two litters a season and few young 

 to the litter. In races that have 

 large litters and produce three or 

 more litters a season, a count of the 

 scars becomes complicated and less 

 reliable. Productivity of the fe- 

 males and the ratio of young-of- 

 the-year to adults, as determined 

 during trapping operations, indi- 

 cate the trend in muskrat produc- 

 tion on any particular marsh. 



HARVESTING AND HAN- 

 DLING THE MUSKRAT 

 CROP 



The extreme versatility of musk- 

 rat fur permits its use as a substi- 

 tute for some of the more costly 

 furs, and results in a continuous de- 

 mand for it. There are more than 

 half a million licensed professional 

 trappers in the United States, and 

 countless farm families find both 

 sport and economic gain in trap- 

 ping during the open season. 



In the era of open lands and free 

 trapping it was a question who 

 could get there first, and most pub- 

 lic lands were practically stripped 

 of their fur animals. Trapping to- 

 day is under State control and regu- 

 lated by law. The legal season for 

 trapping muskrats often runs con- 

 currently with that for other fur- 

 bearing animals, such as the mink 

 and otter. Some northern States, 

 because of heavy snow and ice, have 

 a short season in the fall followed 

 by another in the spring. In sev- 

 eral States the period January 1 to 

 March 15 has been found desirable. 

 Except in an unusually hard win- 

 ter, a season of this length provides 

 some good trapping weather and 



the desired thinning of the fur- 

 animal population results. 



Muskrat pelts do not begin to 

 prime until late November or early 

 December, and generally are at 

 their best the latter part of Febru- 

 ary. Fall trapping yields many 

 small, flat, and unprime skins. 

 Harvesting in early winter de- 

 creases winter kill from freeze-outs, 

 food shortage, and disease. If the 

 season is extended very late in the 

 spring the trapper can deplete the 

 breeding stock with bank, floating- 

 log or other open-water sets. By 

 this time, breeding has started and 

 many pregnant females are taken 

 and the pelts are less desirable as 

 they are becoming "springy." 



Some States set a limit of 250 

 traps to the trapper and require 

 that a metal tag, with the name of 

 the trapper, be attached to each 

 trap. Registration of trap lines, 

 which is required in the far North, 

 reduces poaching and is an incen- 

 tive to the trapper to leave sufficient 

 brood stock for another year. 



Traps and Trapping Equipment 



Each trapper should be provided 

 with the best types of traps to pro- 

 mote the greatest trapping effi- 

 ciency. Steel traps Nos. 1 and l^/^ 

 are generally used to trap muskrats. 

 There are several types of steel trap 

 and the popularity of each varies 

 with the individual trapper and the 

 part of the country he comes from. 

 The old Gibbs two-trigger trap is 

 still widely used in Louisiana. A 

 trap with strong spring action often 

 breaks the legbone, so that the 

 animal tears loose or wrings off, 

 leaving a foot in the trap. "Stop- 



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