Yesterday was the beginning of early muskrat season here in Maine. I slept in till about 6:30, got up and had some coffee, and saddled up!!! It was raining to beat the band and 40 degrees when I left, needless to say, I was dressed appropriately.;)
First place I headed to was my friends land that I trap every year, he has his house up for sale right now, so this might be the last year I get in there. I brought two foothold traps and two colony traps down to the little pond. When I got to where I usually set for rats, there was hardly any water at all. There is a nice travel way that I usually set that had maybe 4" of water in it.
I was pretty discouraged and was not gonna set but then my eye caught a fresh push up so I thought I would give it a try. I found a place that had about 6" of water and I dug down an inch so my 7"x7"x24" colony would be completely submerged and legal. I literally set this to just have something set.
I then made my way to the other end of the pond and same deal...my otter spot was dry and hardly any water anywhere else down there. So I noticed some nice big rocks on shore and I made a "rock tunnel", lured the inside and set a foothold down in front of it and I left. I thought about some beaver traps but thought I would just concentrate on muskrats.
I left there and set 4 culverts that a friend showed me about 2 weeks ago. He has been trapping those spots for over 25 years and they were some of his tried and true mink/muskrats spots. He moved to florida a week ago and wanted to pass something on to a young, green, trapper like myself;)
I set the 4 culverts the way he showed me and i headed back home. I did some exploring behind my house this year. There is a set of railroad tracks about a 100 yards through the woods, then 30 yards to the river. There is a string of 3 ponds back there and I got to watch some rats this summer. I headed back there with two foot holds, one colony trap, and two 120's with stabilizers.
I ended up putting in two blind sets where the rats where coming up on shore and I stuck a colony trap in a beaver "swim way" they had made to get wood to the pond. They are very active back there.
So today after work I headed out for my first checks....It was nice to check traps set for animals I could keep;)
I went to my friends first and checked my canine traps then cut out the end of the little pond to check the foothold I had in, it had a rat in it. I collected it, reset, and headed to the colony trap I had just dumped by the pushup with hardly any water.
Long story short, there were six rats jammed into a 24" colony trap.
I know that probably doesn't mean much to someone who does not trap, but this is a near impossible feat!! I have no idea how they could of all crammed in there. One of them had his head forced through a 1/4" opening where the door is, his jaw was dislocated. To sum it up, I could not of got them all back in there if I tried!!!
So left the first spot with seven rats and went on a culvert check. None of the culvert sets scored so I headed home to get on the four wheeler to check out back.
I walked up to the first blind set with the 120 and it had a rat by the back foot, he was alive and he was not happy. I grabbed the weight the trap was tied to and threw it in deep water and went to check the other 120...it was untouched.
I got on the railroad tracks and headed to the colony trap. I figured the beaver would have it all messed up, which they did! BUT, not before it got two rats! I collected them and went back to the one I threw in the deep water. Apparently it was not quite deep enough because he got his nose out of the water. I grabbed my setters and helped him along. Got him out of the trap, reset, and went home.
So I landed 10 rats on the first day with 9 sets, not bad. I have to thank God for this one because it certainly is not my ability;)
Let the trapping begin!!!!!! full season starts sunday, getting the fisher sets out and beaver!!! God Bless.
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Wow!
I've never used a 'colony' trap for muskrats. Amazing how well it worked!
Paul
Nice start
Get any more?
I have an even 20 right now. I may pull most of those traps this week on thursday. Got out 6 fisher sets today...what a pain with the new exclusion devices we have to use. I spent 4 hours getting them ready last night for just 6 of them...and 4 more hours today getting them attached to buckets with bait and getting them out. I also got out 2 beaver sets. God bless.
Oh....and an otter set that could produce a mink.
Shiite muslims! But...
It's worth it, or ya wouldn't do it, and you know it!
Paul
Getting a lot of muskrat.
Picked up 5 more today! I am just starting to tap the pond out behind my house, it is a trappers haven. I have found another one stop shop!
Yeah Paul....I like it! God bless.
When you get to forty it will remind me of a Canadian joke my dad used to tell.
David, I have heard (Swamp Rabbit) is a menu item in some north central states.
As it is a vegetarian animal and does not self baste with pine needles or rosemary, I would at least try cooking some, Might do well fried or in a good, thick stew..
Betcha my GM could have done something with some.
I had to resort to really underhanded tactics with a 14 year old bottomless pit of a girl cousin when we were both at GM's and a small squirrel stew was on the table, I had to tell my cousin it was an aqueus decoction of arboreal rodent to make sure I at
least got the first pass at the stew.
I was SORRY!