Minkenry Hunting Stories For Thioⁿbasabe'

[Mole man Kent 26]

That's cool, very interesting mate. It's great what you do and even tough they cause mayhem here they are superb little creatures. I admire you and your mink mate

[Minkenry 1,044]

We had both a sad disappointment, and an exciting discovery while hunting today. We went muskrat hunting today to our all time favorite spot. We've been anxiously awaiting the chance to go hunting there all year, and now the day finally came! We had almost cleared the area completely out of muskrats last season, so we were saving it until the pelts were prime this season.

When we got to the stream we were sadly disappointed to find the water far too shallow for muskrat. We searched the stream in vain, hoping some die hard muskrat had remained somewhere in the shallow water, but of course there were none. We traveled down stream, and found why the water was so low. An old dam (it looked like a small beaver dam, and I've always wondered if the muskrats built it, but I've never heard of them building dams, so I don't know if that's really possible) had been removed, and trees along the bank had been cleared. To make matters worse, they had even cleared out the old snags that had slowed the waters flow and let it pool up in several places. This stream was spring fed, and so the water didn't flow very quickly. It was the snags and dams that let it build up to the depth necessary to give the muskrats a home, and someone had come along and destroyed all of it, leaving it a dead lifeless creek.

With no habitat left to live in, there was no chance at finding any muskrat, but since we were already there, we figured we might as well let Thioⁿba work the empty dens, and then I would call her to feed her up after we'd had a nice little walk. Thioⁿba worked great, despite the complete lack of muskrats, and searched all of their empty dens. I was wishing I had brought a rat to release, so she could at least think she found and caught something.

Then under the water fall, the one place where the water was still deep, she popped out of the water with a fish! She cached it in her box, dived in and eventually caught another. By the time she was tired and decided to give up, she had caught ELEVEN small catfish, and a bull head! That's an all time record for us! 12 fish in under an hour!

[MIK 4,756]

I think your as mad as a box of frogs and I despise mink as im in the Uk but credit where credit is due I enjoy following your posts has to be one of the most interesting things on here ...keep at it

[keepdiggin 9,561]

that mink look about the same size as a domestic cat? Would it be able to hunt one?

[Minkenry 1,044]

that mink look about the same size as a domestic cat? Would it be able to hunt one?

 

I've never tried to hunt cat on purpose, but I have had a 730 gram female, and just a few days ago a 550 gram female take down full grown feral cats. So would assume a big male could hunt them without a problem.

[Minkenry 1,044]

Here's a video of my mink fishing in a stream.

[MIK 4,756]

http://www.thehuntinglife.com/forums/topic/158115-large-dog-mink/page-3

The biggest mink I have had by far

[Minkenry 1,044]

http://www.thehuntinglife.com/forums/topic/158115-large-dog-mink/page-3

The biggest mink I have had by far

 

Wow, that's a BIG mink! Did you happen to weigh it?

[Minkenry 1,044]

Last weekend I decided to mix things up, and do a little minkenry and falconry in the same day. It's been a long time since I've flown birds, and it was a blast! Friday we started out watching several merlins fly on flocks of starlings near some mink farms in the river bottoms, then moved on to hunting rabbits out in the desert. We didn't have any luck catching rabbits with the goshawk, because the weather was just too warm, making the hawk lazy for the weight she was at. So we hooded the hawk, and pulled out my mink, and she nailed a rabbit the second hole she went down! She rode the rabbit out of the hole, lost the rabbit for a moment, then chased the rabbit around the sage brush until it tried to put into a brush pile where she caught it a second time.

 

On Saturday we spent the morning watching the big falcons stoop racing homers. After watching a bunch of flights, we then went out to find more rabbits. One guy tried to fly a male goshawk, but didn't have any luck. The guy with the female did Harris hawk didn't get anything ether. I got bored of watching birds not catch anything, so I skipped out of the flight with the second goshawk, and went to a near by field to work rabbits with my mink.

 

She ran around searching holes for rabbits without any luck. After 30-40 minutes of not chasing any rabbits in the gully, we picked Thioⁿba up and carried her to a bunch of brush piles where we quickly found some rabbits. Here's the video of our hunt....

 

 

http://youtu.be/IyAlexX9Z7M

Edited February 24, 2014 by Minkenry

[Nick3439 83]

Is that mink actually trained to do anything? You appear to avoid handling it at all costs (don't blame you to be honest) and it's not like that mink is particularly effective at flushing rabbits or killing them; why didn't you kill that rabbit when you had hold of it; instead of stuffing it in the box with the mink?

 

I'm sorry but that video didn't show people hunting and it didn't show you or your mink in a good light.

 

I'll prepare to be flamed but if I filmed the difference between what I do and you do it'd look very different indeed; for a start one of the biggest things I want to do is despatch the rabbits as fast as humanely possible; it's the decent thing to do. So despite all my reservations about the rest of the video I find that unacceptable. It was not beyond your control; you should have killed that rabbit then and there.

[Minkenry 1,044]

Is that mink actually trained to do anything? You appear to avoid handling it at all costs (don't blame you to be honest) and it's not like that mink is particularly effective at flushing rabbits or killing them; why didn't you kill that rabbit when you had hold of it; instead of stuffing it in the box with the mink?

 

I'm sorry but that video didn't show people hunting and it didn't show you or your mink in a good light.

 

I'll prepare to be flamed but if I filmed the difference between what I do and you do it'd look very different indeed; for a start one of the biggest things I want to do is despatch the rabbits as fast as humanely possible; it's the decent thing to do. So despite all my reservations about the rest of the video I find that unacceptable. It was not beyond your control; you should have killed that rabbit then and there.

 

Don't be so quick to judge my friend. Watch the video again, and you'll notice a couple blips in the film where I edited a couple parts out. I took care of the rabbit during one of those blips.

 

As far as my mink not being trained, just watch some more of my videos before you jump to so many conclusions.

[Minkenry 1,044]

There was something weird going on with You Tube and someone told me the link isn't working. So here is the video again...

 

[keepdiggin 9,561]

would they take a domestic cat?

[foresterj 1,096]

The Blair Mink Project

[Minkenry 1,044]

would they take a domestic cat?

 

Depends on the mink. Some mink are afraid of cats and see them as a possible predator. Others see them as prey and attack without hesitation. It doesn't seem to matter the size of the mink. I've had big aggressive 2,100 gram mink run from cats, and little 550 gram mink attack them just like they would a muskrat or rabbit. Whether they attack or run from a cat seems to have more to do with the individual mink's temperament than their size.

 

The first time I saw a mink attack a cat it was a little 730 gram doe mink, and I was quite concerned for her safety. She killed the cat without any misshape, though it was a rather long drawn out process since the cat was at least four times her size. I once saw a buddies 1800 gram buck take on a feral cat as the first game animal the mink had ever seen, and it was a much quicker and more humane kill.