I Hunt With Mink!

[Minkenry 1,044]

The lad I hunt with tried to train a mink, and painfully failed, very interesting what your doing mate...

 

What methods did he use to try to tame/train it? How old was it when he got it? How long did he work with it before he gave up?

 

If you use the right method most mink are surprisingly easy to tame and train. Not ferret easy, but easier than you would expect. Also, you do have to realize my background and what I consider "easy" I've trained wild caught horses (we call them mustangs) and a late seasoned passage cooper's hawks. Cooper's hawks are well know for their difficult temperaments.

 

So my idea of easy isn't most people's idea of easy, but like I said it isn't as hard as people think it is. I apologize if I've already posted these videos,(I can't remember what I've posted on here and what I haven't) but her's a couple videos of my apprentice training his first mink. He trapped her just days before filming this....

 

 

 

I don't think "my methods" are really anything spacial, nor are they really "my methods". They're just kinda common sense in my opinion. Try not to scare or piss of the mink. And feed the mink it's meals by hand so it starts to associate you with food, thus making it like you.

[NEWKID 26,182]

 

The lad I hunt with tried to train a mink, and painfully failed, very interesting what your doing mate...

 

What methods did he use to try to tame/train it? How old was it when he got it? How long did he work with it before he gave up?

 

If you use the right method most mink are surprisingly easy to tame and train. Not ferret easy, but easier than you would expect. Also, you do have to realize my background and what I consider "easy" I've trained wild caught horses (we call them mustangs) and a late seasoned passage cooper's hawks. Cooper's hawks are well know for their difficult temperaments.

 

So my idea of easy isn't most people's idea of easy, but like I said it isn't as hard as people think it is. I apologize if I've already posted these videos,(I can't remember what I've posted on here and what I haven't) but her's a couple videos of my apprentice training his first mink. He trapped her just days before filming this....

 

 

 

I don't think "my methods" are really anything spacial, nor are they really "my methods". They're just kinda common sense in my opinion. Try not to scare or piss of the mink. And feed the mink it's meals by hand so it starts to associate you with food, thus making it like you.

 

 

I'm not sure mate TBH what he tried, it's the lad I do most of my ferreting with...

It was when he was a teenager, ( 20 plus years ago), I know he couldn't stop it biting we discussed it a couple of years back but this is the first thing I've seen on minks for hunting since that conversation....

I think he probably didn't have the patience back then, he was brought up with ferrets, as most of us, so didn't try again....

Interesting subject though mate, and something different from the norm....

[Minkenry 1,044]

I get the impression that starting with ferrets sometimes makes it harder for people to transition to mink. They expect the mink to act like a ferret, and they just don't. They act like a mink. The people I see who have the most success are falconers. Unlike ferret people, falconers expect the mink to act like a wild animal, instead of a domestic one. By no means am I saying ferret people COULDN'T do good with a mink, that's not my point. My point is that you have to think of a mink like a wild animal, and treat it accordingly.

Edited September 29, 2013 by Minkenry

[Born Hunter 17,637]

Bloody hell

 

This has all got a bit out of hand. It would be a shame if you stopped posting as I, and obviously many others, find the posts very interesting. How about a bit of live and let live on both sides?

 

I don't doubt that you are very knowledgeable on the subject of mink but no more so than many on here are about the british countryside as a whole. There is no doubt in my mind that mink in the UK, as an introduced predatory species, have had an adverse effect on the native fauna. That is based on seeing the difference that their presence makes to the other species in the environment.

 

Maybe a bit of acceptance would be a good idea, you are the mink expert in the USA but we know what happens here in front of us. Leave it at that and get some more minkenry posts up

 

Very reasonable.

[Tiercel 6,986]

My 2p's for what it's worth.

 

Whenever humans first domesticated a spiecies for their own use, the first thing they tried to do, is breed out (for want of better words) the wildness of the spiecies that is being domesticated by selective breeding. To an extent that has worked for a milenium as most of the animals we use these days be it for food or hunting are those that have taken well to the domestication process.

 

However, some animals do not take well to domestication, some have to retain that little bit of wildness to be usefull as a hunting tool. In the main I am thinking about hawks and falcons. Yet many other animals are trained to hunt, Comarants and Otters to name just a couple, are animals who's hunting instincts have been harnessed by humans without compromising the intergrity of the animal concerened.

 

What he has done, has been done by many people before him with different animals. Each animal has it's own way of being harnessed, he has found a way to harness the hunting ability of the mink. Let me make one thing clear, I am not knocking what he has achieved, in fact I am applauding it. As he has taken many training dicsiplines and come up with a formula that allows him to harness the instincts of the mink.

 

But, I think he will be the first to agree? These animals are not trained in the way we think of training, training a dog etc; The same as you do not train a hawk the same way as you train a dog. I have often thought that training is the wrong word when it comes to hawks and falcons and manning is the correct term. You have to get the animal to tolerate you as a human and lose the natural fear they have of a preditor that is higher in the chain than themselves. By working with the animals natural behavior (the den he carries around with him when he hunts with the mink,) he is harnessing the animals natural instincts for his own ends.

 

Had a few but just my thoughts.

 

TC

Edited September 29, 2013 by tiercel

[Minkenry 1,044]

My 2p's for what it's worth.

 

Whenever humans first domesticated a spiecies for their own use, the first thing they tried to do, is breed out (for want of better words) the wildness of the spiecies that is being domesticated by selective breeding. To an extent that has worked for a milenium as most of the animals we use these days be it for food or hunting are those that have taken well to the domestication process.

 

However, some animals do not take well to domestication, some have to retain that little bit of wildness to be usefull as a hunting tool. In the main I am thinking about hawks and falcons. Yet many other animals are trained to hunt, Comarants and Otters to name just a couple, are animals who's hunting instincts have been harnessed by humans without compromising the intergrity of the animal concerened.

 

What he has done, has been done by many people before him with different animals. Each animal has it's own way of being harnessed, he has found a way to harness the hunting ability of the mink. Let me make one thing clear, I am not knocking what he has achieved, in fact I am applauding it. As he has taken many training dicsiplines and come up with a formula that allows him to harness the instincts of the mink.

 

But, I think he will be the first to agree? These animals are not trained in the way we think of training, training a dog etc; The same as you do not train a hawk the same way as you train a dog. I have often thought that training is the wrong word when it comes to hawks and falcons and manning is the correct term. You have to get the animal to tolerate you as a human and lose the natural fear they have of a preditor that is higher in the chain than themselves. By working with the animals natural behavior (the den he carries around with him when he hunts with the mink,) he is harnessing the animals natural instincts for his own ends.

 

Had a few but just my thoughts.

 

TC

 

I'd say you hit the nail right on the head! What I've done is nothing new in that it's been done before with many other creatures. The only thing you can really call "new" about what I do with mink is the exact recipe. This recipe is just a mixture of methods that were discovered by others before me, but used a little bit differently on different creatures. All I did was figure out the mixture of "ingredients" that worked well for the mink. I didn't really invent anything, just borrowed others original ideas, and customize them to fit the mink. Very very few of the things I do with my mink are actually original. The mink recipe is a mixture of a big chunk of falconry, with a bit of hunting dog training, and a small dash of ferreting, with a very very small dash of originality. The combined formula that I now work with is sufficient to get the results I'm looking for, but as time goes on this recipe will be adjusted and refined as Minkenry get's more and more efficient with our training methods.

Edited September 30, 2013 by Minkenry

[Minkenry 1,044]

Here's a video of my 5 month old mink getting a rock squirrel in a church yard by my house.

 

http://youtu.be/WnrDEzo1B5k

 

 

This was rather small for a rock squirrel, but I'm still proud of her.

Edited October 2, 2013 by Minkenry

[onthehunt 40]

What a bright animal, love it when she brings it back to carrier good job with her mate

[jharrison_2009 8]

impressive that pal

[Minkenry 1,044]

impressive that pal

 

Hey, you have the coolest profile picture I've ever seen! A fox going hunting with a stoat on a leash! That's just AWESOME!

Edited October 2, 2013 by Minkenry

[higgins 75]

I ve enjoyed your videos Minkenry i m impressed with your patience and dedication,love the vids of hunting with Missy.Thought this was going to be a wind up thread,but it s turned out to be one of the best i ve read and enjoyed.I have hand tamed a Stoat before

and hand caught weasels,they are fast and hurt when they bite for their size,didn t think you would be ale to do what you do with mink,keep up yr interesting sport ,atb pal.

[lurchers2533 22]

i want one!!!!!

[Minkenry 1,044]

Here's some pics of a 736 gram squirrel my mink caught last night...

 

 

 

[Paid 935]

I can see why they make coats out of them, impressive fur. Do they have webbed feet ?

[Minkenry 1,044]

I can see why they make coats out of them, impressive fur. Do they have webbed feet ?

 

Yes, they have semi webbed feet. Not as webbed as something like a duck or otter, but much more webbed than a ferret or stoat