Last year a large, probably male, mink was hanging out in our little wood shed. We discovered this one day last summer because he was making a lot of noise chasing a rat through the wood piles. Actually, the rat was making the noise. The mink was pretty quiet. But we'd see him pop his head up between the stacks of wood and look around and then dive back down to chase the rat some more. Eventually, he caught up with the rat and carried it away into the redwood trees.
Mink are dedicated hunters and vicious killers. They kill for the thrill of it. One time a mink got into the chicken house through a small knot hole in a board. He killed all the hens - every one. Even though he couldn't possibly eat all of them - or even one of them - or carry any of them away through the knot hole. He did this for the shear joy of killing. We saved lids from canned goods and used them to cover every knot hole - 'course it was a little late for that batch of hens.
A couple of days ago Don was hauling wood from the small wood shed to the wood box that we use everyday for our fires. And he came across a large nest full of some kind of young animals. The mom showed up as soon as the babies started fussing and he could almost see her - but not enough to tell for sure what she was - could have been a chipmunk - or a mink. We were hoping for a mink - we no longer have chickens and they at least kill rodents and are good to have around the place. Chipmunks are a nuisance.
Yesterday the question was answered because we were able to get a good look at the mom. It is a mink. We don't know how many young she has or how old they are - but hope she will continue to live in the wood shed. She's a lot smaller than the hunter of last summer - so he's probably the dad.