Wisconsin muskrat house trapping

The trapping regs say that "you can not Physically damage or destroy any mink den, muskrat house, muskrat feeding house or beaver dam." so that means that I can't cut a hole in the muskrat house to trap, but I could find the hole that they are using to leave the house and set a 110 on it, correct?

That is correct unless you are trapping on the federal refuge along the Mississippi River. In that case you have to stay 3 ft. From a house.

Absolutely! On a hut there is usually two or more entrances that you can block with a 110 conibear. Colony traps also work well in the runs to and from the huts.

Chris

I’d reach up in there and use a coil spring before I tried a 110. It’s called sleeving. Might want to wear gloves though….I got bit doing it bare handed. I’m talking about the feeder huts…not the hut itself.

If your noodling muskrats- spray paint your index finger orange and hold it in the hut very still

If you're going to chop through the ice to reach into the house, you'd be better off to just set a board with a carrot. You'll keep catching as long as there's rats and you won't have one destroy the hut.

Sleeving pushups is not that difficult. a lot of houses have the entrances quite deep so that makes things much more difficult. For me I would find bubble trails and set those right unter the ice. Especially when you are further out from the house where they are in the runs. Lots of bubbles around a house can mean activity but many times harder to narrow down.

Bryce

I’ve captured several muskrat below ice. Never used a board set. Can you give some details on hot spots and percentages. I have dabbled with bait in late February/ March time.

Sleevin is an easy and effective method. As long as you don’t cut into the house. Practice makes perfect. Can take years so pay attention.

Sleeving is illegal here. My method is simple, set a baited board with a #1 long under the ice where the rats are working/traveling. My percentages are pretty good. I've had nearly 100 percent and as low as 50. Sometimes less if they're just not biting. Some days they bite better than others. Sometimes I miss a lot of rats, other times nearly every trap has a rat. I've been doing this for a long time, and I still ain't got it totally figured. I've seen it where they all hit in one part of the marsh, and hardly any bites in another. I do know that if you keep missing a rat or are missing a lot of them, it's small ones. When we get into a fresh marsh with a lot of good rats, we hardly miss and most traps get bit.

Sjc, do you have any pics of the set/setup.
Thanks

As stated never used one. Is there a general distance from pan to bait? How bout board size and angle in water. A couple pics would be awesome. Thanks sjc

I don't have a good close picture of the board, but it's pretty simple. Piece of plywood with a nail for the trap, a drywall screw for the bait and two holes for wire to wire it to the stake. Some guys nail them, but the water depth varies where I trap so I need to be able to adjust. I usually put it in at a 45 or so but it's not that fussy. I like the bait almost touching the trap.

A better description of sleeving please. I assume the words means your shirt sleeve......jk

Here you go...

SJC,

Do you set so the board is just under and close to the ice OR,

do you put it a ways down under the water ?

walleyed

I like it just under the ice. Obviously, if it's making lots of ice you should set a bit deeper.

Thank you sir.

I'm liking all this muskrat talk.! Move over coyotes and beaver!!!

I have tried the board system and had little luck with It. I had better luck with a submerged baited 160.

You find a push up and locate the most likely side for the entrance. If there is clear ice that’s super easy. When there is snow and milk ice is where the experience and skill comes into play. Chop a hole in the ice beside the push up and reach around to find the entrance. Once found, there is a spongy feed bed in the push up. That’s where the trap goes. I use 1 1/2 coils.

It’s called sleeving because most guys where shoulder gauntlets.

I was told by a very experienced push up trapper that you just shove your fist through the side of the push up Instead of feeling around for the entrance. Place the trap In the cavity and plug up the hole. Of coarse this Is all done under the Ice.
I always figured that the entrance to the push up or the rat hut was on the side that got the most sun.

We should be able to open the hut like they do in MN.

We call that a slip. Can create a draft. When the hut is disturbed the rats will plug. Plug is filling cavity with vegetation. You can clean and reset but often once it starts it’s futile. In the high entrance is the best set and run your willow off to the side and tuck chain to stake side so rats don’t cross it on the way in a pull trap out of position.

Nice pictorial sjc. It’s fascinating to see effective methods from other regions!

Nah

Why?

Why?

Why?

That's what I just said.

With all the available tools and methods we have today to harvest muskrats, why would Wisconsin trappers need to "open the hut like they do in MN?"

There's your question. Please explain.

I've done both. I can catch rats more efficiently with boards. I've caught thousands with them. I still set some 160s, but it's mainly boards.

My reasons are it’s not always lethal and when trapping through the ice lethal is a must for me. You break the house seal, the seal is the ice crust above the waterline created by muskrats shaking off water inside the dome. This makes them more vulnerable to freezing and loss. IMO they Also have a lower rate of repeaters.

Even if they were legal I would not use them except for very late in the season (March) when temperatures are rising and they are no longer needed/ used for food caches. Generally as the swamp opens the feeders dissolve into mating platforms (chit pads)

Obvious isn’t always best, easiest or fastest. It’s only the most obvious, it may be safe to say that if hut busting was legal here some much more effective methods may never have been tested.

Why not?

Nimzy, thank you for your response.

You can counter

Counter. I asked a question and you answered it. Not sure what more you want.

When I was house busting, weather, snow pack was the criteria. You can move fairly fast under the right conditions.
I have not done the bubble sets minus snow cover, Fossil posted a year or so back if I remember right, setting bubble trails that yielded some good info on it.

I have a hard time visualizing slipping up into the house or feeder, it just seems to be too much. But that is just me with no experience with it.

If you need to pop a hole in the ice in order to set,..minus an auger, accessing the house would seem more efficient, given of course ice thickness.

Do they give an explanation for this and how long has this rule been in place?

I'm sure it is to protect waterfowl that use them for resting spots. No idea how long it has been in place.

Been that way for sure since 1964 when I started trapping Lake Onalaska and the backwaters behind the house on Brice Prairie. The deep huts got slant board sets. There were many, many stumps in that lake at the time and the 'rats used them. #110s in the runs if you could find them.

50 traps max back then, and a leap frogging you'd go.

Thanks guys !

I can see where It may have a slight waterfowl advantage during open water trapping. Otherwise it seems excessive. I’m surprised they dreamt that up so long ago.

Just another adversary that forces creativity.

Our attitude towards muskrat has always puzzled me. Seems we historically gravitate towards protection of a very resilient species though seasons and regulations in comparison to others that are technically less so. Make no mistake I am very partial to muskrats!

Federal refuge managers have complained about beaver numbers in the past, but with current restrictions on check times and set locations, it becomes a challenge for the regular trapper to turn a profit.

https://www.fws.gov/refuge/upper-mississippi-river/visit-us/activities/trapping

I was told by them when I asked it was to protect the muskrats from over harvest. Poor excuse in my book.

Has anyone tried to meet and discuss the rules that make things challenging ?

We’ve done it in Horicon with some success.

Here in NH...you have to have traps 15 feet away from a hut

Wow! That would make things a little more difficult! I guess you have to try and change the rules of the game or adapt and keep trapping.

Thanks for those board pics SJC ....

Years ago there was an effort to make a change on the trap check for beaver under ice. I recall being in on that conversation, but after being told "no" for no particular reason I gave up on it.

Checking a beaver set under ice every two days makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Contrast that with no mandated trap check time on the other side of the tracks.