I Hunt With Mink!

[Tiercel 6,986]

 

I have'nt read the whole thread but from what I can see you are applying the principles that you use for manning hawks to the mink? Do the mink have a fat weight and a hunting weight? Do they have a going up and coming down weight? Is it a minks natural instinct to hide whatever they kill? What happens if they make a kill and you cannot get to them? Is that the reason for the den training and do you carry the den with you when hunting them? Apologies for all the questions.

 

TC

 

 

I was a falconer before I had mink, so yes a lot of the training principles I use stem from falconry. I didn't use weight to begin with as mink aren't as lazy as hawks and will often work even when a little too fat. Then later I used weight loosely to get an idea of where the mink was at. Starting this summer I've started to weigh my mink religiously, and I find it gives me a lot more control and insight as to why the mink behaves as it did during a certain training. Part of the reason I didn't use weighing from the beginning was also the difficultly of getting an accurate weight on a mink. Mink almost never stop moving, so you can't use anything but a digital scale, and you use the zero button to figure out their weight.

 

Yes it is a mink's natural instinct to cache (hide what they kill) in their den. Like you guessed, I train my mink to cache in their carry box so that when they kill something down in a hole we don't have to just leave it there, or spend time digging it out. I put the mink's carry box in a back pack and carry it on my back when we go hunting. When the mink is down a hole, I put the carry box at the entrance of the hole, so the mink can cache in it if she catches something.

 

I can see you have harnesed the natural instincts of the mink by using familiarity and weight control to hunt them. You stated it is an ongoing proccess, where if you do not keep up with the training, they would regress to their wild state? So I take it that you do not let them have time off as you would with a bird in moult?

 

It does leave me wondering how many other animals could be used, by the same "training" methods as for hawks and falcons, where the animal is "trained" but never looses it's wild edge.

 

Makes me think of John Gaunt the rat catcher who used foxes to control rats on railway lines. I wonder if he used similar methods?

 

TC

[Minkenry 1,044]

 

I can see you have harnesed the natural instincts of the mink by using familiarity and weight control to hunt them. You stated it is an ongoing proccess, where if you do not keep up with the training, they would regress to their wild state? So I take it that you do not let them have time off as you would with a bird in moult?

 

It does leave me wondering how many other animals could be used, by the same "training" methods as for hawks and falcons, where the animal is "trained" but never looses it's wild edge.

 

Makes me think of John Gaunt the rat catcher who used foxes to control rats on railway lines. I wonder if he used similar methods?

 

TC

 

 

Someone hunting rats with a trained fox??? Now THAT sounds interesting!

 

It's not like they loose everything they've learned. They'll just loose their edge. This applies more to mink acquired as adults than ones who were properly raised as kits (properly being the key word here). Basically if you leave a mink in it's cage for a month, then just go let it out and expect it to be nice, you'll probably get bit, and the mink might just run off and ignore you. If your mink is not worked for a prolonged period, you need to do a little reminder training to warm them back up. How much reminder training depends on both the individual mink, and how long it's been since the mink was last worked.

 

Not everything I do with the mink is a break off from falconry. I do use some dog training methods, especially with mink raised as a kit. When my mink is doing something I don't like I can say "No" and they will usually stop what they are doing. I taught them this the same way I would train a dog. There are other training methods that are totally unique and as far as I know aren't used with any other animals (like my caching training methods. I pretty much made that up as I went along, with some help from other animal trainer friends and their helpful inputs)

Edited September 3, 2013 by Minkenry

[gav1212 16]

I watched this the other night, training methods in your other videos are great. Credit to you, would love to see a mink in action!

[air gun ant 1,666]

You sir, have my utmost respect! Well done !!!

[charlie caller 3,654]

Now all this has got me thinking (which isn't very often) I would love to see what could be done with an otter, now that would be awesome sport, imagine buying a day ticket on opening day at your local trout reservoir,and instead of producing a no 7 weight forward, and a big lure, you let an otter out of the bag and proceeded to eat your breakfast while the otter did the business now that would be worth all the training and effort, just to see the looks on their faces

[Minkenry 1,044]

Now all this has got me thinking (which isn't very often) I would love to see what could be done with an otter, now that would be awesome sport, imagine buying a day ticket on opening day at your local trout reservoir,and instead of producing a no 7 weight forward, and a big lure, you let an otter out of the bag and proceeded to eat your breakfast while the otter did the business now that would be worth all the training and effort, just to see the looks on their faces

 

I'd sure like to to try it one day! Not to burst your bubble or anything, but the truth of the matter is, it would probably take twice as much work to catch a fish with an otter than it would with a pole. Not only that, but you'd probably be pretty lucky to have them catch a trout. Not that an otter couldn't catch a trout, it's just that trout are very fast fish, and the otter is going to go after whatever is easiest to catch, and most available. So chances are you'd end up with a carp or some other slower fish. I still agree that it would be a blast, and sure hope I get to try it some day! :-)

[charlie caller 3,654]

Well I don't reckon I will try it anytime soon, got enough on with the redtail hawk at the moment, but hell yes I would love to see it done, hope you manage it some day buddy.

[Astral 253]

This has been by far one of the most interesting threads I've read, however now I've ended up at "that side" of youtube watching trained goldfish dance...

[charlie caller 3,654]

Yes I agree a brilliant read

[the fezz 44]

great thread , very interesting

 

atb fezz

[Irishmac 5]

Thats un-f***ing-believable mate !

 

a ferret and lurcher all in one .....

[Minkenry 1,044]

Thats un-f*****g-believable mate !

 

a ferret and lurcher all in one .....

 

Thanks!

[Minkenry 1,044]

Here's a really quick little video of my newly trained 18 week old mink caching a rat in front of a big crowd at the annual Utah Trappers Association convention. I brought a freshly trapped rat, and released it in the tunnel that runs under the road, so everyone could see how my mink retrieves rats. I was a little worried she might not do it with so many people around, but she pleasantly surprised me by working like a charm.

 

 

[Catcher 1 639]

The best topic in a long while.To train any wild animal to that standard must take a lot of hard work..

[Minkenry 1,044]

I'm writing a book on Mink and need help coming up with a good name for the book. The book is going to be both a how to, and a story book. It will start out with the story of minkenry and how I've gotten to where I am with the sport. Then it will break into the how to chapters of the sport.

Here are the ideas I have come up with so far. Please let me know what you like, don't like, and any unique ideas you can come up with yourselves. Here's what I've got....

Bloody fingers: How to tame, train, and hunt with one of natures most intense predators.

Minkenry: The new found art of hunting with a trained mink.

Minkenry: Harnessing the hunting ability of one of natures most intense predators.

Minkenry: How to tame, train, and hunt with one of natures most intense predators.

Minkenry: Taming the untameable, then taking them hunting.

The new sport of Minkenry: How to tame, train, and hunt with one of natures most intense predators.

Minkenry: Hunting and fishing with a tame mink.

Taming the untameable: Minkenry, how to tame train, and hunt with one of natures most intense predators.

Tell me what you guys like and don't like and give me some of your own ideas, and then I'll narrow my possible titles down to a top three. Thanks for your help!