I Hunt With Mink!

[farmerkev09 104]

Great achievement to train a single mink but to do it will a few is amazing great stuff thanks for sharing

[GreyRake 108]

Teaching your mink to cache really caught my attention. But i feel that even though you could teach a ferret to cache in a carrier, they would still be content with the hole they caught it in, why move it?

[lapin2008 1,587]

 

 

 

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

they are proper stunning creatures aren't they!

 

I wonder how long it is before someone does the same thing over here now people have seen it can be done?

 

 

Before I ever joined this forum I had a couple different people from the UK talk about wanting to do what I do. I also had some girls in France that already have pet mink that said they were going to start hunting with them like I do. They ferreted rabbits a little bit with their pet ferrets and already had their own pet mink. It's just a few more steps before they are hunting with them. But talk is cheap, and I haven't seen anyone in Europe actually do anything yet. I'm sure someone will before long.

 

I have a small handful of guys her in the U.S. that have bought mink off of me, or caught their own, and are trying to do what I do. Several of them are close, and one has caught at least one head of wild game, but their mink are all still in training, so nothing too exciting yet. I would expect that it won't be long before there are successful minkeners in several parts of North America and in Europe as well. Only time will tell how many, and how long it takes.

 

I guess having the right prey for them is the main thing, I would guess if you used them for rabbits over here you'd spend half the day digging!

 

 

I think your right with that Rob. If someone was to try recreate the same thing over here it would IMO be more from from an interest point of view or for the challenge or to have something different. I think in terms of bolting rabbits I would be very surprised if mink would compare to a decent ferret even though the mink is a much more versatile predator.

[Tyla 3,179]

Minkenry, do you think your techniques would work with a ferret if it was brought up in the right way? I would be half tempted to give it a go with a kit, bring it up away from the other ferrets, keep it in the house, build a good bond and use it for a different kind of hunting. The main problem I can see is the lack of suitable quarry here, no point bolting rabbits as ferrets do that already without any training, we don't have ground squirrels or musk rats, perhaps rats along river banks

[skycat 6,172]

I don't see why we couldn't train a ferret to drag a rabbit back to a carrying cage, but the problem would arise if the rabbit won't bolt, and sits hunched in a stop end. What would a mink do with an animal that blocks the tunnel with its back end, and simply lets it scratch away at its hindquarters? Would they eventually give up and hunt elsewhere for something they could get a neck bite into? Or would they sit there scratching away like a ferret does? There is a big difference between hunting and traditional ferreting, when we have to try and get as many rabbits as possible to satisfy the land owner.

[Tyla 3,179]

The answer would be not to use it in buries, get it hunting cover above ground like a mini terrier but what for, we don't have the right kind of quarry? I would give it a try if I could think of a use for it

[GreyRake 108]

Minkenry, do you think your techniques would work with a ferret if it was brought up in the right way? I would be half tempted to give it a go with a kit, bring it up away from the other ferrets, keep it in the house, build a good bond and use it for a different kind of hunting. The main problem I can see is the lack of suitable quarry here, no point bolting rabbits as ferrets do that already without any training, we don't have ground squirrels or musk rats, perhaps rats along river banks

When i was a boy, my mum didn't want me taking my 'pet' ferret hunting. But i went ahead behind her back. Just layed him down and followed him. He sniffed out and caught all sorts of small creatures. Maybe not as much fun for adults, but im sure ferrets could have more uses.

Edited October 5, 2013 by GreyRake

[Tyla 3,179]

 

Minkenry, do you think your techniques would work with a ferret if it was brought up in the right way? I would be half tempted to give it a go with a kit, bring it up away from the other ferrets, keep it in the house, build a good bond and use it for a different kind of hunting. The main problem I can see is the lack of suitable quarry here, no point bolting rabbits as ferrets do that already without any training, we don't have ground squirrels or musk rats, perhaps rats along river banks

When i was a boy, my mum didn't want me taking my 'pet' ferret hunting. But i went ahead behind her back. Just layed him down and followed him. He sniffed out and caught all sorts of small creatures. Maybe not as much fun for adults, but im sure ferrets could have more uses.

 

 

That is pretty much what I was thinking of, what were you catching?

[GreyRake 108]

 

 

Minkenry, do you think your techniques would work with a ferret if it was brought up in the right way? I would be half tempted to give it a go with a kit, bring it up away from the other ferrets, keep it in the house, build a good bond and use it for a different kind of hunting. The main problem I can see is the lack of suitable quarry here, no point bolting rabbits as ferrets do that already without any training, we don't have ground squirrels or musk rats, perhaps rats along river banks

When i was a boy, my mum didn't want me taking my 'pet' ferret hunting. But i went ahead behind her back. Just layed him down and followed him. He sniffed out and caught all sorts of small creatures. Maybe not as much fun for adults, but im sure ferrets could have more uses.

 

 

That is pretty much what I was thinking of, what were you catching?

 

Alot of field voles, from long grass and places where i lifted logs etc. Rats, mice, frogs. Used to put him down single holes with a harness and lead then pull him out with a rabbit attached. He caught a pheasant from under some stacked corrugated iron but it was a lucky situation. Good at finding birds nests.

[Minkenry 1,044]

Is it thrue that they do not have a nasty body odour like ferrets?

 

Yes, they have no body odor at all. They have less sent to them than a dog or a cat. However, they do have musk gland that releases a nasty smell if you scare or hurt them. But this smell wears of in a matter of minutes to hours, depending on how much musk they release.

[Minkenry 1,044]

Teaching your mink to cache really caught my attention. But i feel that even though you could teach a ferret to cache in a carrier, they would still be content with the hole they caught it in, why move it?

 

That is the exact problem I have encountered with mink. Like you said, why should they move their prey when it's already in a good spot? The answer to this question is to give them a reason to move it. To put it simply I teach my mink that their prey will disappear if left in any place other than their box, and if they try to eat what they caught, where they caught it, they will loose their prey and get nothing to eat. If they move their prey to the box, then they get all they can eat in the form pre-ground up meat, and they don't have to go through the effort of chewing through the rabbit's tough hide. It's a win win if they cache in their box, a loose loose if they don't.

[Minkenry 1,044]

I think your right with that Rob. If someone was to try recreate the same thing over here it would IMO be more from from an interest point of view or for the challenge or to have something different. I think in terms of bolting rabbits I would be very surprised if mink would compare to a decent ferret even though the mink is a much more versatile predator.

 

 

I would 100% agree with this statement. Without years of specialized breeding, mink will never compete with the one job a ferret as been bred to perform for over 1000 years. The point of minkenry for me is the sport of hunting with a mink, not to try and get as much game as possible. However, when hunting muskrat (something a mink will always excel at over any other creature, since that is what nature created them to do) you can have rabbit ferreting like success, if you use a gun to shoot the fleeing muskrat. This is too easy for me, and I have more fun working hard all day for one rat than I do slaughtering dozens of rats in a few hours. Not trying to say that what I do is better, it's just how I prefer it. I'm in it for the thrill of the chase, rather than large numbers of game.

Edited October 5, 2013 by Minkenry

[Minkenry 1,044]

Minkenry, do you think your techniques would work with a ferret if it was brought up in the right way? I would be half tempted to give it a go with a kit, bring it up away from the other ferrets, keep it in the house, build a good bond and use it for a different kind of hunting. The main problem I can see is the lack of suitable quarry here, no point bolting rabbits as ferrets do that already without any training, we don't have ground squirrels or musk rats, perhaps rats along river banks

 

You know, I don't know how well my techniques would work with a ferret, since I have very limited experience training ferrets, and no real experience hunting with ferrets. Sorry

[Minkenry 1,044]

I don't see why we couldn't train a ferret to drag a rabbit back to a carrying cage, but the problem would arise if the rabbit won't bolt, and sits hunched in a stop end. What would a mink do with an animal that blocks the tunnel with its back end, and simply lets it scratch away at its hindquarters? Would they eventually give up and hunt elsewhere for something they could get a neck bite into? Or would they sit there scratching away like a ferret does? There is a big difference between hunting and traditional ferreting, when we have to try and get as many rabbits as possible to satisfy the land owner.

 

I can't say for sure, but I would expect a mink to do the same as a ferret, just with more power and ferocity. Weather their additional strength and determination would help or not, I have no idea.

[Bossie 90]

I have seen a jill of mine drag a rabbit out of a warren on several occasions, I think if brought up right she would be able to retrieve like a mink but is that the point in ferreting?

I think if you would like your ferret to do that with a warren containing 10 plus rabbits you'd need quite a big ferret to do all that heavy work, would be quite a different ferret compared to what we've been breading for.

Wouldn't a mink be able to just flush like a ferret or does it just always have to kill? If it would flush rabbits but go for the kill on real pests like rats and the larger rats and retrieve those it would be really cool.

If you'd just use it to get something on the table and don't have permissions which need to be worked hard to reduce numbers substantially there might be a use for a mink in rabbiting. Just take it for a walk, pop it in a hole, no need to net, and take home a rabbit for the pot. Don't think they would be usefull for bigger numbers.

Would a small one, have read they can be as small as 600 grams which is the same as my largers jills and smaller hobs, still be such a killer?