Ok, I use mink a lot, so here goes.
The best you can do is contact a furrier and ask him for scrap pieces. They
throw the stuff away, and my suppliers have a plastic bag in which they put
their waste pieces. They have plenty because they have to alter mink coats all
the time. A coat may not be your best option though. Mink coats are often made
of small strips of mink, sewn together with a zigzag stitch across the grain.
Impossible to get zonkers off of them. Very nice for dubbing of course. What you
need is a hat or a collar. These are made of the animal "as it is", and will
give you a lot of good strips.
The good thing about mink is that the wild animal lives close to the water and
it has a very dense, water repellant coat. Black is wonderful for gnats, bibios,
and tan is great for caddis bodies.
What I did was sent some furriers some flies in which mink was used, explained
what I do and asked for scrap pieces. They had never heard of or seen something
like that and were happy to help me. My stock is runnign thin now though.
And there's Moscow Hide and Fur of course. They only supply to US residents,
unfortunately.
If you're interested in a mink Muddler pattern:
http://home.planet.nl/~westb001/Martsminkymuddler.html
HTH
Martin
