A Special Mink - To Me

Today, the first mink I caught was a little female mink. It was the 2,000 mink that I have caught in my trapping career.

I have always kept records of my yearly catch in a blue spiral notebook. That notebook is pretty old these days. Hard to believe how many years I have been trapping but that notebook says 50 years now. My first year I caught one toenail of a muskrat but that toenail planted the seed.

My dad always took time out of his day to drive me to where I had my traps set. He was with me in my 4th year when I caught my first mink in a muskrat hole. The mink pulled the stake and I couldn't find it. Dad was walking along up on the bank and told me to keep looking. I finally found it several feet from where the set was. I picked it up and said, " This sure is a funny looking muskrat. It has hair on its tail." Then it hit me that it was a mink.

Today's mink is extra special because today is my dad's birthday. Glad I caught it today of all days!!!

Congrats.

Congrats OLD BUDDY

Great story, thank you for sharing.

Congratulations on number 2000.



Charlie

Cool story. I've had little Rite-In-The-Rain notebooks for 52 years with all catches and harvests noted. Now have boxes filled with the notebooks. Pretty neat to browse from time-to-time.

Congrats on number 2000! That's quite a feat.

Very Awesome

I wish I had kept notes over the years.

Congratulations!!!

Congrats. I would love to have locations like the one in your pic to set. Looks real minky.

Thats a pile of mink,congrats.

Congrats

Way to go Randy.

Quite an accomplishment and a great memory.

Congrats.

Awesome!! Congrats!!

Outstanding!!

Great job !! Are you the one that is a bridge inspector?

Have it mounted

Well done Randy. Congratulations.

HAIL NO !!!!! That guy has no hair and I taught him everything he doesn't know!!! LOL No the "Bridge Inspector" is Ack.

Fine job! Congrats!

Congrats to you, good job trapping and record keeping!

Congratulations Randy, that is quite an accomplishment. Are you going to go for 2500 now?

Congrats on a great accomplishment! Not many guys are gonna hit that mark.

Great memory(ies)! Thank you for sharing!

CONGRATULATIONS, Randy!

That's AWESOME!!!

Man that’s cool.


That’s for sharing buddy

That’s a bus load of mink....great story too

Good job, I have always thought mink are pretty cool.

Congrats and thanks for sharing!!

😁

Awesome job bud! If it wasn't for you I doubt I would be were I am today!

That’s a great accomplishment. Impressive to say the least and you are roughly 2000 ahead of me. I’d love to catch one someday maybe if the creek keeps running a few more years we will have them again. My hats off!!!

Great, congratulations!!

Very cool!

That is awesome. Bet it was a great feeling!

Wish I had my notes all the way back. Maybe that will inspire some new trappers to start doing that.

And congrats, that is a special feat.

Awesome

Congratulations

Mink2K! Is that cool or what! Congrats on one heck of a milestone.

Awesome idea!
A mink2k T shirt with that pic on it.

Nice work Randy! Time to go get 20 more for mink 2020 in 2020!

Cool. Pretty awesome feat.

Nice going Randy... Keep at it you still have many years to go.

Garry-

Lefty, I think about how many people you've taught to trap. I've been to your demos where the crowd was shoulder to shoulder so I know you've influenced many for years. You've been a great mentor and I believe if you counted all of the mink that died because of your sharing your number would be even more astonishing. Thanks from all of us who you have influenced. I see your browns won again- you must be living right. Congratulations and Thanks again!

that just made my day , thanks for sharing some good news ,

Congrats on the accomplishment. That's really awesome. Great story too

Congratulations, that represents a lot of hard work. I never kept track of the numbers of stuff I caught; I had no idea it would matter to me or anyone else. It would be nice to know.

Congratulations Randy! Cool story and doing a bit of math on your 50 years of trapping you have had some excellent yearly mink catches.

CONGRATULATIONS RANDY! Well deserved for all the work you put in. Someone is smiling from above!

Great job Randy. Many more years to go.Russ

Randy, congratulations, that's a lot of mink! Great story too, thanks for sharing. Our Dads never really leave us...

Very cool, thanks for sharing. I should start one for my boys and give to them as they start to trap on their own.

Congratulations on your accomplishment!

Congratulations. You're inspiring me to start keeping a notebook. It would be really cool to know in 50 years.

Great milestone Randy, Congratulations.

Nice work and great job keeping records!

Congratulations on number 2000!!

Nice job Randy. That's a load of em.

Awesome job!!!!!!

Thanks for all the kind words.

I had suggested to my dad that he ride along with me when I got close. That idea got ruined by this darn virus. I was exposed to someone who had it unknowingly last Tuesday. I didn't want to risk giving it to my dad. Thankfully, so far I am fine as far as I know.

Nittany Lion,
If the prices don't improve, I won't be trapping any numbers in the future.

Ack and Don Powell,
Those are some kind words but I'm not sure I'm deserving of them. The only reason people were shoulder to shoulder in my demos is that they wanted to get a good seat for the next demo.

MChewk,
The first 25 years didn't result in many mink; just what I caught in muskrat sets. The last 15 years accounted for roughly 1500 of them.

As for 2020 in 2020, we will see. I could easily do it if I put some new sets out. Just not sure I want to with the prices.