pickerl lake

[fishinbiff]

This is my first year muskrat trapping. what do you use to get into the houses? i heard to use a hay saw but they are too hard to find

I used to use a tiling spade to chop a 10" hole tapered inward. Then use it as a plug along with some wet stuff from inside to reseal the hole so you don't freeze them out.

[crappie-man]

wat!!!!when it ices upis the best time to get at them.....how do u trap em when there's open water??

[husker]

when there is open water i use floats and trap them on the sides and top of their houses.

[husker]

thanks fishinbiff

[crappie-man]

yea fishinbiff we do the same to fill in the holes

[crappie-man]

how do u trap the sides and tops of the houses??

[husker]

they climb on top of the house to sun themself so you set a trap on the sloping side of the musrat house. this only works before ice up

[TLA]

So what do they sell for?

[husker]

right now they are 2 to 5 dollars which is the same to more than a coon is right now

[pbc]

Tiling spade is how you get in like biff said.  We had a probe to find the least distance - 1/2" sharpened rebar works.  Usually the shortest distance is opposite the run - which is the slanted 'point' to the ice.  It is important to seal the house with some wet silage to keep it from freezing or they will abandon. 

Open water is a lot more efficient.  You set a trap in the water on the little shelf on the south side of the house with a fixed chain to the anchor.  We used a lathe.  So when the rat gets into the trap and swims around the stake it can not get back to the hut.  The weight of the trap will drown them.

Back in the late 70's we got around $8 for skinned, dryed, and graded hides.  Pretty good money for the volumn we did.  Five sounds like the market is back - should be able to add a couple for skinning and drying.