62 FUR FACTS 



roasted or stewed is found to be very palatable. The following 

 suggestions for cooking muskrat may be found useful. 



Fried Muskrat — Wash the muskrat thoroughly and cut in quar- 

 ters. Let it lie in salt water for an hour or more, then wash, dry with 

 a cloth, and season. Dip the pieces in a prepared egg batter and 

 dust them with flour or meal. Place the lard in a frying pan and 

 let it get hot. Then put in the muskrat and fry very slowly for an 

 hour. Prepare a gravy of milk, butter, flour and parsley and season 

 to taste. After it thickens pour it over the cooked muskrat. 



Roast Muskrat — Wash the meat thoroughly, cut it in pieces, and 

 let it lie in salt water for an hour, then wash again. Put it in a pan 

 with water, salt, pepper, butter and a little onion; sprinkle flour over 

 it and baste it until it is thoroughly done. 



Stewed Muskrat — Wash the meat thoroughly, cut it in pieces, 

 and let it lie in salt water for an hour. Then wash again, put it in 

 a saucepan, and season with butter, salt and pepper to taste. Let it 

 simmer slowly, and when nearly done put parsley and a little chopped 

 onion into it. When entirely done thicken with a gravy of flour and 

 water, as for stewed chicken. 



HOW TO TRAP THE MUSKRAT 



Most trappers use the ordinary steel traps — size No. 1 for taking 

 the muskrat. The muskrat is comparatively easy to trap, but hard 

 to hold. They twist out and pull out, and for this reason most trap- 

 pers prefer to use an extra jaw attachment that fits on the jaw of the 

 trap and catches the muskrat higher up on the leg and prevents his 

 gnawing or wiggling off. The hold fast jaw and the triple grip jaw 

 are used for this purpose. The trap is then arranged so that the 

 animal, when he dives for deep water, wiU be held there and soon 

 drowned. It is therefore advisable to stake the trap chain down in 

 deep water, as the weight of the trap on the animal's foot will soon 

 drown it. 



The manner of setting the trap depends on the situation, and 

 it is picking the right spot to set the trap that spells success. Musk- 

 rat traUs can be found along the banks of all streams or ponds which 

 they inhabit. 



When you have found the tracks and selected your spot for set- 

 ting the trap, sink the trap in the trail and force it down a little in 

 the mud or sand where the water is 2 or 3 inches deep. Fasten the 

 trap down to a stake or to a long pole. If you use a pole, arrange the 

 ring of the chain so as to slide along the pole, having a fork on the 



