On land, they travel at a slow, arch-backed walk or a bounding lope, which they can keep up for miles. Minks are most active at night and early morning, although they sometimes venture out during the day as well. Active year-round, minks may curl up and sleep for several days during winter cold spells. Like most mustelids, they are agile and fierce fighters, killing prey with a hard bite to the back of the skull. Prey includes muskrats, mice, rabbits, shrews, fish, frogs, crayfish, insects, snakes, waterfowl and other birds, eggs and domestic poultry.
Minks occasionally kill more than they can eat.
In winter, they cache carcasses and revisit them to feed. Minks den in abandoned woodchuck tunnels, hollow logs, vacant muskrat lodges, and holes in stone piles and beneath large tree roots. Dens are usually near water and may have more than one entrance. Minks are basically solitary, except during mating season, when they use a powerful scent from their anal glands to attract mates. Males fight over receptive females.