A trained mink will retrieve it and bring it back to you. Don't need much digging. Watch the guy's video's. Or talk to him in the ferreting section on here. You don't train them to hunt, it's natural instint for them, you train them to bring it back and listen. And to socks, they will run over and kill a ferret so i seriously doubt they couldn't catch a rabbit. These are working machines by nature not bred by some guy. Big difference. Like someone was trying to compare them to cars, its more like having a tiger versus having a house cat is more like it.