Muskrats?
- Thread starter eclubine
- Start date
muskrat30
New member
There may be a few there. My very 1st one was caught in a slow moving river. Shallow weedy ponds with some food around would be the best bet for higher densities though. You can look for one of the most tell-tale signs for a trapper, scat. Usually if there are any rats around they leave some poop on just about every flat sizable rock or log in the water. With higher densities look for runs out of the water into vegetation next to the water. The houses are more common in shallow ponds.
FYI, last Fall muskrats were the bread & butter critter. The price of their fur moved up pretty well, especially considering the effort expended to catch & skin them. That is compared to your higher profile coyote ,fox, & such. Of course on your way to the rats you need a few coon sets & a few mink sets along the water.
FYI, last Fall muskrats were the bread & butter critter. The price of their fur moved up pretty well, especially considering the effort expended to catch & skin them. That is compared to your higher profile coyote ,fox, & such. Of course on your way to the rats you need a few coon sets & a few mink sets along the water.
Originally Posted By: eclubineWhat do I need to look for on an 8-10 ft. wide creek anywhere from knee to waist deep with slow moving water? Would they even be in something like this or are pond type wetlands preferred? thanks
That's the kind of place we always caught a bunch of rats. Check the banks for slides, and holes at the water line. Try to find a stretch where the creek runs through crop lands.
We never had any ponds or wetlands, so we made the best of the creeks.
That's the kind of place we always caught a bunch of rats. Check the banks for slides, and holes at the water line. Try to find a stretch where the creek runs through crop lands.
We never had any ponds or wetlands, so we made the best of the creeks.
The banks are fairly steep and I didn't see any slides but there was a log about half in the water half out and just right out of the water on it there were these little turds about 1/4" wide and 1/2" long that I thought might be muskrat or mink. That was the only real sign I saw. What do you think?
muskrat30
New member
Yes, those do sound like muskrats. Do we taste them next to see what they're eating? Just kidding.
Just like with tracks & other sign, the specific location is a big clue as to what left the tracks or scat. Critters have their habits & when you factor in location that can narrow the suspects down a bunch.
Just like with tracks & other sign, the specific location is a big clue as to what left the tracks or scat. Critters have their habits & when you factor in location that can narrow the suspects down a bunch.
Mickthetaxidermist
New member
Did the droppings have little pointed ends on them? If so, most likely rat droppings. Muskrats have very weak spincters, so their little turds are tapered on the end to keep their spincters from slamming shut.
Seriously though, your description sounds like rat droppings. Mink, and other members of the weasel family will usually leave less defined squiggly type droppings, while the rats are usually more prone to be pellet shapped. Not always of course, sometimes on a big rat toilet the droppings just pile up into a mush of rat poop.
Seriously though, your description sounds like rat droppings. Mink, and other members of the weasel family will usually leave less defined squiggly type droppings, while the rats are usually more prone to be pellet shapped. Not always of course, sometimes on a big rat toilet the droppings just pile up into a mush of rat poop.