I Hunt With Mink!

[Mole man Kent 26]

Ah mate! This is great!

I've had ferrets all my life and done ferreting only for rabbits. I've had a life long obsession with all mustelids (my favourite being the stoat). I would love to have a trained mink but my worry would be loosing it whilst out and they are a lot quicker than ferrets so I'm sure it would be more killing rather than bolting to the net. Good on ya mate I'm really impressed.

Have you ever thought of using your mink as an animal actor for films or documentaries?

[Minkenry 1,044]

Have you ever thought of using your mink as an animal actor for films or documentaries?

 

 

Yes, actually I'm working on getting that going at the moment

[Minkenry 1,044]

how hard is it to actually train the mink?? and would I be allowed to in the UK?

 

What is "hard" is based on your perception of easy. It's not hard to me, but to others it might seem impossible. I have an article that explains what I do to train a mink. I suddgest you read it, and then you can decide for yourself if you feel it's hard or not. Follow this link, then click on the blue word near my profile picture that says "About". Then skip ahead to the training chapters, or better yet read the whole thing.

 

https://www.(!64.56:886/pages/Minkenry/72678726611

[Minkenry 1,044]

I read on an online forum about a trapper who said he saw a mink chase a squirrel through the trees. I sent him a personal message, and asked him to please share more of the story with me. This is what he wrote.....

"Oh yes it's for real ! no video nor pics but I'm a telling you they can and will do it. at first I thought it was a black squirrel "very rare here" then the chase came right over top of me and I'm telling you the squirrel was running and jumping for his life he wanted absolutely nothing to do with the medium sized buck that was in hot pursuit. the canopy was in a mature stand of mixed hardwoods. the squirrel did a grand leap of 12 to fourteen feet just over head the mink pulsed turned around went back the limb and down the tree and went directly to the tree the squirrel was hiding in and up he went again licker-de-split and the chase was on again. the last I seen them was a hundred yards up stream just hammering through the trees ! it was an awesome display !

Now theres more of trees and mink . I have seen males and females enter knot holes several times way up in the canopy. what they were hunting god and mink only knows. I would suspect squirrels ,birds,chipmunks,snakes, perhaps even tree frogs. they are truly aggressive hunters.

I spend a lot of time in forest and field . I have observed all types of wildlife do downright stupid and daring things. the tail on a mink is there for more than swimming and making aggressive stands with hair displays ! their long jumps aren't as graceful as a squirrel by know means but, jump grab and grasping small limbs is well within their behavioral abilities . they are one of the most challenging animals I pursuit. they are forever amazing to me. just when I think I've got their behaviors pinned down ,along comes one that rewrites the book ! the skinny stinkers are awesome !"

I sure hope I get to try something like that one day with Thioⁿbasabe'. She takes to climbing more natural than any of my other mink. I'd love to see what she could do in the trees when after a squirrel!

[Hot Meat 3,109]

I seen a mink hunt a squirrel for around 5 mins, mink gave upan killed a moorhen in the end whilst me and my lad sat fishing at a local lake. Guy we spoke to that afternoon said 2 days before he saw the mink jump from an over hanging tree onto a malard and kill it In the water. They are true hunters and nobody can take that away from them

Edited November 28, 2013 by Hot Meat

[BullBell 0]

What is the average life expectancy for your mink? And do you breed them or just get some more from the farm and from the wild?

[Minkenry 1,044]

What is the average life expectancy for your mink? And do you breed them or just get some more from the farm and from the wild?

 

8-10 years old is the average, from what I've been told by my pet mink friends. I have personally only kept one for a year or two at the most. I always end up selling my mink after a few months to a few years. This minkenry thing is still new, so the more mink I can gain experience with, the better I understand mink and how to train them.

 

Right now I've got it worked out so that I get paid to train other people's mink, which is fulfilling the same purpose, and giving me the experience I need to really figure mink out in a way I could never do if I only trained two or three mink over a 10 year period.

[blablabla 0]

Hello from Canada!

 

What you do is great! I had 3 meat eating ''pet'' ferrets. Being from Canada, no rabbits here, only hares, so I never had opportunity to hunt on the field with my ferrets.

 

How do you approach the fur farm to sell you a mink? What do you say to 'em without looking nut!?! :-P How much to they sell you a baby for?

 

Keep it on, I will sure buy your book!

[blablabla 0]

nevermind I've read on some of your other post the price you pay and that they are friend to you. Otherwise they wouldn't sell it to you. How do you expect it to be a new sport if we can't get as easily as ferrets.

[Minkenry 1,044]

nevermind I've read on some of your other post the price you pay and that they are friend to you. Otherwise they wouldn't sell it to you. How do you expect it to be a new sport if we can't get as easily as ferrets.

 

If we can find a reasonable way to get them across the border, then I can easily get one for you, but I don't know what the process entails when it comes to shipping to Canada. I'll try to figure that out this week, since I'll be shipping a mink to the other side of the U.S. anyway, and I can look into international shipping while I am doing that.

 

If the importation laws are ridiculous, then I can help give you some tips on how to approach a mink farmer without sounding crazy. If we get lucky, I might even be able to find some mink farmer here who knows a guy in Canada, but that would be pretty lucky!

Edited December 2, 2013 by Minkenry

[blablabla 0]

 

nevermind I've read on some of your other post the price you pay and that they are friend to you. Otherwise they wouldn't sell it to you. How do you expect it to be a new sport if we can't get as easily as ferrets.

 

If we can find a reasonable way to get them across the border, then I can easily get one for you, but I don't know what the process entails when it comes to shipping to Canada. I'll try to figure that out this week, since I'll be shipping a mink to the other side of the U.S. anyway, and I can look into international shipping while I am doing that.

 

If the importation laws are ridiculous, then I can help give you some tips on how to approach a mink farmer without sounding crazy. If we get lucky, I might even be able to find some mink farmer here who knows a guy in Canada, but that would be pretty lucky!

 

I'll try to reach you with youtube since I can't send a pm as of right now on thehuntinglife. I am not a facebook user and I will never be. So please that a look. Take you so much for your quick answer.

As of right now I can't send you a PM. I tried

[Minkenry 1,044]

I thought my mink were pretty intense for killing feral cats, and attacking beaver, but my buddy's mink has them all beat. This last spring I sold a baby mink to my buddy Ray Norton, and he's been training it for hunting. Yesterday he sent me a message saying that his mink Blythe, "Just did either the most aggressive or the dumbest thing; while I was working her."

He said his wife's horse made a nose clearing sound, and his mink ran straight to him and "Jumped through the air to fasten herself to his nose. He went through some spectacular moves to dislodge her- when she tore loose, she hit the round pen pipes hard enough it made a ringing sound." He said not to worry because she seems fine, and did her usual work and caching after the incident.

[Minkenry 1,044]

Here's my buddy Alex with his new mink. This is the first mink he's ever tamed, and he's pretty excited about it. He's had this big boy for about a month, and this is the first time he's fed him bare handed.

 

[badger 91]

Mr Carter, what a wonderful job you have accomplished. It is exciting to see your progress in manning and hunting with your mink. I only wish i had exposure to your opperant learning methods years ago when I had an American badger that was presented to me by Angus A. (terrierman for the ? Old Barks Hunt ) after successful digs in Colorado while visiting from England. On the final dig he found a 3-4 week old badger cub and I claimed her on first sight. I had hunted rabbits with ferrets and hawks and longdogs, but a badger was an animal of a lifetime in a class by herself. She was good with my wife and myself, but would not be handled by strangers. I used a flirt pole on her similar to your lure setup and had a blast with her for 6 years. She was truly a fearless assassin of anything in front of her, and I admired her above anything I had owned before or since.

My mistake in handling her was robbing her of her conquests. Even though I tried to tidbit trade her off, taking her prizes caused her to hide or carry. Other than that she was steady with me her whole life.

She would hang off a hide like a pit dog and I would use a little break stick to get her off anything she thought needed killing. If only I had thought to use your cache method with positive reinforcement...oh well. Many times my wife (longtime falconer and coyote hunter herself) had said a mink would be a great challenge and adventure, but I had dismissed the opportunity several times over the years.

It truly pleases me to see your successes. Thanks for sharing. Bob Merritt, Oklahoma usa

Edited December 23, 2013 by badger

[Minkenry 1,044]

Mr Carter, what a wonderful job you have accomplished. It is exciting to see your progress in manning and hunting with your mink. I only wish i had exposure to your opperant learning methods years ago when I had an American badger that was presented to me by Angus A. (terrierman for the ? Old Barks Hunt ) after successful digs in Colorado while visiting from England. On the final dig he found a 3-4 week old badger cub and I claimed her on first sight. I had hunted rabbits with ferrets and hawks and longdogs, but a badger was an animal of a lifetime in a class by herself. She was good with my wife and myself, but would not be handled by strangers. I used a flirt pole on her similar to your lure setup and had a blast with her for 6 years. She was truly a fearless assassin of anything in front of her, and I admired her above anything I had owned before or since.

My mistake in handling her was robbing her of her conquests. Even though I tried to tidbit trade her off, taking her prizes caused her to hide or carry. Other than that she was steady with me her whole life.

She would hang off a hide like a pit dog and I would use a little break stick to get her off anything she thought needed killing. If only I had thought to use your cache method with positive reinforcement...oh well. Many times my wife (longtime falconer and coyote hunter herself) had said a mink would be a great challenge and adventure, but I had dismissed the opportunity several times over the years.

It truly pleases me to see your successes. Thanks for sharing. Bob Merritt, Oklahoma usa

 

That was a very interesting story! Badgers are pretty cool animals aren't they. I'd like to keep one as a pet some day. I'm glad you've enjoyed learning about Minkenry. If you ever want to get started, let me know and I'll help you get a mink

Edited December 24, 2013 by Minkenry