A Nice Mink

Nightforce 65X55

Hi lads ,

I was away for the weekend with a couple of mates , Bunny bashing as you do , and spotted a couple of Mink hunting in the rabbit burrows . There were 3 in all ducking and diving in and out of the burrows and the rabbits bolting all over the place. So two of us decided to close the distance on them and thin them out a bit. We stalked down to within 100 yds , both .223's on Zero , I was trying out the Hornady Steel Match 55gr BTHP, surprisingly accurate out of my remmy, and the mate was on the American Eagle 50gr Hollow Point , which gives him Sub .5 MOA in his XR100 remmy. The 100yds gave us a great field of view over the burrows and we waited for the little Black Heads of the mink to appear. Then one popped up on the right side of the warren , both of us were on him like a light , but My Mate got the shot off First , I saw him drop into one of the burrows. Now the Pressure was on , where was the next one going to appear ?
About 3 or 4 Mins later about 95yds out I spotted one , I took aim , and he dissapeared ! but I had a feeling he wouldn't be missing for long so I stayed on the Rifle. It was no more than 10 seconds , and he popped up again with my crosshair in his shoulder , Ill be honest and say I don't even remember squeezing off the Shot , but there was a cloud of sand and a lifeless Mink in the burrow.
We waited for about 20 mins , scanning the warren for movement but no more appeared . So we headed out to collect the Mink . I found My one , he dropped straight into a burrow and I had walked by him more than once during the search . Unfortunately we didn't find the other one but he was hit hard , he must have pulled himself into the burrow. I know he was hit as I saw the impact. I have shot many mink on these warrens and this is only the second one that has been retrieved. I was a Happy Camper !
But that wasn't the end of it .
We went back up to our original firing point and resumed the rabbit shooting, the conditions were challenging to say the least with Wind readings of anywhere from 3.5 Mph to 17 Mph, we had had a really good day . Then I spotted a Rabbit @ 500yds. We had shot a few there during the day and The XR100 was up . It was a spectacular shot , first round hit on the rabbit , put him on his back , stone dead . It was getting late so we decided to pack up the gear and head down to collect the rabbit .

On the way we were passing the warren that we shot the Mink on , so we decided that 3 sets of Eyes were better than 2, and had another look . After about 25 mins we gave up and started off to collect the rabbit , out of the corner of my eye , I spotted movement on my left about 25 yds out. I stopped the lads and we watched for a min or so. It was another Mink , but we left the rifles in the car .

I decided to try a rabbit call on my hand to see if the Mink would pop up again. What happened next was unbelievable , luckily one of the lads had his phone with him to capture the Video . The mink responded to the call like a hungry Fox , he made his way through the burrows with ease only popping up, every now and then , to keep an eye on us. He came to within 3 ft of my foot . I never thought a Mink would come that close to us , and at one point, one of the lads phones rang , the Mink kept on coming, absolutely no fear.

I have a Video on My You Tube page , Have a look , it's unbelieveable....

Cass

Got it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TQZiyAjZLg

Stonehall9

Cass wrote: »

Got it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TQZiyAjZLg

That's unreal great video, the lad in the background sounded like he was goin to have a heart attack laughing !!!

Nightforce 65X55

We never thought the mink would come that close to us, its not like we were hidden from him or camoflaged . These little mink have no fear....

Holdover

Very good, nice to get a good look at one and see how agile they are. I only ever see them for a few seconds or else when they're trapped already.

Nightforce 65X55

Holdover wrote: »

Very good, nice to get a good look at one and see how agile they are. I only ever see them for a few seconds or else when they're trapped already.

They are fast on the ground and like lightning in the burrows , I would love to know how they can navigate through the burrows , it must be like a maze underground...

dodderangler

Nightforce 65X55 wrote: »

They are fast on the ground and like lightning in the burrows , I would love to know how they can navigate through the burrows , it must be like a maze underground...

Same way as a ferret would. Hunt by sound and smell.
This lad hunts with mink after muskrats
http://youtu.be/Ketdbf6wSRY

Holdover

That mink is lethal when it goes for the kill, plenty of blood, I never heard of a trained one before.

dodderangler

Holdover wrote: »

That mink is lethal when it goes for the kill, plenty of blood, I never heard of a trained one before.

That lads catches fish and all with his mink. He has a rake of them and breeds them. Has a Snow White mink aswell. Beautiful but he may keep them over there

Eddie B

He buy's kits from mink farms, and rear's them like you would a ferret! Plenty of handling!