Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire saw a Mink this morning

Wife and I were walking our usual loop by the school with the dog. Behind the school is a marshy area they don't mow.

At first we thought it was a cat, then maybe someone's pet ferret got loose but I'm pretty sure it was a black mink. He was on the edge of the marsh and ran into the weeds when the dogs jumped toward him. Beautiful animal, totally unexpected to see in a suburban neighborhood.

I have been here 20 years, first time I've seen one.

Mink are one of the coolest critters around. They're thick around here.

I live on a small river and we see them fairly regularly, especially in the winter when their dark brown coats offer great contrast to the snow. My wife has taken many photos and video of them. They are fun to watch and beautiful.

We don't have a lot of them here, but several years ago something started killing my chickens. Turns out it was the biggest mick I've ever seen, and he was coming through a hole that I wouldn't have thought a mouse could get through. Trapped it and killed it. Guess I should have skinned that sucker and made something out of the hide.

About five years ago I was hunting at my bird club in NY State, on the NJ/NY border, which is on a dairy farm's wooded back 40. I found a dead mink with no marks on it. I gave it to my farmer friend who runs the farm. He and his brother trapped there when they were young. A couple of months ago I found a road kill mink that wasn't messed up, so I picked it up and gave it to another friend who sells pelts. Also found in that area of Northwest NJ are martens. They kill and eat the porcupines I sometimes see as road kill.

I see them all the time rafting. Saw one in the front yard one day. We're about 1000ft from the nearest pond. Not sure what it was doing in the front yard. Maybe a young one that was looking for love or new diggs.

Here in southern Indiana there are more mink around than most people realize.
My boys average at least one a year trapping, usually in muskrat or coon sets.
That being said, I have only ever seen four actually alive in the wild in 47 years. And that’s after an immense amount of time spent in the outdoors hunting, fishing and trapping.
They are a beautiful animal and it’s a good thing they don’t weigh 150 pounds. They would be a force to be reckoned with.

We have quite a few of the mink's cousin, the river otter. They aren't seen often but they're there. The same goes for mink, here but seldom seen.

It's fun to watch any of them slinky critters doing their thing. Poetry in motion. Pine Martins are absolute beasts when they're chasing a squirrel in a tree.

Remember the time I seen a pair of black footed ferrets in the Sierra 30 years ago. Haven't seen any since.

Them Irish are pretty slick.

Dad used to trap them down on the creek that was in the woods below the farmhouse. He'd get aggravated when they'd get in the chicken house and kill his laying hens. He didn't turn down the money, though, the hides were worth quite a bit in those days. I suspect that old creek still has a lot of mink running it, along with beaver and otters. And coons.

Filthy stinkin' bastards.

Had them get into an outside storage closet 6- 8 years ago. Trapped two and sealed up the access they were using. Haven't seen any since.

The smell was intense.

Made the mistake of putting the live trap with one of them in a building at the facility I worked at. Never had trapped a mink before.

Never made that mistake again either.

Averaged one a month while I was there.

I see them on the riverbanks here fairly often. I use to trap them when I was a teenager.The males brought 32 to 36.00, Minimum wage was 2.35 an hour then.

Beat me to it!

First time James ever bitched about the Irish.
It usually a darker complaint!

Just wondering if they sit or stand in the raft? And how do they hold the paddles?

This thread disappoints.


I was expecting yoga pants, long legs, nice...

Well.


Something different!

I knew one of those once.

Lol, a 44mag opens them up end to end, they turn into a tube.