Pole Sets For Rats

[coonboy]

I read an article in FFG about muskrat trapping Horicon Marsh. It said a common under ice pole set was wrapping 2 feet of #11 wire around the pole to make a platform for the trap to set on with some bait. I don't get the platform. I've tried in the garage and it is wobble city. Do you stick the wire through the springs on a 1 1/2? Is there an easier way of attaching the trap?

[mustelameister]

This is what worked for me last winter . . . I'll let Ruby tell the story here.









. . . and here's the baited setup. This is what I like to do. There are many other ways including baiting bodygrips. But I prefer this. Just be sure to lop off the heads of these finish nails if you go this route.



By the way, this is potato. It's cheap, readily available, and will stay white underwater in the winter.

[coonboy]

Just a couple of nails, no wire?

[mustelameister]

That's a wide, dried willow pole. Wide is good. The Duke #1 1/2 will set on there just fine. Those two finish nails are spaced so when the trap is set the spring levers are snug against them, thus holding the trap in place.

That's why you want to make sure the nail heads are nipped off, to keep the spring levers from snagging on them and not coming up.

Keep the trap pointed towards the hut. A 'rat will approach this set more than likely head on and won't knock the trap off. On occasion it will happen, but not often enough for me to warrant attaching small boards onto the willow to mount the trap on.

Nope, no wire, just the two nails. The only wire I use is at the end of the chain to the pole itself, below the nails.

Simple set, good for those 'rat huts in deep water later in winter where you get migration of 'rats from shallower huts that get iced out.