muskrat set ideas wanted

[musher]

With the price of beaver being what it is and the price of rats being way better I'm looking to target rats.

There are no rat areas on my line. However, every beaver hut seems to have a couple of rats living in them. I'm looking for a set that can be made from shore that will target these few rats with a minimum of hassle. In my experience, float sets with bait don't seem to work very well in the fall.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

[trappnman]

ice or open water?

ponds or creeks?

[blackhammer]

Colony traps in runs fenced to keep the beaver from mowing over the traps. Maybe pockets with trap sei up close inside to avoid beaver. Probably should trap the beaver and then put colonies right in lodge area.

[braveheart]

You can cut out a resting spot almost like a blind set ledge with a over hang. Might help keep the beaver out.Made a lot of Bud Hall style pockets and if beaver are around you will catch a beaver like it or not.

[musher]

This would be open water. Catching a beaver isn't a problem as long as everything stays there.

Setting inside the hut or in the hut runways is a hassle and lots of work. We do it for a $40 beaver once in a while but not for an"unsold." The rats usually get caught before the beaver.

Lure or bait? If a lure, is there a specific brand?

There are no runs. There is very little vegetation in the lakes. I don't know Bud Hall ...

thanks.

[trappnman]

if in creeks, then by far you will do better going before the pond, and trapping the creek above it. Just about all my beaver trapping is on small creeks that are dammed and not too far above the pool, is "normal" creek-

you would think the pool would be the best spot, but I seldom find it is- so on the creek, I set either cut out sets (resting sets) or feed bed sets. along structure, creek rats are pretty predictable. and 220s set on the dam break, are going to give you a continued harvest of rats.

not creeks, just ponds in marsh settings?

I've had my best luck years ago when I tried baited 330s for beaver- and while I had little success doing so with beaver, the amount of rats take with a cob of corn as the bait, was impressive. About the only time I've had success with baits/lures for rats that I wouldn't have had sans the bait/lure

but since you want to set from shore, that leaves out the house itself more times than not (although here on creeks, the rare house is always a bank house)if you have a bank, make blind pockets (bigger pockets, more of a resting place than anything, big enough to entice rat inside, even though trap is at entrance) and if you have no bank, dig a crescent into bank, and cover it either with a chicken wire roof, covered with site material, or sticks laid across with debris over it- make it a safe haven, and every rat cruising by will investigate.

you can still get Procoon up there- if you want a lure, its as good as any, I get lots of rats at my coon pipe sets just lured with PC. BUT, I'm convinced that during the fall/winter at the very least (I do no rat trapping after feb) lure matters not in taking rats. You will find them so very, very predictable in patterns and behaviors, that lure is moot

[trappnman]

Bud Hall was a very widely respected trapper out of Iowa- fox & mink, were his specialties

[musher]

Thanks a lot. I'm going out in the a.m. for some marten line box maintenance. I'm going to have a boo at bank rat locations, also.

[darrenjgrefe]

Check out a new stabilizer that Dustin has developed. He has a great video demoing all kind of ways to use it.
search:
The Reaper Body Grip Stabilizer

Pleanty of ways to set up a body grip.

[musher]

Went out yesterday and checked over a dozen lakes for possible set locations while inspecting marten boxes. I didn't see a single track, run or crap on a log/rock.

I did see a good sized bear that through up an impressive cloud of dust as it ran off! It's dry in the woods even though it seems to rain every day.

[trappnman]

the key is when you said "no vegetation on banks" I think-

bare banks are good locations, IF you have those spots between good habitat (bankside vegetation)

[musher]

Most of the vegetation is labrador tea. I know that there are a couple of rats at pretty well every beaver hut. When you set the runs, you usually have to catch a couple before you get the beaver.

I'm leaning towards floats - even though I don't have confidence in them. Others say they are great in fall, too. If I set every overhang, I'd run out of traps in a hurry. This zero track and scat stuff was pretty sobering. I had gone over an old trap,line on the week-end on a family picnic. Tracks and scat everywhere but it is no longer my line.

What do you guys think of floats in the fall?

[trappnman]

tried them very infrequently, with little success

you don't have to set every overhang- rats are going to work them all-

I wouldn't worry too much about sign- although evidence of feeding should be there is slow moving bodies of water- I have quite a few locations, where except for a few pieces of grass/roots under an overhang I see no scat or tracks

in a pond or on a creek, they are going to work along the edges- get some overhangs, place a stick in water far enough from shore a rat/mink can swim inbetween, and its like a magnet

I'd try the suggestion I earlier made, before I'd try floats.

[blackhammer]

Floats in the fall = worthless Maybe a bottom edge conibear or colony set parallel to the bank were rats swim. Probably go with a 220 conibear. If you got rats there they should find your traps especially if there living in the small area around a beaver hut.

[Woodswalker]

Same thing here - a few rats , maybe 5 or so , in each beaver lodge.

Best rat lure idea is the Beav's idea:

Pound of lard melted and mixed with peppermint oil from the grocery store.

[musher]

I'll mix up a batch of that lure and see how it goes. Thanks!

[northof50]

interesting that in the fall my rats were more responsiable to the floats turned upside down with the Styrofoam air born....guess they don't want their feet cold in the fall and climb up.
A vasaline based lure with spring glands mixed in keeps the rain away.

the rats you are chasing are not hut builders but den dwellers, and fresh aquatic roots on floats get their attention..sego pond weed around?

[mattduncan]

Colony traps in the beaver hut entrence