# Jumbo Muskrats



## David G Duncan (Mar 26, 2000)

Nothing to report from the 100 acre trapline today.

But the bottom edge conibear set connects again!

This time it produced a jumbo sized muskrat. A second extra large muskrat was caught close by in a pocket for mink, baited with muskrat.

I am not in a habit of measuring the length of muskrats, but this grandaddy muskrat is within 1/4" of being 24 inches long. Definitely looking like a much better year for muskrat up this way, in comparison to the past couple of years!






















Oh ya, this was the forth muskrat caught at this bottom edge set location and all of them were swimming up stream!


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## muskrat (Oct 21, 2005)

Miss running a trapline. Hey look forward to reading the threads everyday(night). Dave keep on writing. I trapped 15 or so years ago when it was legal in Auburn Hills. I did it mostly on the weekends. Used to love getting up early and running the river. Most days did not catch anything. I think on the average 5-6 years would usually catch 20 muskrats 5-6 ***** a year. Muskrats were somewhat easily caught. I trapped along the clinton river and there were several large marshes that led out to the river. Keep up the good work and writing.
Matt


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## OSXer (Jul 12, 2005)

I'll second that - I do enjoy reading the threads on here when you guys report what you've caught! I trapped a few seasons with my dad, but flak from my mom about it being "cruel" ended that for the time being. Since then I think I've found enough to open her eyes as to footholds not being such as she first thought. The fur prices are low too though, and there is so much other hunting to be done, but I did enjoy making sets look as natural as possible once upon a time. I'll start up again some day.


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## mhodnettjr (Jan 30, 2005)

nice job dave theyre kinda cute little critters arent they? i see that this set is producing good numbers for you. How would you approach trapping rats on a lake rather than a stream? i have found huts but i dont know how to trap them in such a vast area. also that otter is in the same area...is there a way to target an otter..or are they mostly by products of beaver sets?

mike


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## David G Duncan (Mar 26, 2000)

I really didn't think there would be much interest in pictures of muskrats, but apparently you guys also have a fondness for this very plentiful beautiful little furbearer, that produce up to four litters of young each year!

Since muskrats were the first thing I trapped at the age of 12, they along with mink hold a very special place in my trapping heart. I caught 9 muskrats and one female mink my first year trapping.

Yes, Mike they are very cute little buggers! I was probably 10 years old when an older boy in our small rural school brought in a muskrat tail. I was fasinated by the way he could make the tail wiggle back and forth by pulling on the tendons of the tail.

To a 10 year old boy this was pure magic! Besides when this trapper talked about how they caught the muskrats by setting a trap at the end of a muskrat slide, that the muskrats used to go in and out Sand Creek, I was completely hook on the propects of being a trapper and catching some of these neat furbearers (which in todays dollars were worth about $10 each :woohoo1: ).

Ok, Mike you are in luck! If you have a location where there are some muskrat houses, then wait for some good ice. Then make some 110 conibear sets under the ice near the houses, using some 1" cubies of parnip for bait on the trigger. I will post a picture showing you how to set the trap on a stick that you support the trap with to make this set. (conibear traps are the best for under ice trapping, but a #1 longspring set on a board can also be used with good results).

Otter are big travelers, but on your lake trapline you will have to find some place where they travel through some narrow channel or if there is an inlet or outlet to the lake, then this will be the location where you can catch an otter.

Have fun out on the ice, but be very careful not to fall through into water over your head. The trick I like to use is to only walk on ice that has some vegetation sticking through it. My reasoning is that if I do fall through the water will not be all that deep :evil: .

Also you should carry a trappers axe, with a long handle, to check the ice thickness. This axe will also allow you to spread your weight over a larger area, by leading on the handle to give you three points of contact with the ice. When the ice starts to crack, this trick has saved me from falling through many times  .

You will have to study the sign left by the otters to figure out where the best place to make a set for them will be. It can sometime take several weeks before they will make circuit and return to your trapline, so you have to be very patient.

More later  .


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## Randy Kidd (Apr 21, 2001)

Mmmmmm...fried Muskrat...yum


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## twohats (Oct 1, 2004)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Northcountry (Feb 4, 2004)

What are you trying to pull here, Dave? Everyone can clearly see that this is a small beaver!  

When I was 12 years old and living on the northern shore of Lake St Clair, I used to trap muskrats in the marshes across the road. I had no mentors of any sort, and still remember catching quite alot of them in trail sets along the bank. I bought a half-dozen Victor longsprings and a drying frame or two, with my own allowance, through mail order. I'm pretty sure it was Cabela's 

Now 30-years later, I want once again to catch a few of those pretty little rats. Seeing them on Mallards water line, and touching them as they dried in front of a fan in his trap shed, reminded me how beautiful their fur is.

First, I want to catch some mink....but I will be glad to find a muskrat in my set too!

Thanks for the pics and congrats on the jumbo's! 

-NC


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## David G Duncan (Mar 26, 2000)

Northcountry said:


> What are you trying to pull here, Dave? Everyone can clearly see that this is a small beaver!
> -NC


NC, you slay me LOL!

You know I had the exact same thought, when I first saw this jumbo muskrat stuffed in the 110 conibear. Basically he could only get his head in between the jaws  .

I am in a delima, trying to decide if I should remake all my sets on the 100 acre property with dry set material, or just pull all the traps. Knowing that there is still Mr. Big Guy running around out there makes me lean toward the first option.

Oh well, what else do I have to do? Oh ya, deer hunting :lol:, because jumping on my long honey due list right now just doesn't have a great appeal ne_eye: .


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## Tecumseh (Aug 13, 2004)

OSXer said:


> I trapped a few seasons with my dad, but flak from my mom about it being "cruel" ended that for the time being.


the muskrat pics sure are bringing back the memories. The mom comment jogged my memory a little of an experience I had. When I was 12 and 13 I trapped a lot and would usually walk the 3 or 4 miles to my trapping sites but on holidays I needed to hurry up so my mom would make my PETA member and major animal rights activist sister pick me up. Needless to say, she wasn't too happy about my catch riding back in her trunk. It's pretty funny thinking back on those times.


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## muskrat (Oct 21, 2005)

not trying to be greedy but you got anymore? Nice size rats. The jumbo rat looks like he has a nice pelt. Besides looking at the fur which I think (not sure) would be the best indicator of how prime the fur is, the skin side should that be a nice dark purple color right after you skin them, as an indicator how prime the fur is. I am trying to find some old trapline pictures and see if I can download them to pass them along. 
Matt


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## muskrat (Oct 21, 2005)

Oh, I wish I had your dilema! Go pull your traps tonight, get the big guy before it gets dark then go reset the traps before it gets dark. Tell the wife you need time to think about the honey do list.
Matt


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## David G Duncan (Mar 26, 2000)

Tecumseh said:


> Needless to say, she wasn't too happy about my catch riding back in her trunk. It's pretty funny thinking back on those times.


Now you are jogging my memory!

My older sister still talks about the time she checked my muskrat trapline for me on the creek behind our house, because I had a bad case of the flu.

She was about 17 at the time and not really an outdoor type, but I still have to laugh :lol: , when I remember her telling the story about how she had to dispatch a live muskrat in one of my traps. She was bound and determined not to let that muskrat get away! She did not want to let her little brother down.

Those of you that have ever had a live muskrats in a trap know how festy a muskrat can be when cornered. It was a big battle, but my courageous sister finally prevailed  .


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## Blueracer (Jan 14, 2005)

Hey Duncan,

Did you mean parsnip for bait on the trap? When you said parnip

I want to try that set.


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## David G Duncan (Mar 26, 2000)

Blueracer,

Nice catch! Being a trapper and an engineer is two strikes against me in the spelling dept.  .

Yes, I should have typed parsnip.

Cut the parsnip into about 1" cubies, to be placed on the trigger of the 110 conibear trap.

I will post in the next few days some photos of how to use a long stick and a large finishing nail to support the trap when you place the set under the ice.

You are going to love this set, once the ice gets thick enough to walk on  .


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## Blueracer (Jan 14, 2005)

Sounds great! Thanks


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