86 The Muskrat 
The prime fur, however, is obtained during the winter 
months. When I was a boy an old trapper told me 
that, like the oyster, the fur is good in any month of 
the year in which the letter 7 is found. This old 
adage, like many others, is true within certain limits; 
even in the Northern States the fur in September and 
April is rather thin. 
In snaring the muskrat, the trap is placed at the 
entrance of the burrow, or in a path leading from 
the water; but in either case the chain should be 
secured within its length of deep water. The musk- 
rat’s idea of freeing himself when caught in a trap 
seems to be to get ito) deep: water .-Ehe exer 
tion with the added weight of the trap will exhaust 
the strength of the muskrat and he will soon drown. 
Otherwise, if the trap is so fastened that he cannot 
get into deep water, after several hours he will usually 
free himself by gnawing off his leg. 
Muskrats are very stupid about being trapped. If 
two or three traps are placed at short distances apart 
in a runway, the first muskrat passing will prob- 
ably be caught, while a second and even a third may 
fall victims to the tempting bait, although usually 
the squealing of the two is sufficient to frighten away 
the third one for a time. Traps arranged in the 
order just described are visited between ten and 
