Spring Muskrats

albertahunter · #1 03-25-2014, 04:49 PM

Anybody north of Edmonton (or even Whitecourt) seeing chewed up rats? Seems like the winter that won't end! I'm hoping the late ice out is not making it too late to run float sets before they start chewing each other up. When is it usually time to 'call the ball' on spring rats?

HunterDave · #2 03-25-2014, 06:29 PM

They shouldn't start breeding until the ice is out but I don't know how much longer after that until the pelts start getting chewed. As soon as I see a little open water my traps are going in and I'll keep trapping them until the pelts are starting to get scarred. It probably depends on what kind of melt we have. This will be my first Spring trapping them so maybe an experienced trapper can chime in with an approximate timing window to get them......a week or two after ice opens.....longer?

pointer · #3 03-25-2014, 07:22 PM

I have always got 2 weeks after the ice is out before I seen any new bite marks theirs lots that will have old bite marks/scars

braggadoe · #4 03-26-2014, 06:39 AM

sorry, not from up north, but i was wondering aswell. about kidney marks.

according to the nafa, marsh to main street vid. the show stopper, is the kidney marks on the pelt.

wondering if its a daylight thing(pituitary)?. or is it heat? or what else causes the kidney marks.

we had a brief window of open water(around the edges) last week. then it froze again. still catching them thou. haven't seen any bite marks yet and it will be interesting to see when these kidney marks show up.

nube · #5 03-26-2014, 08:56 AM

Guys to me I am not concerned too much about marks. I got such a good price on my damaged rats that I will just keep going if I got a good supply to catch. It didn't seem to take much off my price

The Spruce · #6 03-26-2014, 08:59 AM

I usually stop trapping rats once the fight begins. I have never seen kidney marks, this must take place later. Last year I trapped rats until the end of May, never saw any kidney marks on finished pelts.

Spruce

waterninja · #7 03-26-2014, 10:55 AM

never heard about kidney marks on muskrats so i googled it for some info. and this thread is already in that categoryon google. thought that was pretty amassing.

PCP_ECOM · #8 03-26-2014, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by waterninja

never heard about kidney marks on muskrats so i googled it for some info. and this thread is already in that categoryon google. thought that was pretty amassing.

Well muskrat course i attended described that these marks occur during shedding,so is a sign of the shedding process,i also trapped some rats last week and there were a few new bite marks,but nothing dramatic,did encounter a few with some older nasty scars though,got another 21 floats ready to go,i hope to see some open water this weekend,i hope Peter

HunterDave · #9 03-26-2014, 01:05 PM

From the NAFA site:

SPRING

FULLY PRIME: Dense fur.....Clear leather.

SLIGHTLY OVERPRIME: Slightly weaker fur......Reddish, veiny, boardy leather.

OVERPRIME: Loose, weak fur. Reddish, veiny, dry, thin, papery leather which may have well-defined kidney marks on the back.