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 r 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 into deep water. The 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 



