Muskrat Trapping Part One
First of all, I apologize for the lack of pictures on this particular blog post. For those who you who don't know what a muskrat looks, like, I give you the beast itself!
Now that we've established the species, let me tell you a little bit about the venerable muskrat. They are an aquatic rodent who spend most of their time hanging around ponds. Like a lot of animals, they are most active at night, evening, and early morning. You may, however, catch a glimpse of their furry faces during the day. While fishing on the Blue River, I've seen these little guys descend steep banks with fresh greens in mouth, plop into the water, and then disappear into their burrows. Their homes are where the human to muskrat negotiations generally fall to pieces. Muskrats are professional diggers. They dig holes into the bank. They dig profusely. Unfortunately, this causes the slow collapse of a pond's bank and us humans aren't too fond of that.
To trap muskrat, I'm using a #1 long spring and a #1jump trap. Both are basic foothold traps. A common misconception about traps is that they have jagged jaws, are meant to harm the animal, or make instant kills. There are traps that are designed to kill. They are called conibear or body traps and they are legal. Think of them as a scaled up mouse trap. Foothold traps, however, must have smooth jaws (in Missouri at least). You can actually let the trap snap on your hand without any injury. I've done it unintentionally while setting my traps. It stings, but they are designed to grab and hold not to grab and kill.
On the topic of killing, you might ask then, how do I kill the muskrats I trap. At the moment, the question is hypothetical because I haven't been able to catch any. Alas, though, I've only had sets out for a few days. Anything outdoors takes patience. I'll be updating the blog as soon as I catch something.
Back to dispatching your catch. The sets I'm using are called drowning sets. As you might imagine, they are designed to drown the rodents. Essentially, you put the trap on a stake and when the muskrat is trapped, they will swim towards deep water to try and escape or drown whatever has a hold of them. The weight of the trap, however, will keep them from swimming back and in a few seconds they'll drown. I know that it's unpleasant, but if you plan on being anything but a vegan, and you care about knowing where your wild sources come from, you'll have to kill an animal at some point. The idea is to make it as effective and as painless as possible. There's no nice way to kill something. The goal is to be humane. If it's a big rat, then it may be able to swim back to shore. In that case, a strong thump with a heavy object will dispatch it without much pain. Just make sure you hit it hard.
When looking for places to set, it's good to try and find "sign." This means visible evidence of muskrat activity. The go to place in ponds are along active dens. These are holes in the bank. There may be connecting tunnels that go up in the bank, like really big snake holes. Look for footprints, wet mud, or a little trench where the muskrat dragged its tail. If there are multiple approaches to a hole, block of all routes except where your trap is with small sticks and weeds. Make it as natural looking as possible. Also look for little areas where they are coming up to feed on fresh greens. Put your trap just where the water covers it and where the muskrat will begin walking. There are other sets, floating sets, conibear sets, ect. I won't cover those at the moment.
To prep your traps, boil them in a bucket of water that has juniper berries and twigs (or any fragrant pine) and paraffin. The paraffin will smooth the action of your traps and the juniper berries will mask your human scent. After taking them out, handle them with gloves to avoid getting more human scent on them.
Hopefully, I'll catch something soon and be able to post a little about the hide tanning process. Until then, happy trapping and stay nerdy!
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| credit to the random site I pulled this off of |
To trap muskrat, I'm using a #1 long spring and a #1jump trap. Both are basic foothold traps. A common misconception about traps is that they have jagged jaws, are meant to harm the animal, or make instant kills. There are traps that are designed to kill. They are called conibear or body traps and they are legal. Think of them as a scaled up mouse trap. Foothold traps, however, must have smooth jaws (in Missouri at least). You can actually let the trap snap on your hand without any injury. I've done it unintentionally while setting my traps. It stings, but they are designed to grab and hold not to grab and kill.
On the topic of killing, you might ask then, how do I kill the muskrats I trap. At the moment, the question is hypothetical because I haven't been able to catch any. Alas, though, I've only had sets out for a few days. Anything outdoors takes patience. I'll be updating the blog as soon as I catch something.
Back to dispatching your catch. The sets I'm using are called drowning sets. As you might imagine, they are designed to drown the rodents. Essentially, you put the trap on a stake and when the muskrat is trapped, they will swim towards deep water to try and escape or drown whatever has a hold of them. The weight of the trap, however, will keep them from swimming back and in a few seconds they'll drown. I know that it's unpleasant, but if you plan on being anything but a vegan, and you care about knowing where your wild sources come from, you'll have to kill an animal at some point. The idea is to make it as effective and as painless as possible. There's no nice way to kill something. The goal is to be humane. If it's a big rat, then it may be able to swim back to shore. In that case, a strong thump with a heavy object will dispatch it without much pain. Just make sure you hit it hard.
When looking for places to set, it's good to try and find "sign." This means visible evidence of muskrat activity. The go to place in ponds are along active dens. These are holes in the bank. There may be connecting tunnels that go up in the bank, like really big snake holes. Look for footprints, wet mud, or a little trench where the muskrat dragged its tail. If there are multiple approaches to a hole, block of all routes except where your trap is with small sticks and weeds. Make it as natural looking as possible. Also look for little areas where they are coming up to feed on fresh greens. Put your trap just where the water covers it and where the muskrat will begin walking. There are other sets, floating sets, conibear sets, ect. I won't cover those at the moment.
To prep your traps, boil them in a bucket of water that has juniper berries and twigs (or any fragrant pine) and paraffin. The paraffin will smooth the action of your traps and the juniper berries will mask your human scent. After taking them out, handle them with gloves to avoid getting more human scent on them.
Hopefully, I'll catch something soon and be able to post a little about the hide tanning process. Until then, happy trapping and stay nerdy!
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