164 Fish and Game Warden. [Bull. No, 1. 



clam. We have found piles of clam shells at such feeding 

 places, but as yet have never seen a muskrat open a clam shell 

 or eat such food. This is most frequently done during the 

 late fall, winter and early spring, when their regular food is 

 not so easy to get. We have caught muskrats and cut them 

 open for many years, and never found any meat in them, not 

 even the flesh of the clam. We have had reliable trappers ex- 

 amine them for us during the season, and no one has ever re- 

 ported having found any meat or fish in the stomach of a 

 muskrat. 



However, muskrats are enemies of the pond owner. They 

 especially enjoy living in the banks of ponds, and they go from 

 one pond to another and dig and burrow in the embankments, 

 and continue to do damage in this way. The only way to keep 



Muskrats. They do not eat fish, but do great damage by burrowing in the banks. 

 They are very prolific and hard to keep down, as they migrate from place to place. 

 Over 200 were killed in the new Hatchery grounds during the first year. 



them out of the ponds that we know of is to shoot or trap 

 them. As a rule, it is not hard to find them in the early morn- 

 ing or in the evening. A good shot gun with No. 5 shot is 

 good medicine for them. A steel trap properly set in the 

 water near the bank where they feed and travel is almost sure 

 to catch them. A good bait for a muskrat is a piece of apple, 

 parsnip or carrot. Place the bait on the end of a sharp stick 

 and push the stick in the mud under the water about a foot 

 from the edge of the shore, with the bait from six to ten inches 

 above the surface of the water. Place the trap about two 

 inches under water and between the shore line and the bait. 

 Another good and perhaps a better way to use the bait is to 

 throw a few small pieces or shavings of parsnips in the edge 

 of the water near the trap. The trap should always be placed 

 under the water and near the shore. 



