Trails indicated a place where muskrats were leaving the creek and going way up the bank across a level spot like they were after some kind of food, but i couldn't see anything edible. Anyway, i tried setting water traps but they were leaving the water in too many places. So i set one right in the obvious trail and had one today. But it was dead....which is okay. But i don't know why a little #1 foot trap on dry land would have killed it overnight. It rained but it wasn't cold. Anyone else have that happen?

Plinker

I don't know what happened there but I wouldn't recommend that method of trapping rats. Most of the time you will end up with chew outs if you don't drown them or if you don't use a conibear.

I know you're right, absolutely you're right, and everything i've read about muskrat trapping says the same thing. But i caught 17 muskrats last year and most of them weren't drowned and they were held fast. These muskrats around here come up on land a lot and WV doesn't allow conibears on dry land. If they come out of the water in a particular place, it's easy to figure out where to put a drowning trap, but its a guessing game where they come out of the water because the water in the creek is always getting higher and lower.

Plinker

Have you tried making a "bait raft?" Make the raft and bait with apples or carrots, attatch your leghold traps to it. Put some willow shoots over the the top from corner to corner to keep the birds from landing on it. I've never done it that way to be honest, but I've heard that it works really well. I used to put the traps in the rat houses and in the runs in the bank-that was on larger water bodies though. I can see a creek offering different problems.

the chef

I have heard that mink will kill muskrats by biting into the throat and then the mink drinks the blood. Sounds kind of far-fetched to me but you might check the throat for puncture wounds.

I work a large swampy area in southeast Arkansas and there are hardly any muskrats but plenty of beaver and nutria. There are mink there too. We see one occassionally but only haave seen one or two muskrat in 15 years at this place. Merg

Calgary, yep i tried making a raft last year and baited it with carrots and with apples, with no success. May give it another try if i can find it though.

Merganser, you may be right about the mink because when i skinned it, the upper shoulder seemed bruised with massive jelled blood clot in the area. I thought maybe it pulled its shoulder out of joint but it just might have been a mink at its neck that caused that. I didn't look that close at the hide, but tomorrow when it's light i'll check for puncture marks.

Plinker