Dispatching them is where I come in . . . The Rangers and Conservation volunteers are responsible for the trapping bit - making and positioning the rafts etc: they'll let me know when (and if!) they catch one. As I said to them when they started, first catch your mink . . .
However a word of caution. From what I've seen and read the actual dispatch has to be by the book. Don't even think of knocking the beast on the head, let alone drowning it, as you'll have the RSPCA onto you quicker than you can count. There are a couple of approved methods, one being taking the animal to the nearest vet and paying them to do the lethal injection! It's a mad, mad world.
The other suggested method is using a decent air-pistol - for me a Crosman 2240 seems ideal but it suggests a Webley Hurricane in the blurb. I'd suggest that one of the Umerex type CO2 replicas hasn't got enough power to do the job cleanly. Use two pieces of plywood with fingers cut-out so they fit through the cage wire to trap the mink in one corner of the cage and shoot from point-blank into the cranium. The blurb also recommends using steel 'Promethius' pellets, but IMO that's dangerous - any standard lead pellet will easily do the job.
As for what to do with the pelt . . .first catch your mink!
Triffid
sploot wrote:Triffid wrote:I'm involved in mink control on Fleet Pond near me and on behalf of the Council (who own it) and the local convervation volunteers (who help manage it).
Try the following guidance. You can buy the traps from agricultural suppliers.
Triffid
gct_mink_raft_guidelineslr[1].pdf
Thanks Triffid.
I just had a quick squint at that document. Very interesting. Sounds like a good plan.
What do you do with the little " darlings " ( or other expletive ) when ewe catch them?