Minkenry is the sport of hunting or fishing with a trained mink. Much like the ancient sport of falconry, minkenry involves training a wild predator for hunting purposes. Though minkenry does have some similarities to ferreting, it differs greatly in practice, due to the fact that minkenry involves hunting with the non-domesticated American mink, and ferreting involves hunting with the fully domesticated ferret. Another significant difference is that in ferreting, the ferret's primary purpose is to flush the intended quarry out of its burrow, rather than capture it. While the ferret flushes the intended quarry from its burrow, the ferreter uses other things such as guns, nets, dogs, or birds of prey, to capture the animals being hunted. In minkenry, the primary goal is for the trained mink to capture the quarry itself, rather than only flushing the animals like a ferret would be expected to do.
The first known attempts at minkenry were recorded in the Eastern parts of the United States during the late 19th century. During that time there were people known to use mink for ratting, similar to how ferrets were originally used in Europe. The mink were found to be more effective ratters than terriers, because of their ability to enter rat holes and capture the rats while still in their hiding places . Though the historical origins of minkenry are mentioned in texts, details on training methods and other information on the early attempts at minkenry were not recorded in detail. In modern times, the sport of minkenry had a new revival in the western part of the United States, in the state of Utah. It has since spread to other parts of the U.S. as well as Canada, France, Germany, and the UK. Theodor Gedack of Berlin Germany was one of the first people to pioneer minkenry outside of the United States .
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