310 



Department of Conservation of Louisiana 



These figures vividly indicate how the muskrat popula- 

 tion fell off during the trapping seasons following the two 

 drought years of 1924-25. Indications at the time of this 

 bulletin was printed predict a normal catch of the fur ani- 

 mals for the 1928-29 season, thus providing the advisibility 

 of light trapping when the 'rat population has been re- 

 duced. 



The Department of Conservation leases out the trapping 

 rights on the State Public Hunting Grounds at one of the 

 mouths of the Mississippi River, called Pass a la Loutre. 

 Here are 23,263 acres of marshland constantly flooded with 

 fresh water from the flow of the mighty Mississippi and is 

 a natural habitat of muskrats, raccoons, minks and otters. 



The Delacroix Island territory, from time of the coming 

 of the first white settler, has always had the reputation of 

 being rich in fur animals, fish, oysters, shrimp, wild duck 

 and geese and other forms of wild life. It lies in a fresh 

 water basin which never seems to be affected when other 

 sections of the state are being burned by a drought, and it 

 supports the finest and most extensive stands of three-cor- 

 nered grasses (Scirpus robustus, olneyi, and americanus) 

 known in Louisiana, so with such favorable food and water 

 conditions it is no wonder that this area has always been, 

 and probably always will be, a paradise for muskrats. 



