i read something in a previous post about a gland in a mink that isnt a pleasant smelling thing. one of my taxidermist friends just got one in to do. i asked him about that gland, and he has no idea about it. does anyone know if there is such a smelly gland, and where it is. can this be avoided. is there something he should do while skinning out.
thanks in advance for the help.
bob
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and it smells bad theres one on each side of the anus
mike, where near the anus is this gland. is it next to the skin or enough away from it that you can miss it while skinning. is it something that can be avoided. if not what is the best way to do it.
thanks in advance for your help
bob
I skin the mink when it's almost completely frozen. The only thing Thats able to move are the legs and feet. I really don't think that there is anyway to skin a mink without really hitting the glands. I'd put the smell right up there with skunk and coyotes. I just skinned a roadkill mink out 2 days ago and I had guts and the whole works hangin out. If you skin it frozen, though, it won't stink as bad but it will stink. Skin it when it's mostly frozen and you'll be fine. Hope this helps.
With experience you CAN skin every mink, lil weasel, otter, and even skunks without nicking the glands. You just need to learn exactly where they are and how to work the skin and where to make the cuts. I use a fresh scalpel blade and if dorsal skinned, I work my way down to the butt first, freeing up each hind leg, then cutting the tail bone at the base ( I pull and split the tail later on these guys when dorsal skinning). This frees up the anal area for more careful skinning. The glands on a mink are a reddish color and fat in appearance and to each side of the anus. A combination of light pulling and very light cutting with the scalpel and I get all around the glands and then cut through the anus.( now this is harder with a skunk, as they tend to have alot of fat in this area and they tend to ooze if you leave the anus skin on the pelt, so I just remove the anus too and can make one up with apoxie sculp during finish work on the mount) the package is now attached to the carcass. I next cut in under the gland sacs and remove them intact and set them aside. At this point I skin the rest of the mink without worrying about stinky sacs ( and same goes for a skunk, weasel, otter, other stinky gland weasel clan member).
For case skinning I cut across below the balls and just above the anal area on a male and make a ring around the whole works and remove it. This is for fur skinning. Same general area on a female, just no balls LOL.
thanks for all the helpful information. i know if i hadn't read about these glands on this site and you folks hadnt' been so kind as to tell me about these, there would have been a mess. once again thanks to all of you for you help and to WASCO for offering this site to share it.
bob