I hunt muskrat and squirrel with trained mink
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Quote: What are the legalities of keeping and hunting with a mink? "Ferreting" is illegal here...
I was wondering the same thing. Muskrat are considered furbearers in most states, so was wondering as well.
I would think you would have to be permitted just like with falconry.
How did you decide on the name "minkenry"? As opposed to say "minkery?
I was wondering the same thing. Muskrat are considered furbearers in most states, so was wondering as well.
I would think you would have to be permitted just like with falconry.
How did you decide on the name "minkenry"? As opposed to say "minkery?
Originally Posted By: Yellowhammer Quote: What are the legalities of keeping and hunting with a mink? "Ferreting" is illegal here...
I was wondering the same thing. Muskrat are considered furbearers in most states, so was wondering as well.
I would think you would have to be permitted just like with falconry.
How did you decide on the name "minkenry"? As opposed to say "minkery?
The laws are different from state to state, but in my state it is totally legal, and I have friends in several different states who have found ways to make it legal too. One beautiful thing about mink is most states consider mink born in captivity as domestic animals, thanks to the popularity of keeping mink on fur farms, so it is common for no license to be necessary to have a captive born mink.
I was wondering the same thing. Muskrat are considered furbearers in most states, so was wondering as well.
I would think you would have to be permitted just like with falconry.
How did you decide on the name "minkenry"? As opposed to say "minkery?
The laws are different from state to state, but in my state it is totally legal, and I have friends in several different states who have found ways to make it legal too. One beautiful thing about mink is most states consider mink born in captivity as domestic animals, thanks to the popularity of keeping mink on fur farms, so it is common for no license to be necessary to have a captive born mink.
spiderman
New member
The videos are awesome to watch and seeing that mink doing his thing on a muskrat , wow. Those rats take a lot of effort for your mink to kill. Your mink is of "mink farm" genetics ,correct? It is black instead of "wild " color. How does your mink measure up to an adult male wild one? Is it male or female and do they train differently , the different sexes? ? ? ? ? ? Jim
Originally Posted By: spidermanThe videos are awesome to watch and seeing that mink doing his thing on a muskrat , wow. Those rats take a lot of effort for your mink to kill. Your mink is of "mink farm" genetics ,correct? It is black instead of "wild " color. How does your mink measure up to an adult male wild one? Is it male or female and do they train differently , the different sexes? ? ? ? ? ? Jim
Yes the mink in most of the muskrat hunting videos is a female Mahogany ranch mink. She works at about 830 grams, and most wild male mink are around 1,100-1,200 grams. The two sexes are trained the same, but they both have their own advantages and disadvantages.
Female mink are smaller and quicker. Being smaller allows them to fit down smaller holes, giving them more options as to what you can hunt with them. They are also higher strung, so a bit more of a handful than a lot of the males.
The males are bigger and stronger. Not just stronger bodies, but also jaws and necks. Males also have proportionately larger heads, thicker necks, and bigger canines. They also have thicker hide. They are usually more calm and confident than females, and not so jumpy and hyper.
I usually hunt ranch females because they are big enough to kill big muskrats and rabbits, and yet small enough to fit down little rat holes.
I have wondered some time as to what a little wild female is capable of doing. They only weigh 500-600 grams, and I wonder how well they handle a big old muskrat that's 2-3 times their size.
Yes the mink in most of the muskrat hunting videos is a female Mahogany ranch mink. She works at about 830 grams, and most wild male mink are around 1,100-1,200 grams. The two sexes are trained the same, but they both have their own advantages and disadvantages.
Female mink are smaller and quicker. Being smaller allows them to fit down smaller holes, giving them more options as to what you can hunt with them. They are also higher strung, so a bit more of a handful than a lot of the males.
The males are bigger and stronger. Not just stronger bodies, but also jaws and necks. Males also have proportionately larger heads, thicker necks, and bigger canines. They also have thicker hide. They are usually more calm and confident than females, and not so jumpy and hyper.
I usually hunt ranch females because they are big enough to kill big muskrats and rabbits, and yet small enough to fit down little rat holes.
I have wondered some time as to what a little wild female is capable of doing. They only weigh 500-600 grams, and I wonder how well they handle a big old muskrat that's 2-3 times their size.
Displayed Name
New member
Can you hunt with more than one mink at a time? and what in your opinion is the biggest animal of any sort a big mink could tackle?
I remember hearing stories from my buddies older brother about how somehow he got a wild mink all wrapped around his forearm. Said he had to go home and cut it off. Just a story don't know if it was true.
I remember hearing stories from my buddies older brother about how somehow he got a wild mink all wrapped around his forearm. Said he had to go home and cut it off. Just a story don't know if it was true.
WeaselCircus
Member
Very cool stuff. That'd take way more patience than i have. But now lets see if you can train a muskrat to hunt beavers!
Originally Posted By: Displayed Name Can you hunt with more than one mink at a time? and what in your opinion is the biggest animal of any sort a big mink could tackle?
I remember hearing stories from my buddies older brother about how somehow he got a wild mink all wrapped around his forearm. Said he had to go home and cut it off. Just a story don't know if it was true.
Mink are highly aggressive with each other, and usually just want to kill each other. But I do know of people who have gotten them to get along before, I've just never tried it before. Someday I'll try to hunt two mink at once, but for now, one mink is MORE than enough! LOL
I remember hearing stories from my buddies older brother about how somehow he got a wild mink all wrapped around his forearm. Said he had to go home and cut it off. Just a story don't know if it was true.
Mink are highly aggressive with each other, and usually just want to kill each other. But I do know of people who have gotten them to get along before, I've just never tried it before. Someday I'll try to hunt two mink at once, but for now, one mink is MORE than enough! LOL
Originally Posted By: WeaselCircusVery cool stuff. That'd take way more patience than i have. But now lets see if you can train a muskrat to hunt beavers!
My little female mink Missy chased an adult beaver out of his bank den several times! Here's the story behind it....
On February 10th while muskrat hunting, Missy gave us quite the surprise. We were muskrat hunting as usual, and Missy chased a few muskrats out of their holes. We were having a typical day hunting, when all of a sudden she disappeared down some holes for a really long time. I wasn't too worried at first, but as time went on I was starting to wonder if she slipped away without us noticing, and was somewhere down stream hunting without us. So finally I broke down and started calling her. My cousin Max yelled that he saw her come out of this big beaver hole under some tree roots that was on the opposite side of the beaver dam from where we were, and I looked just in time to see her disappear back down in the beaver hole.
I climbed over the beaver dam, and shined my flash light into the beaver den to see what she was doing. I could see her running around in there every now and then, but she kept disappearing down deeper in the hole where I couldn't see her for long periods of time. I couldn't figure out what she was doing, and thought that maybe she was just super curious about the beaver or something.
So finally I got tired of her playing around, and I called her back out again, and took her down stream so she'd quit messing around with that silly beaver hole and get to work. She ran down stream for a while checking out holes really briefly as if she was in a hurry. I thought it was strange that she spent so much time messing around in that beaver hole when she was obviously very excited to hunt, and was in quite a hurry to find some prey. Before long she found another beaver den, and she was really excited when she ran down in the hole. I thought to myself, "Good, she's finally getting back to work, and there's probably a muskrat in that beaver den." All of a sudden I saw something big and brown rush past the entrance of the beaver hole and I thought, "Yes! She's got a muskrat on the run, and it's a really big one too!" Then I heard a splash in the water coming from down in the water entrance of the hole. I looked down in the hole and saw a HUGE head about the size of a large muskrat! IT WAS A BEAVER!!!!
I wasn't really surprised to see a beaver in a beaver hole, that's pretty much to be expected. What surprised me was that a beaver that easily weighed over 30 lbs was running from my little mink that weighed less than 2 lbs!!! The beaver was quite surprised to see me so close, and looking right at him, so he dived back into his hole, and disappeared. I thought to myself, "Well, that's the last we'll see of him. Now that he knows we're here Missy will never get him out again!"
So for the next hour or so, we sat and waited as Missy tortured that poor beaver. We could tel some serious stuff was going on down in that hole, but we couldn't see what. Missy kept coming in and out, and back in again, and occasionally we detected movements from the beaver. Finally he came swimming out again, but this time he knew we were there, so he tried to sneak past us under water. I saw him and tried to net him, but there was no way his big fat body was going to fit in my little fishing net! I tried to get my net over his head so I could slow him down long enough for me to grab his tail, but I could only reach the net to his shoulders and he swam faster than I could run though the water. The beaver disappeared back down his hole, and Missy continued to harass that poor beaver for at least another hour before finally giving up to go find more manageable prey.
To this day I still can't believe it really happened! That big old beaver was attacked so viciously by my little mink that he was willing to risk trying to sneak past us, rather than stay and fight with the little black devil that had invaded HIS burrow!!! That's basically like a Jack Russel Terrier attacking you so viciously that you eventually leave your house and try to sneak past a grizzly bear that YOU KNOW is waiting outside to catch you! I still can't believe it! I knew mink were pretty intense, but that's beyond intense, that's just crazy!!! Missy repeated the beaver stunt at least 2 or 3 more times, but the beaver always escaped. Finally we had to just avoid hunting near beaver, because we always ended up wasting the day watching Missy chase the beaver, instead of catching muskrat.
My little female mink Missy chased an adult beaver out of his bank den several times! Here's the story behind it....
On February 10th while muskrat hunting, Missy gave us quite the surprise. We were muskrat hunting as usual, and Missy chased a few muskrats out of their holes. We were having a typical day hunting, when all of a sudden she disappeared down some holes for a really long time. I wasn't too worried at first, but as time went on I was starting to wonder if she slipped away without us noticing, and was somewhere down stream hunting without us. So finally I broke down and started calling her. My cousin Max yelled that he saw her come out of this big beaver hole under some tree roots that was on the opposite side of the beaver dam from where we were, and I looked just in time to see her disappear back down in the beaver hole.
I climbed over the beaver dam, and shined my flash light into the beaver den to see what she was doing. I could see her running around in there every now and then, but she kept disappearing down deeper in the hole where I couldn't see her for long periods of time. I couldn't figure out what she was doing, and thought that maybe she was just super curious about the beaver or something.
So finally I got tired of her playing around, and I called her back out again, and took her down stream so she'd quit messing around with that silly beaver hole and get to work. She ran down stream for a while checking out holes really briefly as if she was in a hurry. I thought it was strange that she spent so much time messing around in that beaver hole when she was obviously very excited to hunt, and was in quite a hurry to find some prey. Before long she found another beaver den, and she was really excited when she ran down in the hole. I thought to myself, "Good, she's finally getting back to work, and there's probably a muskrat in that beaver den." All of a sudden I saw something big and brown rush past the entrance of the beaver hole and I thought, "Yes! She's got a muskrat on the run, and it's a really big one too!" Then I heard a splash in the water coming from down in the water entrance of the hole. I looked down in the hole and saw a HUGE head about the size of a large muskrat! IT WAS A BEAVER!!!!
I wasn't really surprised to see a beaver in a beaver hole, that's pretty much to be expected. What surprised me was that a beaver that easily weighed over 30 lbs was running from my little mink that weighed less than 2 lbs!!! The beaver was quite surprised to see me so close, and looking right at him, so he dived back into his hole, and disappeared. I thought to myself, "Well, that's the last we'll see of him. Now that he knows we're here Missy will never get him out again!"
So for the next hour or so, we sat and waited as Missy tortured that poor beaver. We could tel some serious stuff was going on down in that hole, but we couldn't see what. Missy kept coming in and out, and back in again, and occasionally we detected movements from the beaver. Finally he came swimming out again, but this time he knew we were there, so he tried to sneak past us under water. I saw him and tried to net him, but there was no way his big fat body was going to fit in my little fishing net! I tried to get my net over his head so I could slow him down long enough for me to grab his tail, but I could only reach the net to his shoulders and he swam faster than I could run though the water. The beaver disappeared back down his hole, and Missy continued to harass that poor beaver for at least another hour before finally giving up to go find more manageable prey.
To this day I still can't believe it really happened! That big old beaver was attacked so viciously by my little mink that he was willing to risk trying to sneak past us, rather than stay and fight with the little black devil that had invaded HIS burrow!!! That's basically like a Jack Russel Terrier attacking you so viciously that you eventually leave your house and try to sneak past a grizzly bear that YOU KNOW is waiting outside to catch you! I still can't believe it! I knew mink were pretty intense, but that's beyond intense, that's just crazy!!! Missy repeated the beaver stunt at least 2 or 3 more times, but the beaver always escaped. Finally we had to just avoid hunting near beaver, because we always ended up wasting the day watching Missy chase the beaver, instead of catching muskrat.
I am proud to present to you, my new harness design. This design works much better for wild and difficult to harness mink. It also works much better for large males than the original Idea. I also invented a new harnessing device which is MUCH better than the original wire idea. This tube harnessing device works better for both this new harness, and the original harness.
Displayed Name
New member
Getting such a kick out of all this, keep it coming.
doggin coyotes
Well-known member
I'm training a badger to dig out rabbits and prairie dogs. He runs and hides when he sees me coming with his harness.
twhitey
New member
Way to cool you are the man.I live in an area where you just don't see mink well I was out plowing snow the other night and noticed a mink mousing around so I got out and started filming this mink and it started towards me bounding around and when it noticed me it went under 4" of snow and slid away like nobody's business way to gracefull.I would love to hunt with a Mink.......To cool I bet a lot of work goes into that.I have hunted with a friend that had a Jag terrier and it's amazing to see a little Jag tear up a yote.......
Originally Posted By: twhiteyWay to cool you are the man.I live in an area where you just don't see mink well I was out plowing snow the other night and noticed a mink mousing around so I got out and started filming this mink and it started towards me bounding around and when it noticed me it went under 4" of snow and slid away like nobody's business way to gracefull.I would love to hunt with a Mink.......To cool I bet a lot of work goes into that.I have hunted with a friend that had a Jag terrier and it's amazing to see a little Jag tear up a yote.......
As funny as it must sound, I get supper excited whenever I see a wild mink! Did the wild mink you saw move something like this....
As funny as it must sound, I get supper excited whenever I see a wild mink! Did the wild mink you saw move something like this....
nonamesleft47
New member
Do you have your training process and other details documented somewhere online? How do mink differ from ferrets?
How many mink do you keep at one time?
I've seen mink chasing squirrels through trees. It's amazing that with the squirrel panicking and running for their lives and the mink just loping along that the chases I've seen ended in a dead squirrel every time. Fascinating animals.
How many mink do you keep at one time?
I've seen mink chasing squirrels through trees. It's amazing that with the squirrel panicking and running for their lives and the mink just loping along that the chases I've seen ended in a dead squirrel every time. Fascinating animals.