For those who aren't sure.
This female is probably the most cotton I have ever caught.

I'd Tan that pelt

From eating too much fish?

That's the tale I've heard.


the leather is also "blotchy" you can tell a cotton mink once boarded without seeing the fur.

That cotton mink is beautiful!

At age 16 the first mink that I caught was an average size female with good color and nice fur quality.

At the end of the season, I took all my furs to a country buyer. As he counted and graded my fur he examined the mink. He explained to me about the worthless nature of the dreaded cotton mink. Then he pointed out the white chin, and diagnosed it as a cotton mink. He said it was sad that a young young trapper’s first mink was just a cotton mink. So, he would buy it from me because he wanted to help me. He wrote on the list “1 Female Cotton Mink $1.00”. At that time average female mink were selling for at least $20.00.

I had more than $500 worth of fur. He lowballed everything and offered around $350. I told him that he lowballed everything and lied about the mink. I packed up the furs and he tried to charge me a $35 grading fee. I walked out and sold furs to someone else a couple weeks later for $575.

The first two mink I ever caught were graded "cotton mink", I found out later what a cotton mink was and never sold to that buyer again. I was a young kid at the time.

Are you well on your way to 100 Ack? How is the muskrat population?

nice don't think i have ever got one

Thanks for posting the picture. Great reference

I tried to sell some rats and a huge boar mink to Pacific Hide and Fur in Great Falls. The buyer also tried to pull the old "cotton" mink trick on me too. I just laughed at him, picked them up , and sold to my local buyer in Kansas. I did feel a bit bad about the rats. Those highline rats are pretty pitiful.

Never caught a cotton mink here.
The mink here have dark slate blue underfur.
I know there is a grade of mink called cotton.
They may be like canary marten-almost no two are alike,so cannot get enough matched to make a garment.
I doubt it has anything to do with diet,more than likely genetic.

Half the mink I caught as a youngster were “cotton”, I quit selling my mink to that buyer and started selling to another country buyer, JJ never mentioned Cotten when grading my fur. Are ya with me? - if ya know ya know

I hope that thief is long gone

Just hit 70 today. Terrible conditions. No water in 30 to 40% of my ditches.
Have not really looked the rat situation over yet. Most of them are on the second half of my line

Sold my first mink to a country buyer who set up shop every Saturday at the county fairgrounds. If was a frigid cold February day waiting in line to see what I would get for that puny female.
While I was waiting in line i paid close attention to what was going on, being just a kid full of wonderment.
The old man's nose was steadily running. He'd look over a fella's pelts, make an offer, reach in his coveralls and pull out a wad of bills big enough to choke a horse, with enough leftover to burn a wet mule. Only problem was, his nose was running all over that wad of bills. I wasn't worried too much about whether or not he'd actually be able to burn that wet mule, nor if he was going get snot all over my fur money.
He offered me $28 in the round. I didn't even try to wipe the snot off before i put it in my pocket.

Congrats on the 70 mink.

Most of the ditches around me a dry also.

JT