A Mink And Terrier Hunting Together

[Minkenry 1,044]

Hello all. I've been gone for quite sometime, as I've been far too busy writing my book on minkenry to make videos or post hunting stories. I have now finished my book, so I again have time to post like I did before. Here's a hunting story from a couple weeks ago.....

 

 

I took my new white mink Ma-ska ("white snow" in the Omaha Native American Language) rat hunting again the other day. I've decided to skip caching training with her, and instead use her like you would a ferret to flush, rather than capture game. My reason for doing this is because I have a supper high quality young mink that is fully trained for caching, but he's still a little young to take rat hunting yet. My friend found this albino adult female mink, and gave her to me as a gift. So rather than take my time with her and teach her to cache (bring the prey back to me), I just rushed through training her to come when I called, and had her out hunting after only 10 days of training. My buddy Cade has a working terrier named Jet that he has trained to work with his own mink, so he came hunting with us to catch the fleeing rats flushed by Ma-ska.

 

The hunt started out with Ma-ska trying to catch Cade's dog Jet, instead of the rats. She grabbed him real hard on the back leg, then a few minutes latter attached herself to his face. Jet is well trained for working around mink, and knows he's not allowed to attack them, even in self defense. It took a little bit to dislodge her from the Jet's face, but after that he wised up and ran every time Ma-ska approached him. Then Ma-ska got smart and started waiting for when Jet wasn't looking, and she'd sneak up on him in his blind spot. We'd yell "Get outside!" to warn Jet to get out of the way before he was attacked, and pretty soon he caught on and would run every time we said "get outside".

 

After a few minutes of that shenanigans, Ma-ska got board of hunting Jet and started hunting rats like we wanted her to. She flushed a HUGE 384 gram rat right to Jet, and he quickly caught and killed it. We kept hunting for another hour or so and ended up with 9 rats. It was a fun hunt, and a good learning experience for both the dog and the mink. The mink learned it's easier catch rats than it is to catch dogs, and the dog learned to stay out of the way of a mink he doesn't know yet.

 

Here's a quick video showing some of the hunt. I unfortunately missed a lot of the action, as I was trying to film and hunt at the same time, and I'm really not very good at that. But here's what I did get on film....

 

Edited August 25, 2014 by Minkenry

[decky 79]

that dogs a scared of the rats lol.

[Minkenry 1,044]

that dogs a scared of the rats lol.

 

Yeah, he's still young and learning. I do think he's a bit behind for his age. I hope for my friend's sake he caches up, because he's put a lot of time and training into that pup. Having a cowardly terrier is down right useless, and it would be a shame for all of my friend's hard work to go into a cur! (not sure if you guys use that term, but a cur is a dog that is bred to be game but ends up a coward)

 

Do you have much terrier experience? If so, what age do most terriers "turn on" and toughen up? I haven't worked as much with terriers as I have pit bulls, and it's not really fair comparing the two. So I don't want to judge the little dog too quickly as he is still young and maturing.

[The one 8,523]

you want to be holding that terrier back a bit till its mature enough to have the bottle to face a rat

[Ferret kent 12g 17]

Minkenry- can you put up some pics of your pit bulls plz, would like to have a look as not a lot of true pits over here.

Thanks

[Minkenry 1,044]

you want to be holding that terrier back a bit till its mature enough to have the bottle to face a rat

 

How do you know when a pup is ready for rats? Do you wait until a certain age, or are there signs to look for in the dogs behavior?

[Minkenry 1,044]

Minkenry- can you put up some pics of your pit bulls plz, would like to have a look as not a lot of true pits over here.

Thanks

 

I don't have any dogs right now, but I can pull up some pics from the past I hope to get me a little game bred pit real soon. I got a guy that says he can hook me up with a real quality pup out of some grand champion blood lines. I'm dying to get me a tiny little game dog, something under 30 lbs, if I'm lucky close to the 25lb range. I think it would be a TOTAL BLAST to hunt with a dog with that much drive and ability!

 

What is the average weight range for the terriers you guys use to go to ground? I'm sure my little game dog will be too big to go to ground the way a little terrier can, I'm just curious how far off a little game pit is from your working terriers.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Minkenry

[Ferret kent 12g 17]

 

 

Minkenry- can you put up some pics of your pit bulls plz, would like to have a look as not a lot of true pits over here.

Thanks

I don't have any dogs right now, but I can pull up some pics from the past I hope to get me a little game bred pit real soon. I got a guy that says he can hook me up with a real quality pup out of some grand champion blood lines. I'm dying to get me a tiny little game dog, something under 30 lbs, if I'm lucky close to the 25lb range. I think it would be a TOTAL BLAST to hunt with a dog with that much drive and ability!

 

What is the average weight range for the terriers you guys use to go to ground? I'm sure my little game dog will be too big to go to ground the way a little terrier can, I'm just curious how far off a little game pit is from your working terriers.

I have the next best thing to a pit bull that I can have in the uk and that's my Staffordshire bull terrier X , he's a big boy I take him shooting but he is more my pet/friend , he is a merle colour and weights about 4 stone. I'm trying to get a whippet but the wife won't have it?.

I would love to see the pic of the other pits that you have worked with, I would like my staff to be a worker but he is a bit over kill for the hunting and work I do?

[Minkenry 1,044]

Here's a couple pictures of the pit bulls I used to hunt with.

 

This is a nice big 55 lb bitch I used to hunt on wild cat.

 

``

 

She loved hunting those wild cats so much she learned to climb trees, so no matter where the cat went she could still get it! Here I am climbing a tree with her to show off her tree climbing skills for the camera....

 

 

 

This is a quick little 38 pound bitch I used to hunt coon and Possums with. She was so quick that she usually caught the possums before they could get to the tree!

 

 

[Jamie m 668]

Minkenry , the terrier doesn't look game enough to me lol no disrespect , think that's your next project , : )

[The one 8,523]

Look at the dog you can plainly see when it see's a rat its no ready to put in a strike its pissing about could result in it getting bitting worse , give it some time off till you reckon its more mature or try it with another dog to jealous it up to put in a strike .

 

But being honest it looks like the dogs been entered to early found out thats rats have sharp teeth and isn't keen to find out again

[connerdaboss 20]

Minkenry, Is a grand champion where they win 5 fights?

[Minkenry 1,044]

Minkenry, Is a grand champion where they win 5 fights?

 

Yep. In dog fighting 3 wins makes a champion, 5 wins makes a grand champion, and 10 makes a double grand champion.

 

I don't fight dogs by the way. I just try to keep connections with guys who do so I can get some dogs from them for hunting. The fighting bred pit bulls are usually smaller, and MUCH more quick and athletic than the "pet bulls" you can find just about anywhere. Also, as expected, the fighting bred dogs are FAR more game and have MUCH more drive than any "pet bull" alive!

 

Game bred dogs are really hard to find, and unless you have connections they are in the thousands of dollars! But if you have the right connections you can get one for free

[Jamie m 668]

 

 

Minkenry, Is a grand champion where they win 5 fights?

Yep. In dog fighting 3 wins makes a champion, 5 wins makes a grand champion, and 10 makes a double grand champion.

 

I don't fight dogs by the way. I just try to keep connections with guys who do so I can get some dogs from them for hunting. The fighting bred pit bulls are usually smaller, and MUCH more quick and athletic than the "pet bulls" you can find just about anywhere. Also, as expected, the fighting bred dogs are FAR more game and have MUCH more drive than any "pet bull" alive!

 

Game bred dogs are really hard to find, and unless you have connections they are in the thousands of dollars! But if you have the right connections you can get one for free

 

 

Bet u can get a game terrier wighout having to down the bull line ,

[connerdaboss 20]

 

 

Minkenry, Is a grand champion where they win 5 fights?

Yep. In dog fighting 3 wins makes a champion, 5 wins makes a grand champion, and 10 makes a double grand champion.

 

I don't fight dogs by the way. I just try to keep connections with guys who do so I can get some dogs from them for hunting. The fighting bred pit bulls are usually smaller, and MUCH more quick and athletic than the "pet bulls" you can find just about anywhere. Also, as expected, the fighting bred dogs are FAR more game and have MUCH more drive than any "pet bull" alive!

 

Game bred dogs are really hard to find, and unless you have connections they are in the thousands of dollars! But if you have the right connections you can get one for free

How big are they to the shoulder? The ones over her I've seen looked more like band-dogs than pits, about 22-25tts!