Muskrats

[coonreaper]

This year i gained access to a new creek that runs into a marsh covered with cattails. I have caught many coons and a few mink out of it but no muskrats. I know that muskrat like cattails and have even seen one or two in this creek/marsh but i havent set any traps for them yet. I know very little about muskrat trapping because up until this year i was strictly fox and coon. the water is not deep enough in the marsh part to do floats and it is tough to find trails to set on because i don't know what to look for. Any help on tactics for these rats would be helpful.

[Leglifter]

Are there any huts in the marsh?

[coonreaper]

not any obviouse ones like the ones that come up when you search muskrat huts on google images

[jeremybrua]

you should be able to find some runs if they are living in the marsh or huts.  the huts might be small 2or3 foot around ans 2 foot high. They can be hard to see.  A bottom edge set might work well in the creek.  Or if the creek is small you can narrow it down more and put a 110 or 160 in it.

[coyotenightmare]

Make sets for mink as well. I didn't do to well on muskrats this year. I caught 17 rats and picked up 5 big male mink. The mink are really hard on the rats. I should of caught 35-40 muskrats and only did half that. They just simply weren't there. Usually I get 2-3 mink and this year was double that.

[coonreaper]

Yeah this creek is loaded with mink and coons. theres like 3 creeks that lead into or alongside the marsh. the thing that makes it kinda hard for me to trap muskrats is that the marsh vastley varies in depth. in one place it may be 6 inches but then 3 feet over it could be 5-6 ft. this morning i looked around a lot and found a few places where grass looked like it was bent over in a pile and found some holes coming out that are the exact size as a 110 conibear. I took a peek inside one of the grass piles but it didn't look like what i would imagine a den to be. there was roughly an inch of water inside but not much water outside of the grass pile and there was no built up grass or cattails, just looked like a storm could have knocked it over. i did put a 110 at the hole just to see what was using it.