Mink

[David G]

I swear I saw a mink go across the front of my field before the storm, we are 1/2 mile from nearest creek.

 

[ShakerPrairie]

David those little mink hunt mice, birds and any other small game they can take.
They also will cross overland from one watershed to another.

 

[db4600]

Got chickens?

 

[David G]

Cool, bet he was headed to creek down the hill.

I have a spring in my timber, but no fish.

 

[P. Coltrane]

Yeah I have seen them twice during the day, one had a small muskrat in its mouth that I had shot in my pond, it ran into culvert with it. Another time just running across yard. And had one get into shed with my ducks. Bad scene.

 

[SVcummins]

Wish they would come here

Mink

 

[John Deere D]

Hi.... Was it a Martin Dave?

We have Martin but no Mink in our area. ...North Western Alberta.....

Pics off Internet.....one of their main sources of food are squirrels

Bob..

 

[Traditional Farmer]

Yep they are deadly chicken killers,as they kill for sport have seen them kill 20 or 25 chickens in one night.

 

[showcrop]

Mink are very rare around here. Fisher cats (yes, I know they are not cats) look very similar and are much more common.

 

[ss55]

They used to be common in Western Iowa creeks and small rivers, they might still be. In the late 1960's I trapped muskrats for spending money and to reduce crop damage. I would catch 25 to 40 muskrats a year on 3/4 mile of creek and catch one mink about every second year, both minks and cotton minks. We never saw them except for an occasional track in the mud. I caught one alive, it was quite docile and inquisitive, it had no fear of me.

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

I have a creek through my property that crosses the road. A fella used to trap there and would get one mink a year. Found a dead one on the bridge once.

 

[MJMJ]

Mink spend a lot of time far from water. Especially during spring and summer with lots of baby rabbits and other critters to hunt. They arent a strictly water animal like we often think of them.

 

[Tom in TN]

In the late 1950's / early 1960's a lot of dairy farmers in Northeastern Ohio quit milking and started raising mink. I was in Junior High School / High School. I took a job on one of the farms. Grinding and mixing feed, feeding the animals, spreading the droppings from under the cages, and building new cages. In the fall we'd kill the mink and pelt them out. At the time, the owner was getting in the general range of $25.00 per pelt. White ones were worth more and plain brown ones worth less.

Mean little buggers, they.


Tom in TN

 

[showcrop]

(quoted from post at 05:59:40 07/12/20) In the late 1950's / early 1960's a lot of dairy farmers in Northeastern Ohio quit milking and started raising mink. I was in Junior High School / High School. I took a job on one of the farms. Grinding and mixing feed, feeding the animals, spreading the droppings from under the cages, and building new cages. In the fall we'd kill the mink and pelt them out. At the time, the owner was getting in the general range of $25.00 per pelt. White ones were worth more and plain brown ones worth less.

Mean little buggers, they.


Tom in TN

Tom, someone told me about working on a small mink farm here in town prior to when we moved here in 1973. They have had no mink there for many years though you can still see what is left of the buildings when there are no leaves. He also said that they were very mean.

 

[ss55]

Yes, cage raised mink are much much meaner than wild mink.

 

[chcase]

Our nearby creek is 2 miles away and we get a mink come by to kill my wife's chickens.really hard to keep out. Do kill for sport.Can wipe out a hen house in a few nights.

 

[P. Coltrane]

I couldn't tell which ones tend to be a better mood. But I can tell you they have teeth sharp enough and jaws strong enough to bite through and smash a ducks bill.

 

[gab]

I probably caught a dozen of them over the years when I used to trap, my older brother used to catch a lot of them. I think the biggest darkest ones would bring close to 40 bucks around 1960 but that wasn't an everyday thing.

 

[glennster]

we got two mink last winter in the beaver traps. 330 connibear. was surprised to see that ! pelts bring 1.50 , coyotes were bringing 35 iirc.

 

[Donald Lehman]

Yup. Lost seven chickens in one night to a mink. Caught him in a conibear the next night. The so-and-so got one more chicken before he got caught, though. He cleaned out the muskrats in my pond then turned on the chickens.