classic neck bite marks - heads gone etc. Have set smaller traps using sardines as i hear they like fish ansd so forth. They have managed not to get caught and have somehow gotten the sardines out with out gettign caught. Just yesterday lost another hen while i was home! Was out in the chicken yard with my dog - nothing - went back out an hour later hen dead and beheaded in usual mink style -never even heard the ruckus. Can local game wardens or anyhting help? Can anyone give tips that i havent covered?

 

[Nslangton]

there was a thread a while back that mentioned a buried jug as a trap that seemed to have great success. I cant find it now. I live on Mink Road and have Mink Run Creek running through my backyard, so I too am paranoid about them. They sunbath during the day on a nearby bridge, so I know they are out during the day daily. I would maybe try to trap it using raw chicken parts, since that seems to be what he likes. Hope you catch him. I will forward the link about the jug when I can find it.

 

[Inkheart]

Thank you sooo much if you can find it!

 

[akashia26]

get a funnel fish trap. it is made of wire and on each end there is a wire funnel. the long points on the wire point into the trap. when something, usually fish but works for other animals, goes in they force the wires to spread but when they try to leave the points dig in to the face and shoulders.

another way would be a steel trap or large rat trap baited with sardines in nylons. they make it harder for the critter to get the bait without tripping the trap. with either the idea is to catch them by the head. it's usually instant death. i just hope it's a mink and not a skunk.

 

[Inkheart]

Thank you so much - the funnel fish trap i have not heard of - been using sardines and the lil bugger gets the trap flipped. It is now bolted to the ground . It got three more hens and my rooster last night. This is a horrible war on one tiny critter. Thanks you

 

[Darin115]

Is it getting into your coop or just catching them while they are running around the yard?
If in a coop just find the hole the little varmit is using and set a steel trap at the hole. Won't be long you will have a trapped mink. You will have to kill it if it actually catches his leg.

Darin

 

[Inkheart]

It is getting them while free ranging - so i have started locking them up while i am not at home . however last night after being out there ten - 15 minutes earlier as i went inside the house - i went back and i found three dead more. Not killing them in the barn at all.

 

[centrarchid]

If losses to mink that frequent, you need to make visual on predator to confirm. Loosing roosting birds if they are more than a few feet up indicates somebody else is at play.

 

[Inkheart]

thanks but they are not roosting when it happens - free ranging - and they are beheaded and bite marks around the neck -

 

[centrarchid]

Leave dog out with chickens.