He Trains Mink To Hunt
“I always liked animals as a kid and trained dogs and horses,” says Joseph Carter. “When our family moved to Utah we had neighbors who raised mink. I’d read a book about a guy who hunted with ferrets and fished with a trained otter, so I thought it would be fun to see what I could do with a mink.”
After getting turned down by several mink farmers, the 18-year-old teenager found an escaped female ranch mink running in a field near his house. “I captured her and named her Murray. She was very easy to work with and I trained her to follow commands in just a few months. Better yet, I never got bit once,” Carter says. Unfortunately, Murray died suddenly from an infection, and Carter was minkless. Then a neighbor called and said she had an escaped ranch mink in her garage. Carter trained that mink, and eventually several others owned by people who had contacted him. He used the mink to hunt varmints such as rats, muskrats, rabbits and squirrels. People with critter problems now hire him to take care of their pest animal problems. He even has an ongoing contract with a city park to have his trained mink hunt rats. Carter says his mink do a much better job at rat control than the professional pest control companies.
He regularly posts mink handling and hunting videos on the internet, and the calls and questions he gets led to writing a book called “The New Sport of Minkenry”. By the end of 2014 he says people from 24 states and 6 foreign countries had purchased his book.
“It took me well over a year to put all the information together for the book,” says Carter. “I put in everything I knew from my experience and had help from a lot of other people familiar with the animals. It has chapters on care, training, nutrition, equipment, housing, health and differences between mink color strains.”
Carter says his own mink are pets who are trained for hunting, much like gun dogs are for hunting birds. He trains the mink to come back using the word ‘Glingaho’, which means ‘come here’ in the Omaha Native American language. “They need regular attention, regular care and they need to work in the field to keep up their skills. Working with them is just as fun and rewarding as working with horses, dogs or falcons. The biggest difference is that many mink only respond to the person who trained them, and they don’t typically socialize well with other animals.”
For more information on his book or services, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Joseph Carter (ph 801 548-2696; Joseph.carter52@yahoo.com).
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He Trains Mink To Hunt MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Pest Animals “I always liked animals as a kid and trained dogs and horses ” says Joseph Carter “When our family moved to Utah we had neighbors who raised mink I’d read a book about a guy who hunted with ferrets and fished with a trained otter so I thought it would be fun to see what I could do with a mink ” After getting turned down by several mink farmers the 18-year-old teenager found an escaped female ranch mink running in a field near his house “I captured her and named her Murray She was very easy to work with and I trained her to follow commands in just a few months Better yet I never got bit once ” Carter says Unfortunately Murray died suddenly from an infection and Carter was minkless Then a neighbor called and said she had an escaped ranch mink in her garage Carter trained that mink and eventually several others owned by people who had contacted him He used the mink to hunt varmints such as rats muskrats rabbits and squirrels People with critter problems now hire him to take care of their pest animal problems He even has an ongoing contract with a city park to have his trained mink hunt rats Carter says his mink do a much better job at rat control than the professional pest control companies He regularly posts mink handling and hunting videos on the internet and the calls and questions he gets led to writing a book called “The New Sport of Minkenry” By the end of 2014 he says people from 24 states and 6 foreign countries had purchased his book “It took me well over a year to put all the information together for the book ” says Carter “I put in everything I knew from my experience and had help from a lot of other people familiar with the animals It has chapters on care training nutrition equipment housing health and differences between mink color strains ” Carter says his own mink are pets who are trained for hunting much like gun dogs are for hunting birds He trains the mink to come back using the word ‘Glingaho’ which means ‘come here’ in the Omaha Native American language “They need regular attention regular care and they need to work in the field to keep up their skills Working with them is just as fun and rewarding as working with horses dogs or falcons The biggest difference is that many mink only respond to the person who trained them and they don’t typically socialize well with other animals ” For more information on his book or services contact: FARM SHOW Followup Joseph Carter ph 801 548-2696; Joseph carter52@yahoo com
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