Mink problem

[byron]

Seems that I now have a Mink problem. Ain't enough that the area is infested with Foxes (one killed a Cockerel today in front of the Eileen) now I got Mink to contend with. There was a huge Pike laying near my boat house that was obviously a Pike victim.
You'd think there'd be people who'd trap them for free just for the skins. I could buy a trap and they are notoriously easy to catch. However the law requires I kill them when caught and this is something I am unable to do. Strangely enough I would have no problem with killing a Fox, if I owned a gun.

 

[sarabande]

Wicked blighters, aren't they ? Death to thousands of young birds, fish, and other animals.

No wanting to kill a trapped mink is understandable as a personal undertaking. There are legal ways of killing trapped mink which do not involve weaponry or naked steel.

PM me for further info ?

 

[dash300]

Had a couple last year in the trap on our little landing stage. Dispatch and disposal is simple but mindful of the pink and fluffies on here will leave it to pm if you wish as per sarabands offer.

 

[byron]

Naah! I will speak to one of our hunting, killing and shooting locals. Let them deal with it. They are already making arrangements to kill the Fox for me.

 

[sturmvogel190a]

Byron are you saying the Pike was out of the water?? and if so was it eaten around the gill/chin/shoulder area and the rest left alone ?? if so classic Otter....
Some big old hen pike die around now often spawnbound ie they didnt get rid of there eggs and a mink may have come across this and dragged it out .
I did see a few mink whilst fishing around the islands above you this winter Steve

 

[byron]

The situation was exactly as you describe. However I had a Farmer with me at the time, he owns the bank the other side of the river and also above the bridge. He immediately said "Mink". If it was Otter I would be pleased.
Something came back later and ate the rest.

 

[sturmvogel190a]

Fox may have come back and eaten remains but realy doubt it was a mink if a sizeable Pike ,Tell tale of the Otter kill is just that they eat those areas as first as they are highest in oil and protien and will often come back to carcass later on .
There was a large Barbel found dead near our island mooring a couple of months ago with the tell tale bits missing and the tail chewed off to imobolise the fish all there calling card and the fish was far to big for a mink to have handled,been and seen Otters around that bit of the Kennet for 25 years and proper wild ones not the released hand reared ones rescued as cubs elsewhere then released as adults with no fear of man....bonkers imo .
The mink are very few and far bitween around us now as the Otter dont share and is a bigger badder animal so your mink problem may be solved....easiest way to find out would be one of those clay/sand floating trays that you anchor close to the bank near cover to encourage them to leave water at that point and check footprints.
Dog otters have massive territory and travel a lot after dark so real possibility esp on your wild bit of the river ,Really hope it is for your sake as watching wild ones is a magical experience and one i never tire of Steve

 

[oldgit]

Down here the blimming mink cannot be bothered to swim across river,saw one merrily wandering across the lock gates.

 

[The Glassman]

Hi Byron. We do have a male (dog) otter active in our area, I've seen him several times in our marina here at Cleeve Court. Found a nice, 12-14lb pike dragged out onto the bank with it's guts eaten - typical otter kill. No mink could do that, a mink goes about 3-4lbs whereas a dog otter goes 30-35lbs. I've shot several mink here over the years and have now borrowed a mink raft/trap to try to keep on top of them. As another member said, a dog otter operates a very large territory and keeps all others out. I'd much rather have a lone dog otter visiting than a resident population of mink as mink kill everything they can get their teeth into.
All the best
JP

 

[rotrax]

In the early '80's-'81 IIRC- we were on our Narrowboat on the Oxford Canal at the Quarry at Kirtlington. My dad worked for the cement company who owned it and got me a free mooring on the disused wharf. On the day in question we heard a lot of shouting and a bit of tootling on a hunting horn, but no horses-so it was not a foxhunt. Some time later half a dozen gaitered up red faced good 'ol country boys appeared with six Otterhounds. They came from the Welsh borders to clear the mink that the local animal rights twats had released from a nearby mink farm, not realising the havoc these predators would cause to the local wildlife. One got in a nearby farmhouse and killed an elderly small dog after getting in through the catflap, which is why they were called in. I asked how many they had caught. The answer was eleven, all from a virtuall island about 600yds long and 80 wide between the Canal and the River Cherwell. The dogs would "Tree" the mink who were then shot. When I exressed my surprise at the size of their bag, the head huntsman asked me where I thought all the moorhens and ducks had gone as the mink had eaten the lot................