Hodini mink,

[patdahat 41]

had a big well fed mink in a double entry trap this morning. i left him up on the bank until i had the rest of them checked before i dispached him. 15mins to check the rest and i was back and the cage was empty, the springs and lock bars are all working and in perfect order, 1 of the bars on the door was slightly bent making a gap of no more than an inch and a half wide. definatly no one was around to let him out. Has anyone ever had a mink escape out of these double entry cages or any kind of cage. lesson learnt now to rid of them straight away.

[Guest Rod&dog]

Are you sure no bugger was walking the river bank,, seen the mink in distress in a trap randomly on the bank and let her go? Find it ver strange to belive that it just vanished when hundreds of critters are caught every day in these traps and you never hear stories like this.

 

[patdahat 41]

def not a sinner soul in the area out in the back of beyond anyway would anyone in thier right mind put thier finger in the trap to lift up the holding bar, he'd make a nice mess of your finger

[comanche 3,302]

had a big well fed mink in a double entry trap this morning. i left him up on the bank until i had the rest of them checked before i dispached him. 15mins to check the rest and i was back and the cage was empty, the springs and lock bars are all working and in perfect order, 1 of the bars on the door was slightly bent making a gap of no more than an inch and a half wide. definatly no one was around to let him out. Has anyone ever had a mink escape out of these double entry cages or any kind of cage. lesson learnt now to rid of them straight away.

In the good old days mink cages used to bought or home-made in lovely Imperial one inch square rigid weld- mesh . You only had to worry about the door having a good spring . The so-called squirrel/mink cages that are sold today are pretty poor things in comparison with weak rectangular mesh.

The vertical bars are too far apart. A big muscular male mink has strength on his side while a female or youngster has the advantage of a slim build . Door shuts behind minky, it's probably not too fussed at first ,especially if the bait is good . After a while minky thinks about going in search of some more adventure . Scratches at the ground , scrabbles at the corners , tugs at the spring -bar maybe. Eventually minky pushes his nose through the wire and heaves his way out leaving an oh -ever-so slightly bent rectangle of bars . An inch and a half gap is the equivelent of a mink highway !

It does happen and unless you've actually seen a mink in the trap it is therefore too easy to assume that the trap has been sprung by accident or maybe by a rat or something small enough to slip- out through the bars .

As you may gather it has happened to me .

Edited July 12, 2009 by comanche