man you gotta move to the country .. lol

last last winter.. we found a dead mink preserved on the side of the road in a snow bank .. and daughter paid to have it skinned and preserved ... i dont know about that girl ...

the taxidermist .. said they are one of the meanest critters out there .. and most likely.. bought the farm.. taking on the oncoming car .. lol .. and doubted you will ever see a live one ... but for shear luck ...

they tend to live near water .. but have something like a 2 mile range ....

and probably answered.. why i would find young possum tail and spines in the yard.. with the rest gone missing .... for a few years running ...

in fact.. i thought i saw one this morning on the side of the road.. but at 40 mph.. i wasnt sure..

one of the first signs of spring.. it the slaughter on the rural roads ... coming out of that winter coma.. and deciding to cross .. the proverbial road .. and apparently.. not looking both ways ...

in the last week.. i have seem mrs woodchuck.. and found her diggings ... and saw mr skunk .. which i think are also meat eaters ....

ken

Ken, I have seen all the usual, raccoons, possum, skunks woodchucks even fox and coyotes and I am in a subdivision. I am near water. I will be happy if the mink can keep the rabbits under control. Rob

We have mink here too and they like to dig into things a lot, especially freshly potted plants. When I've actually seen them in the flesh they were usually chasing rabbits, though one time, right after buying this property and hadn't developed it yet, a surveyor had pulled up in their truck and a mink came up to the side of the truck and was jumping up and down to try and see inside the window. Freaked him out! I usually have one or two sightings a summer and that's about it.

I'm in favor of anything that eats voles; mink, fox, hawks, cats, shrews, whatever. As long as they take down the vegetarians, in my book they're good.

Steve

We have coyotes, fox, mink, fisher, hawks, owls and of course shrews, but the most effective vole predator seems to be weasels, also called ermine in their white winter phase.

Hi- Recently a Great Horned Owl in my yard at night. Who- who who - who who - who! Pretty cool and a great mouse and vole eater. Most hawks favor voles and mice. Red Tail's favor snakes too. But snakes love voles and can get down into their runs.

Where I live now I have never seen rattlers and I think too far north for copperheads, so I am thinking of creating a snake friendly area. I have to research that. I am 1/2 mile from the Midewin (Ojibwe for the Grand Medicine Council) National Tall-grass Prairie. I'll ask their biologist. Those interested in native ecosystems might enjoy visiting there. They have great trails and tour guides. Pronounce it mid-DAY'-win. A member of the Grand Council is called a Mide (mid-DAY').

In Arkansas, tons of copperhead and one needs to be careful, but the Ozarks aren't in the voles natural range. Are there any up around Lebanon or Springfield MO. or Kansas?

Even with my dog, I have had coyote and fox visit my property. They are crazy about voles. I am sure Martin eat them also, but a Martin is an overgrown mink or weasil (cousins) and even dogs need to worry about them. I wonder if a Ferret could be trained to hunt?

I remember the movie a few years back where a guy went to Alaska and studied the Arctic Wolf by living among them. He found their diet was almost 100% mice, so don't be chasing any Grey Wolves our of your yards.

Les

You do not need a large snake to eat a mouse. My grandson and I once saw a 2 1/2 ft long snake with a sizable bump in the middle of its body just next to the deck. It was only slowly moving. We left it alone. We have no poisonous snakes here.
Bernd

I love seeing my snakes in the yard--last year, I saw no less than 5 different ones. I don't know what they're eating, but I still have voles! I wouldn't mind importing more snakes, but not sure how to do that, unless you can find them at pet stores. How do you create a snake-friendly area, Les?
Karen

Karen - I am working on it. In northern Arkansas I found Indigo Snakes to be very beneficial and having piles of chipped hardwood created an opportunity for them to den. They might be locally called Black Snakes. The largest I have seen are about 4-5 feet long.

I had arranged for Asplund to dump their tree chips in some lowland on the property of my employer in northern Arkansas, so I could use it to mulch landscaping after the poison ivy, oak and locust had leached out. In a year I began to see many young Indiago Snakes.

I had visited Montauk State Park in MO and found a 5 foot Indiago Snake trapped in nylon mest the MDNR had installed tpo control bank erosion by one of the springs. I'd re;eased it and the stink of burnt rubber remained on my had for over a week. So don't handle one if that bothers you.

I have read that Indigo snakes are natural predators of other snakes and will eliminasate Copperheads and rattlers.

Les