Muskrats in frozen marsh

Hello Tman, I am trying to catch 40 muskrats this year in order to get my wife a coat made. I have 24 more to catch and am considering trapping a large public marsh nearby. With temperatures likely reaching as low as -15 this week, there should be solid ice to get around on. According to the archives, it appears that baited 110s with parsnips or carrots near the huts is a popular set.

My question is, do any of you have other proven under ice methods for marshland? Also, how are the baited 110s staked? I've seen photos with lathe through the spring eye, is it as simple as that?

Thanks in advance!

Are you sure there are rats still there? Public rat huts get pounded in open water around here. LLL

big no on the 110..too small for under ice you need 160

IMO, the best rat trapping around us can be done in private lakes. Last year, I waited until the ice thawed and hit them really hard for a week. Usually, I try to trap lakes in 1 week intervals and hit them as hard as I can. MOST of the time, I’ve done my scouting before the thick ice, so I know where the bank dens are. If I have to find them, I usually start looking on cut banks away from trees.

Scout the marsh. If you see several push ups or small houses these are basically rat feed beds with a roof over them. That means there are rats there as they would not build most of those until the marsh began freezing.
I agree on the single spring 160 as a better trap for runs etc. Remember that when there is ice the rats swim right beneath the surface. Trapping push ups one needs to find the entrance the rat uses by cutting holes in the ice right next to the push up to see if you can find the entrance the rat uses. Several types of foothold traps can be used in the push up.

If you find no or few push ups on the marsh you probably won't catch the 24 rats you need. Most active push ups or runs will catch more than one rat.

Bryce

Inside huts, especially smaller ones, I've always had the best luck with long spring #1s or 1 1/2. Push them down into the hole with only the back end of the spring above water. A rat often gets caught coming up the hole, can't push the trap back up and can't take it back down, and drowns. Other times, they are bouncing around inside the hut. In larger huts, a lot of things work besides mentioned above, such as 1 1/2 coil. Larger huts you can often get 2 traps inside and either down/near the 2 holes or n between them. Without stop-loss, you will get some wring-offs, I usually have 5-10%. I don't use any bait, all blind sets.

With these coming temps, you'll have to plug your entry hole into the hut well an know when to bail on a hut after it starts getting beat up by you going into it and the rat doing stuff on the inside or you'll freeze up the hut and make it unusable to any left over rats. Use wet veg from inside as the base of your new plug and pile on the outer stuff you've disturbed on top of it. I've kept inside huts set operating at -15 to -25+ F and I think the hut survived.

I rarely have used 110s inside a hut unless its a push up that has more open water than most small huts have. Good luck and show us pixs of your success if you can.

The last full length muskrat coat that was made for my wife took 100 skins..... so 40 might be a little skimpy.

In my area we are going through the most difficult period to trap rats. (Dead of winter). I would and will wait for some more favorable conditions. It is possible to fight through it although generally less productive and frustrating.

Thanks for your replies, I have decided to set up a couple smaller ponds near me to try out my baited coni poles. I have some 155s that I have used in coon boxes as well as some 220s. If I have success I will hit up the marsh later.

A friend of mine works for DNR and said the public areas have not been hit hardly at all this season. Hopefully they are correct.

NonPCfed, I have tried footholds inside huts in the past with very limited success. It seems that the trap is stuffed with vegetation more often than not. Have I done something wrong?

Northof50, I should have clarified, she wants a jacket instead of a full length coat. They specifically call for 40 so I ought to be good.


Thanks everyone!

Do go shy because they trim a lot away
, Sometimes the bellies are not used.
Under wool is always a different colour. So you have to fold the hide and look, is it blue under fur , or grey ,or what ?
There are many defects that have to be sewn together. 2 inches strips sewn shrink to 1 1/2 inches, it adds up fast and shrinks pews down.
Bits have to be sewn up......I would not even get these tanned
Furriers do get a lot better prices for their tanning

Good luck hope you get to display it on a runway sometime sooooooooooooooooon

I agree 100%. A lot more chance of the rat getting further inside the jaws.

Whenever I trapped rats through the ice w/110, maybe a 25% catch. With a 160 single spring, 100%.

It happens. You try adjusting and see what happens. But perhaps your expectations are high for my style of inside the hut trapping. I'm sure I'll be called a loser by some, but I would be very happy with 50% take home rate on first day or so of setting inside of huts. My average was probably in the 25-30% range but I have a low dink factor threshold and can live with that because I enjoy the thrill of the hunt. And its something that I can't do from my office. But if you really need a rat in every trap, every check, then it just becomes work. To each his own.

Good luck with your baited 155s and I hope you get to finish your wife's coat this year!!

Cornfeedcoon, for those rats of mine the furrier went through 1500-1600 of my rats and selected what he thought was a 100 the same colour match
To put it perspective that is 1 1/2 water mellon tubs full like what NAFA ships their rats.
At the time we were getting 100-125 a day during the spring run..................so a coat was only a days workout, granted 16-18 hour days...but when your young what thhe hey'

Hands down the 160 and 220 or 155 shine in trench runs under the ice

the 25-30 catch rate is average over 30 days on a large body of a marsh

NonPCfed, I'd jump for joy at a 25% take home rate. I set 9 huts for a week and pulled out 3 rats. I appreciate your comments in this thread!

I set 18 traps on those 9 huts using 220s and 155s. It was a really nice day out on the ice.

I might have to crack some huts myself come this weekend. Big temp swing, from the big hole tomorrow to the 30s above this weekend. I found a good used ax cheap so now I need to put it into action.

Post some pixs of those fur balls out of your 9 huts!

Good luck cornfed! Love rats under the ice

I pulled one rat out of the 9 huts. Better than nothing!

I can see a problem with your set -up. Them rats shiver when they see a beavertail parked infront of their huts. Put some ducktape over it and write in RUDDYtail on the tape.

Safety sakes put on some ice cleats with ice like that. is the real problem.

Have you started to sing "99 beers on the wall" yet?

I have had next to zero success with baited poles or conis in natural shallow lakes here. I've settled on setting footholds in pushups and small huts. Ain't going to spend the time and effort digging into the big houses trying to find the chamber. Big houses don't freeze as bad and are productive if you're young enough and have enough pee and vinegar to put forth that much effort. You can make a 3/8" steel rod sharpened on one end to probe into a house and find the chamber. And, chopping through the ice gets you wet eventually and it's not comfortable. I settled on #1 stoploss set just into the water inside a pushup or small hut. Yes, you will get traps plugged with vegetation but that's part of the game. Just keep trying. The only way a rat can breathe under the ice is if they pop up in a pushup or hut, so you can often go back and check traps less than an hour after you've set them and have a good number of rats.

Hang in there CornFedCoon, a bit nicer weather is coming and your catch ratio might pick up. Did any of the other sets have action...?

Gary Benson- keep on swinging that ax a bit, I love it when a push-up busts open in a swing or two, although they tend not to last more than a couple of days before there's a need to get plugged up and leave them or they'll freeze up. Have you ever tried a chain saw on the bigger huts? I've seen a few vids but haven't tried it myself. I need to get some intel from the state guys but I think I'll work up a sweat this weekend setting some huts. Kind of exciting seeing them around here again after a 6-7 year absence. Mink season closes on Friday so I'll have to be reminded by the state guys what they want if I get one inside of a mrat hut. I've never released a mink before...