Any rats yet??

[DUKE-1]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

Good stuff you guys. I'm learning a lot on this thread.

you and me both,, this is my 1st crack at rats also.

[tonnage]

On a scouting trip this past weekend I discovered everything is still frozen tight for me as well. I trap an area about 45 minutes northwest of Edmonton. I'm hoping the ice opens up this week... we'll see. My journal shows that I never got a trap in until the 21st last year and then I was done 12 days later when the temperatures hit the high 20s.

[The Spruce]

Strung out 25% or so on Saturday night, will continue as new shoreline opens up. Took 19 rats in last 24 hrs. Hopefully with some trap shifting and additional areas opening up I can get that number closer to 40 a day. Chase the ice and never have to worry about scrappers. Clean up with colony's and fire in floaters once colony sets slow up...pull floaters when 36 hours yeilds no production. Make sure you can handle the skinning!

Spuce

[kevinhits]

I am far from being a trapper and know absolutely nothing about it. I found this thread very interesting. I have one question...Do you trap rats for the fur? is there a market for them?

Sorry for the derail but it peeked my curiosity..LOL

[bill9044]

Originally Posted by kevinhits

I am far from being a trapper and know absolutely nothing about it. I found this thread very interesting. I have one question...Do you trap rats for the fur? is there a market for them?

Sorry for the derail but it peeked my curiosity..LOL

Yes sir Kevin. The past few years there has been a decent market for the Muskrat Fur at auction they are called Muskquach. This time of year the fur is just getting to the end of primeness (when the winter coat is at its fullest). Muskrats produced very rapidly and can over populate very easily. I read some where up to 4 litters of 20-30 per year. please don't quote me on that. They are also used for baiting other animals like Martin and Fisher. Some guys eat the muskrat meat. Down here where I am any farmer with a dugout doesn't want them in the dugout. They will burrow into the bank of the dugout and will eventually drain the dugout ( once the clay has been broke ). Muskrats are easy to skin and prepare for auction. All and all muskrat trapping can be easy and it is a good way to get the youth involved in trapping. Just like taking a kid gopher hunting. Try it out it is fun and addictive.

[Trapper79]

64 Spring Rats In 3 Days!

[braggadoe]

disappointing last couple of days for me. still caught rats, but a good portion of my traps on floats seized up/slowed in speed. in and out of the water too much with no lube i guess.



sprayed them all with wd40 yesterday and was happy to see them back working great. didn't seem to affect the rats, may of even attracted them, or they got used to getting on/off the floats with out getting caught.

[coy coyote]

Good day so far. Took 10 with two colony traps

[coy coyote]

Seems like this weather is wonderful for plugging rats

[pointer]

Picked up 6 more tonight they are limited to what open water they have again around here

[coy coyote]

Lol I have been trapping my whole life and yesterday I realized I didn't know that much about trapping slews with colony cages. I figured out if I set my cages in waist deep runs I could triple my catches. Been trapping g shallow runs and only yielding one or two. As I relocated my colony traps I noticed a lot of shallow runs going into the bank had a second and higher yielding run farther In that also went to a bank den. I seen the best way to locate runs was from the highest point and the most productive runs were at the highest part of the terrain surrounding the slew

[nube]

Took the kids out tonight and ended up with 10 and a lot of bait stolen with either a miss or no trap sprung. Got to hate that when they steal bait and the trap isn't even set off lol Kids had a blast except for the cold weather.

[coy coyote]

Originally Posted by nube

Took the kids out tonight and ended up with 10 and a lot of bait stolen with either a miss or no trap sprung. Got to hate that when they steal bait and the trap isn't even set off lol Kids had a blast except for the cold weather.

Is that with leg holds? I adjust my trigger on my new leg holds i find they are stiff when theyre new. Or ice under the trigger

[nube]

Yes all i use it leg holds on a stick. They drown real quick that way and I can just put them out in any open water and not have to look around for that special spot to place them. Way more productive than 110's I find. Problem is that the local store has to up their order in carrots for me lol Even a small sliver per trap sure adds up fast. They sure love them

[coy coyote]

Have you tryed apples. I usually get a crate of old ones and chill them. When I m trapping creeks they work nice. My uncle makes muskrat lures using apple juices. Some powerful stuff

[GStyler]

Has anyone tried orange or other coloured flagging tape? I've seen a few youtube videos where guys just tie it to coni triggers, and it seems to work.
Sure would be easier to carry around than bags of carrots or apples.

Also, anyone else getting "bugs" on their rats. I've had a few that were covered in hundreds of what i think are ticks (or tick larvae). Havn't been bit by one yet (i don't think), but i didn't notice them for a while at first until they were everywhere. I skin in the garage, and dry the boarded rats in the basement where its not as humid. Wife wasn't impressed. haha. I Raided em in a bucket, and there were still some living. Then I raided them till they were dripping... and still a few survivors. Freezing them would probably do the trick. I didn't really want to freeze it while it was still soaking wet. But if I wait for the rat to be dry, the ticks are everywhere. For the guys that freeze em to skin later, is it ok to freeze them when they are still wet? I don't want a giant Rat-sickle to unthaw later.

I got these pics of them by reversing another lens infront of my lense. they are about the size of a grain of salt. these are dead ones. the live ones splay their legs out a little more, and can move fairly quickly. very hard to get an infocus shot at that magnification. but, I wasn't going for artwork... just as a reference. haha.





Graham.

[HunterDave]

I haven't noticed any bugs on mine but I haven't been checking for them either. Maybe I'll have a look and start raiding them if required. I hang my rats to dry before skinning them and I've been rolling the pelt up and freezing them afterwards. The weather is supposed to get really nice after today so they should dry a lot faster in the shade with the garage door open to let a breeze in.

[nube]

I have tried the red flagging and yes it does work in a pinch but not as effective at all compared to carrots. Tried apples as well with less success. I think because it turns brown possibly and might cost more than carrots but have not checked.
Haven't seen bugs and didn't look. That stuff grosses me out. What are they?

[GStyler]

Originally Posted by nube

That stuff grosses me out. What are they?

Heeby Jeebies ...Indeed! haha.
Its funny how as soon as you start seeing them, you start feeling "itchy" all over. lol

I am not certain what they are. They are definitely not Fleas. There's not a lot of great pictures to compare to on the internet. And there is no way to compare size. They could be ticks or mites. Ticks have like 5 different stages in life - from very small to quite large.Most of the images available to compare to are of the adult stage. Mites mostly seem to be extremely tiny (like electron microscope tiny), but some look like it could be those as well.

All I know is they don't want to die. I don't know how so many can survive on an aquatic animal. I certainly don't feel like getting Lyme disease.

I think they are all coming off of the rats from one slough. I wasn't sure at first if one, or all of them had them, as they were all tossed together.

There is a program in alberta studying ticks. Perhaps I'll collect a few to drop off, and see what they are.


Blech!

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by GStyler

All I know is they don't want to die. I don't know how so many can survive on an aquatic animal. I certainly don't feel like getting Lyme disease.

I moved to AB from ON in '96 where the threat of contracting lyme disease was a real concern. After slicing myself open cleaning a deer I made some inquiries and I found that it's almost non-existent in this area, I think that there were 1 or 2 reported cases since the '40's. It's not as big of a problem here as it is back east.

[pointer]

image.jpg that's the second last haul for this season going to check once more and shut it down till the fall

[nube]

Originally Posted by pointer

Attachment 90165 that's the second last haul for this season going to check once more and shut it down till the fall

Well done on that check!! I got 29 tonight and I found they really started to come out from their hiding spots in the last few days with the warm weather. Maybe they can finally get out from under the ice in most areas now?

[pointer]

Originally Posted by nube

Well done on that check!! I got 29 tonight and I found they really started to come out from their hiding spots in the last few days with the warm weather. Maybe they can finally get out from under the ice in most areas now?

Seen a lot tonight fighting and their was a couple that had some fresh bites so I figure it's time to shut it down I got 150+ in the last 2 weeks. I plan on hitting them again in the fall

[nube]

That is a good haul. I surprised my self how many I got this week. I need to count but I figured after tonight about 120-130 in 7 days. I had a couple bad days with that cold ice and snow but made up for it with some good 20+ rats at a time. Even did 2 checks in one day and caught a bunch in both checks. I had a blast but my wife will be happy when I am done

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by pointer

Seen a lot tonight fighting and their was a couple that had some fresh bites so I figure it's time to shut it down I got 150+ in the last 2 weeks. I plan on hitting them again in the fall

No bite marks yet. I was late getting started so I'm going to keep on going til the pelts are scarred. The ice is rotting and starting to break up so I know that it's near the end. I think that I have things sorted out for Fall so that's the main thing for me. Day by day now I guess.

[pointer]

Originally Posted by nube

That is a good haul. I surprised my self how many I got this week. I need to count but I figured after tonight about 120-130 in 7 days. I had a couple bad days with that cold ice and snow but made up for it with some good 20+ rats at a time. Even did 2 checks in one day and caught a bunch in both checks. I had a blast but my wife will be happy when I am done

Don't take long to add up numbers the first week I went hard after work then last week everything was iced up so I never put much effort into it. Wish I didn't have to work all week long then I could go hard

[pointer]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

No bite marks yet. I was late getting started so I'm going to keep on going til the pelts are scarred. The ice is rotting and starting to break up so I know that it's near the end. I think that I have things sorted out for Fall so that's the main thing for me. Day by day now I guess.

You still may get a week or more all depends. seems like they go from good to chewed up over night around here and every water hole is different

[DUKE-1]

So spring rat season is very short do to the bitting. , which is from territory fighting?? Fall season a better time for rats??? any different sets or baits from spring season?? Thanks for the help guys..duke

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by DUKE-1

So spring rat season is very short do to the bitting. , which is from territory fighting?? Fall season a better time for rats??? any different sets or baits from spring season?? Thanks for the help guys..duke

They'll be fighting and scarring the pelts a lot more once they start mating which will be very soon around here IMO. Once you start catching scarred rats it's time to stop trapping them. How long that you have to trap them in the Spring depends on how fast it thaws I guess. This Spring if I was ready, I probably could have been taking advantage of Spring rat trapping for the past 2 weeks and I might have another week to go.....maybe?

My experience in my first Spring of trapping rats:

I had planned to use colony traps in drainage ditches but that plan didn't work because of the flooding and the fast water. I then moved to a slew where I found rats swimming everywhere in the open water around the edge and I shot some. I put some colony traps in with a stake over top to get them to dive and, although I did catch some that way, it wasn't very effective because there were no banks on the lake for dens and no real runs to target.

I realized that a better way to trap the slew in the Spring was with floater sets where they could climb up to bask in the sun. I scrambled a bit to get those made and yesterday I got 4 rats on 6 sets and I missed 3 more (gotta adjust thinks a bit). It's nice today so I'm going to do 2 checks and see what I can shoot as well.

My thinking based on my experience this Spring:

Floating sets and/or sets like what Nube is using works best in the Spring where I'm trapping, and in the Fall when you can clearly see the runs and bank dens, colony traps and funnel traps should be much more effective. That's my theory but I'll have to wait until Fall to see how it goes.

I guess the biggest thing that I learned this Spring was to have a plan B and don't put all of your eggs in one basket. If one type of set is not working try something else that might work better so it's best to have the ability to make different sets with different types of traps.

[PCP_ECOM]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

They'll be fighting and scarring the pelts a lot more once they start mating which will be very soon around here IMO. Once you start catching scarred rats it's time to stop trapping them. How long that you have to trap them in the Spring depends on how fast it thaws I guess. This Spring if I was ready, I probably could have been taking advantage of Spring rat trapping for the past 2 weeks and I might have another week to go.....maybe?

My experience in my first Spring of trapping rats:

I had planned to use colony traps in drainage ditches but that plan didn't work because of the flooding and the fast water. I then moved to a slew where I found rats swimming everywhere in the open water around the edge and I shot some. I put some colony traps in with a stake over top to get them to dive and, although I did catch some that way, it wasn't very effective because there were no banks on the lake for dens and no real runs to target.

I realized that a better way to trap the slew in the Spring was with floater sets where they could climb up to bask in the sun. I scrambled a bit to get those made and yesterday I got 4 rats on 6 sets and I missed 3 more (gotta adjust thinks a bit). It's nice today so I'm going to do 2 checks and see what I can shoot as well.

My thinking based on my experience this Spring:

Floating sets and/or sets like what Nube is using works best in the Spring where I'm trapping, and in the Fall when you can clearly see the runs and bank dens, colony traps and funnel traps should be much more effective. That's my theory but I'll have to wait until Fall to see how it goes.

I guess the biggest thing that I learned this Spring was to have a plan B and don't put all of your eggs in one basket. If one type of set is not working try something else that might work better so it's best to have the ability to make different sets with different types of traps.

Floats are very effective in the fall as well,baited with apples,carrots or parsnip,add a good lure and watch em pile up,Peter