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  #31  
Old 03-17-2015, 09:53 AM
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Good stuff guys. Not even close to break up here yet. Little dug outs are mostly open, but I am still running around on the sloughs. I will take a few pictures today if I remember too. Still not fully strung out yet, hopefully by tomorrow I will have everything set. Then I will start setting for flat tails as well.

Spruce
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  #32  
Old 03-17-2015, 05:08 PM
braggadoe braggadoe is offline
 
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Originally Posted by G_Godberson View Post
On 1.5 coils a friend fixed up too strong spring with 3 quick passes of torch. Worked beautifully
its funny you posted this today. i took out a torch and hit them right on the floats. worked great right, up until the last couple. nailed my thumb!!! before i weakened them. ouch!!



heavy wet snow snow yesterday put most of my floats out of action.



every float that was out of action had an amazing amount of crap ontop of the snow/frozen traps.



they must of hit this one before the storm. really liking the 4 trap floats. 1.5cs would be a better trap on them than a ls.



the funnel/colonys saved the day. ended up with 60+. great, considering most of my floats where out of action.

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  #33  
Old 03-17-2015, 05:57 PM
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Nice catches braggadoe , wondering what those silver clips are on your floats ?
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  #34  
Old 03-17-2015, 06:11 PM
braggadoe braggadoe is offline
 
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thats peters deal, you'll have to ask him.
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  #35  
Old 03-17-2015, 07:48 PM
ditch donkey ditch donkey is offline
 
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Hey Nube, I like the simplicity of your stick sets. Do you use a pair of waders, or do you get by with just a tall pair of rubber boots? I may as well ask what depth of water you're setting in also?
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  #36  
Old 03-17-2015, 07:58 PM
HunterDave HunterDave is offline
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Great pictures fellas! I really like these types of threads. I'm still waiting for the ice to melt in order to get started. From what I saw today, and what the weather forecast is, I'm hoping to get started early next week.
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  #37  
Old 03-17-2015, 08:21 PM
nube nube is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ditch donkey View Post
Hey Nube, I like the simplicity of your stick sets. Do you use a pair of waders, or do you get by with just a tall pair of rubber boots? I may as well ask what depth of water you're setting in also?
I use waders. My top nail is about 3 inches from the top of the stick. Depending on how deep the water determines the angle of how I push the stick in the mud. I find if you can get on the outside edge of the cattails is best. Rats will investigate anything sticking out of the water i find and they do laps all night around the ponds and will find your stick no problem. For me I will put a colony trap in if I see a spot or 2 and then put 5-8 sticks. For a lot of the small ponds after a couple checks you have most of them caught in there and try to leave a few for breeding stock.
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  #38  
Old 03-17-2015, 08:41 PM
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thats peters deal, you'll have to ask him.
OK ..
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  #39  
Old 03-17-2015, 08:49 PM
ditch donkey ditch donkey is offline
 
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Right on. Thanks for the help. My three year old and I are going to try and work the pond behind the house once the ice come off. I also like your stick set, because he can carry it, and he's usually pretty annoyed if he doesn't have a job.
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  #40  
Old 03-17-2015, 11:18 PM
bill9044 bill9044 is offline
 
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I am at a count of 13 right now. A lot of my deeper sloughs are still frozen over. Around the edges they are open. I am trying your set nube and having a hard time with the frozen mud. Honestly most of my rats were shot on the edge of the ice. Its not open enough to run floats. Caught one in a bank den with a 110. But that is my current update.
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  #41  
Old 03-18-2015, 08:41 AM
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Yup I found earlier on some places the mud was still froze under the water. It might take a bit till it unthaws
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  #42  
Old 03-19-2015, 03:42 PM
HunterDave HunterDave is offline
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What are people's thoughts about how long the Spring trapping season will go before they start getting scarred up? Last year we had a really late thaw and by the time that I got to trapping rats, they were already starting to get scarred and I quit.

The ATA manual states that muskrats start to breed "immediately after spring break-up" so I'm thinking that with this early thaw, the muskrats will start to get scarred up earlier. Is there a general rule of thumb, like 1 month after open water, or anything like that?

I'm planning on trapping the whole month of April but people are starting to ask me to do some jobs for them. Thanks!
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  #43  
Old 03-19-2015, 03:53 PM
braggadoe braggadoe is offline
 
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slower day today. catch dropped off. pulled traps in 2 sloughs. reset in 2 virgin sloughs. trying to keep the momentum going.



bite out of the parsnip,,,,,,missing trap,,,,,,,oh boy!!!!.



scraped up a few. nice, sunny day rat trap'in.

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  #44  
Old 03-20-2015, 08:30 AM
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Paul, you're a terrible tease. This is our place this morning, it'll be a while yet before we're on the water.
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  #45  
Old 03-21-2015, 04:49 PM
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Default rats

Another check in the books 27 today,3 day total 64
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  #46  
Old 03-21-2015, 05:18 PM
MB1 MB1 is offline
 
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Nice haul there.
Do you guys think putting muskrat floats too close to a beaver feed pile is a bad idea? There's about a 10 foot diameter circle of open water between the lodge and pile, thats all the open water I can find!
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  #47  
Old 03-21-2015, 05:30 PM
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Way to go Peter , I vowed I wouldn't set rat traps this spring but couldn't take it .. set 4 floats and a couple of nube stix , got 4 so far and lost 2 rats off the stix to coons this morning . Gonna be a nice gob of skrat on a 330 trigger waiting for him tonight .. my luck it will hold a skunk in the morning ..lol .
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  #48  
Old 03-21-2015, 06:24 PM
braggadoe braggadoe is offline
 
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right on peter! thanks for giving us something else to look at. you got some funnel traps under construction in the back ground?
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  #49  
Old 03-21-2015, 07:07 PM
Mount Sweetness Mount Sweetness is offline
 
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How much $ does one Muskrat usually bring?
Who are the biggest buyers, what are they used for?

Curious
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  #50  
Old 03-21-2015, 07:21 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by braggadoe View Post
right on peter! thanks for giving us something else to look at. you got some funnel traps under construction in the back ground?
you are correct Paul couldn't resist the price I got wire for and it's the good stuff,putting them all to use next weekend
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  #51  
Old 03-21-2015, 07:22 PM
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Default Dang coons

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Originally Posted by H380 View Post
Way to go Peter , I vowed I wouldn't set rat traps this spring but couldn't take it .. set 4 floats and a couple of nube stix , got 4 so far and lost 2 rats off the stix to coons this morning . Gonna be a nice gob of skrat on a 330 trigger waiting for him tonight .. my luck it will hold a skunk in the morning ..lol .
Little bugger's eh,good job Cam,at 212 for season so far
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  #52  
Old 03-22-2015, 07:47 AM
Marty S Marty S is offline
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They use muskrat for just about everything. Buyers from around the world. I think the cops are still wearing them? Great for hats, make beautiful coats if they are cut into little strips, (patch coats using complete pelts are horrifying tho IMO!) and they claim the Koreans were using them for coat liners.

So my ice finally went, got a big line in, and 5 cm of snow tomorrow? Bummer. Im supposed to pull on Tuesday cuz going to the sale with the three stooges! (That'ld be Gary G, AJ and Travis!) Going to be a tough day if everything is froze up with slush ice.

I should really show you guys my set. I ditched floats three years ago. I am packing extremely light. I'm a big 1 1/2 coil fan, but I change my springs out instead of burning them. They are beautiful. My crippled hands can set them all day long without issues.
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  #53  
Old 03-22-2015, 07:57 AM
braggadoe braggadoe is offline
 
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I should really show you guys my set.
you should, i'm guessing fibreglass pole with the clips??


should be a great day out there today.
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  #54  
Old 03-22-2015, 08:12 AM
calgarygringo calgarygringo is offline
 
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Default Got educated a little

Firstly I know absolutely nothing about muskrats.
We were out open water fishing the other day and a rat trapper came by. He was checking his traps along the waters edge that were hidden in the reeds. Had a few right in front of us we didn't even see in there. Turns out he had 15 or so in the back of his Jeep in a tub.
Was using carrot sticks for bait which we thought was strange to us but I guess it works.
Told us he gets around 4 bucks or so a piece for them and gets that amount every time he goes out collecting.
Must be a pile of them as he said another guy was trapping them right across from us too. Saw lots swimming by so they must multiply just like land rats I would assume.
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  #55  
Old 03-22-2015, 08:25 AM
Marty S Marty S is offline
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Yup, zero bulk. But just like Nube, there's the odd spot that I have to pass on in shallow water with the frozen bottom but usually that's too shallow for a quick drown. I don't like the slow drowns so it doesn't hurt my feelings too much. When I use to use floats, I couldn't stake them in shallow frozen bottom either so nothing lost. The 1 1/2 Duke is a rat machine. I'm going to try some Bridgers tho, I thot they didn't fit the clip but was told that they do.
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  #56  
Old 03-22-2015, 01:40 PM
nube nube is offline
 
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Marty the set up works way better in the fall when things are not frozen. I like Floats but bulky. I can throw out as many traps in a pond as I want and I don't have to scout the pond to place a trap.
I also like Funnel traps but up north here I could see it harder to find the bank den in a lot of spots. Down south I think the soil is harder. I think every area has it's pros and cons and you have to find what works for you. I just know I can put out 60+ traps in no time and clean the rats out pretty quick the way I do it and it is easy and not time consuming.
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  #57  
Old 03-22-2015, 03:00 PM
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Marty, I wouldn't tell the stooges this but you'll be in pretty good company. Have fun.
Doug
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  #58  
Old 03-22-2015, 10:09 PM
Marty S Marty S is offline
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I dunno, I think in the fall I'd be going 100% colony traps... Oh wait in the fall I'd go 100% coyotes!!! The heck with the filthy little muskrats!

You know, if them doctors in Calgary were skinning them they'ld be suited all up, goggles, face masks and rubber gloves... and if they seen all you yahoos skinning muskrats they'ld want to start sticking all kinds of needles into your bodies!

Last edited by Marty S; 03-22-2015 at 10:18 PM.
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  #59  
Old 03-22-2015, 10:28 PM
Marty S Marty S is offline
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I had a real big day today, this is before 2 PM...



Then I dropped them off and stuck them in front of a big fan and went and checked the rest.

The rest...


That's my biggest day... 137! But I do need to tune a few traps, my evening traps missed too many.
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  #60  
Old 03-22-2015, 10:34 PM
HunterDave HunterDave is offline
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I'm glad to see you southern fellas getting some rats. We had colder weather and about 6" of snow last night with more snow in the forecast for tomorrow. I had hoped on the edges opening up this week but that ain't gonna happen. At least one more week to wait I guess.
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