Muskrat Hut Trapping

[coonboy]

How long do you stay before you pull and move to new huts? Is a 24 hour check better than 48? i have been doing a 48 hour check first check is running a 50% catch rate, next check it is down to 25% catch. Then i pull and move. Am I pulling to soon? Would it be better to leave them set for 3 more days for one last check or stay on fresh huts? I have been tying ribbon to my stakes to help find the set . My next bunch of lath are getting painted then ribbon I think the paint will make them even easier to find?

[mtcbrlatrap]

We can not trap houses in WI but if we could and I set inside of an active house I would be checking every 24 hours or less and pulling within a couple checks. Rats have to go in an out of houses frequently so if you get a catch soon in 48 hour checks you may have a filled trap for 47 of those hours. Plus if you have a dead rat plugging the entrance or fighting a trap in the house you will scare more rats away as well.

Bryce

[thorsmightyhammer]

go to the store and get a can of surveyors pink spray paint.

I use a 4 foot lathe for a stake and flag, paint the top third or so and you can see me from a 1/4 to 1/2 mile on a sunny day.

If you are only doing 50 percent on first check they have been trapped already.

I figure 70 percent is about right in virgin territory on first check. How many times I check it varies so much that it all boils down to my personal experience, type of house etc.

[thorsmightyhammer]

My stake set up coon boy.

[coonboy]

How deep do you set your traps?

[thebeav2]

Steven Is trapping In the hut. Not outside it.
They cut Into the hut and place the trap near the plunge hole. Plug the breach In the hut and come back later to check the traps.

[thorsmightyhammer]

Jan 6, 2012 18:16:53 GMT -6 coonboy said:

How deep do you set your traps?

Winter or fall?

[coonboy]

Winter. Yes I know the traps go in the hut. Some times by the time I pull out some of the wet stuff there are cattail stems sticking up and the trap doesn't set well on them. I think I'm going to start just pushing the stuff down a little and put the trap on top at feeders.

[thorsmightyhammer]

I dont set below the water line all that much

[coonboy]

So you just set your trap on top of the pile of wet stuff?

[northof50]

Two tone those stakes... remember that PINK makes the girls wink..er boys wink.
Ironicaslly the other colour should be Green.. cause it shows in the spring and on dull days;
plugging going on ..not enough covering of the holes and air seepage. Try packing in a LED flash-light and coming back at dusk...looks like moon glows. The shovel impact makes other holes in a frozen hut you don't know of... more snow cover.
If there are lots of feeders within 50 yards of the hut then a 50% is OK.
Lots of luck since a good base price is established now with todays auction and tommorrows to come.

[thorsmightyhammer]

Jan 7, 2012 18:41:24 GMT -6 coonboy said:

So you just set your trap on top of the pile of wet stuff?

Pretty much.

I try to pick what I think is a high traffic area in the house to set the trap.

Small feeder hut doesnt much matter but I will set some bigger huts if its the only one around.

Like clockwork here on my line if figure on the first check(if the spot hasnt been trapped already) I'm gonna do 70 percent or there abouts and it will go progressively down after that.

I set a spot couple weeks ago. 54 traps on two small ponds on each side of the road. First check I did 44, second check 17 and third was 7.

Its got me puzzled as I cant recall having that much of a drop and I cant recall doing that good the first run if an area has already been trapped.

[trappnman]

that is puzzling- as you say, in unharvested ares, you do get a pretty consistent catch ratio on each succeeding check day

so you had 81%, 31% and then 13%.

was there any noticible difference in population makeup, ie size over "normal" areas?

[thorsmightyhammer]

that lake was an anomoly steve.

It should have been more like 70 80 percent than down to 60 on the second and down to about 50 on the third and I let my experience tell me if I should go more than three checks.

Yep on the difference. They were all big, either didnt have much for little ones there or somebody got em in the fall. But usually if someone is there in the fall and did a good job the percentages are in the 50 percent or lower category first run it seems.

Maybe the otter raised cain with little ones. Otter are rat killing machines.

[thorsmightyhammer]

Oh and very seldom will set say 50 traps and on the third check still have the original 50 out.

On that lake I think I was down to about 40 traps on the last day.

[trappnman]

I'm assuming you pulled no shows after 2 checks?

I know you do a lot under ice- when you are trapping rats open water on opener, are you setting more feedbeds, some early pushups more than on houses?

Back in the day, feedbeds would I'd expect rival some of those in SD/ND on the marshes here, and one could set almost 100% feedbeds, and keep them in rotation for 4-6 days, sometimes moreo n huge raft types but when the catch fell, it fell now, and time to move on

[thorsmightyhammer]

Open water I mostly set pocket/trench sets or a natural stool if I see one.

I set some houses in the fall but not many. Save em for winter. Use a few colony traps as well.

I dont trap the marsh type locations in the fall same as above save em for winter.

Its been 15 years since i've had much time ot fall rat trap.