February - Muskrat month

[sbhooper]

What kind of price are you getting nowadays? I used to run a line back in the dark ages after high school but stopped.

Your big eastern rats averaged around $6 at the NAFA Auction that just completed-pre- commission. There were no central-graded rats that even sold-sad. The last several hundred that we shipped a couple years ago averaged $12.50 and some of the easterns were higher.

They are still worth it at $6 just for the fun.

If you can get past the fact that you are eating a rat, they really are not bad eating, either.

 

[Mthuntinfool]

Great story! my brother and I ran a muskrat line in college near Dillon, it's a great way to get outdoors, see some pretty country, and make a little money as well.

 

[schmalts]

You hauled that fluff ball out there with you and yet no Lab shots?? I bet you could get a lab to retrieve a dead rat.

 

[sbhooper]

You hauled that fluff ball out there with you and yet no Lab shots?? I bet you could get a lab to retrieve a dead rat.

Yep. The problem would be teaching him how to open the trap!

 

[Nameless Range]

Looks like an awesome way to spend the winter.

 

[Nawlins]

Nice haul. Now mtmiller has some competition with the dog photos.

Ever try eating the muskrats? Of all the non-game animals I've always thought they would be the most palatable. They eat them in Louisiana, but then again that really doesn't narrow it down, haha

Not sure this is accurate. For the most part our muskrats are long gone. Displaced by nutria. I assume something that has musk in the name, probably had a reason to place musk in the name. Nutria,however, are very good. I would say very similar to rabbit, but larger with slightly darker meat.

 

[Mudranger1]

So with trapping do you have to do all the skinning and stuff to sell or do people buy the entire animal?

 

[sbhooper]

So with trapping do you have to do all the skinning and stuff to sell or do people buy the entire animal?

Either, or. You can skin and stretch them for shipment to auction, or distant buyers. You can also sell them whole to a local fur buyer if you are lucky enough to have one.

 

[Big Fin]

So with trapping do you have to do all the skinning and stuff to sell or do people buy the entire animal?

If it is warn, you better get rats skinned within 24 hours. The bacteria in their stomach will create heat that causes their bellies to get green, thus the fur buyers term, "Green bellies."

Few buyers will buy animals "in the round" anymore. When beaver were commanding good prices, you could sell those in the round and let the buyer arrange for skinning, fleshing, and stretching.

I'm about to head over to the shop to whittle away on the 15 rats I pulled from traps yesterday.

 

[Festus]

Me and an old buddy used to run a good sized skrat line many years ago as teens. This thread has made me want to dig out some long springs and 110's and show my buddy's young boys the ropes. Have to check the local regs here today. I don't think my daughter would be into the water trapping much.
Great thread, thanks for sharing.

 

[Mudranger1]

So if I read this right you skin and stretch for $5? Other than something to do it doesn't sound financially worth it

 

[Big Fin]

So if I read this right you skin and stretch for $5? Other than something to do it doesn't sound financially worth it

Your read this right. Hunting and fishing are not financially worth it, either. Just an affliction I have.

I forgot the camera on Tuesday, so some gaps in the catch totals. Got 21 today, making the total to be 129. Need to get a wider tailgate so I can hang all the tails off. Had to stack the final four in the back row.

 

[shoots-straight]

Wowzers! 129 rats is outstanding. Put them all up rack em stack em and take some pictures with them all done up.

RW

 

[Big Fin]

With this super warm weather, I have to check every day. Any rats not way down in the water will get green bellies in this warm stuff. Ran out after some work projects and got to most of the traps. Another 15 rats.




Getting a big tired of sitting at the skinning table every night, but beats watching TV.

Now that I have to start back on the travel circuit, I will probably start pulling traps this weekend. Need to find a way to get this travel schedule organized so it stops conflicting with wolf hunting and rat trapping.

Never saw a rat as voracious as this one. Couldn't get the carrot out of his mouth, so he is going to get skinned with the carrot in his mouth. If he wants it that bad, he can have it.



Today I had a rat alive in the trap. So, I scooted him out to deep water where I then stood on him. With 200 pounds on him, breathing is tough and he expired quickly. Or, so I thought. Tossed him in the back of the truck and drove off to the next set. I got to the next set, walked back and lifted the topper lid, and much to my surprise, Mr. Rat was alive and well, letting me know of his displeasure of how I had treated him. Finally had to drop the tailgate and let him get out on the ground where I was waiting for him with my trekking pole. He tried to run through the tall grass, but I was able to stop his exit...... for good.

Nothing like opening up the topper, half adaze, only to have a PO'd muskrat standing on your action packer and hissing at you. Brings you back to your senses quite fast. Was too much frantic activity to think about getting the camera out.

 

[RobG]

I got a goofy biologist wife that wants a muskrat skull if you want to part with a carcass (actually if you have a rat with a crappy hide I'd take the whole thing for dubbing). actually she'd take weasels or any other cool heads and boil them up.

 

[Big Fin]

I got a goofy biologist wife that wants a muskrat skull if you want to part with a carcass (actually if you have a rat with a crappy hide I'd take the whole thing for dubbing). actually she'd take weasels or any other cool heads and boil them up.

How many and how do I get them to you? I have a collection of carcasses out in my shop that would scare Hannibal Lecter.

I'll probably have some beaver skulls in the next month or so. And who knows what else these landowners will want removed from their property. Had I known, I could have taken them to your house, rather than bag and box them for the dumpster.

 

[JCS]

To bad the rats aren't worth very much. Our buyer said he would only give us $3.75 each. It is lots of fun though.

 

[kansasdad]

Are you skinning your muskrats with a smaller sized havalon blade?

In the book The Swiss Family Robinson it tells of them using a pump organ to create a stream of air to skin their muskrats. I remembered that only because a youtube video on coyote skinning mentioned compressed air to aid in skinning.

 

[Hunter&Huntress]

How many traps do you run? I went out yesterday and set some. I have never caught muskrat before. Do you have any pictures of how you are stabilizing your conibears on your pole?

 

[Big Fin]

How many traps do you run? I went out yesterday and set some. I have never caught muskrat before. Do you have any pictures of how you are stabilizing your conibears on your pole?

Right now I am at about 50 traps. Here is a look at how the conibears are stabilized, though a little hard to tell from the photo.




I use these clips to hold them to the 3/8" fiberglass pole. Go to this link to see them up close. http://suddenvalleysupply.com/shop/bodygrip-clip/

The clip will slide up and down the rod, allowing you to adjust for water depth. Then, you slide the rod through the spring loop and then set the trap around the stabilizer clip shown at that link above.

It works in still water, moving water, deep water, or shallow water. The biggest problem is debris floating downstream. Make sure your trigger and bait is above the water, higher than what is shown here. I was experimenting with these and this one, at this depth, was sprung full of weeds every day. The weeds eventually pile up in a big enough group that the force of the current springs the trap.

Maybe I will take my video camera out tomorrow and see if I can shoot some clips that will give you a quick idea of how it works. Among the four dozen other tasks on my desk right now.