1871.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
93 
Trapping the Muskrat. 
e 
The way to catch an animal is to study its 
habits; and if we could impress our young 
readers with this idea, the numerous insects 
which do such, an immense damage to the 
fanner and horticulturist would soon be de- 
stroyed. The musk- 
rat.however, is com- 
paratively harmless. 
He is not properly 
a rat. He has more 
of the habits and 
characteristics of the 
beaver, but with- 
out its marvellous 
intelligence. The 
muskrat prefers a 
sluggish stream or 
pond, bordered with 
coarse grass, rushes, 
or flags; but the 
sides of the stream 
should not, in all 
parts, be low and 
saturated with wa- 
ter. There should 
be some spots where 
the banks are com- 
paratively high and 
dry. During the 
summer, the musk- 
rats live mostly in 
these banks, on the 
borders of a swamp or stream, or in hollow 
trees. It is here lhat they breed. They are 
very prolific, having three litters a year, and 
from six to nine in a litter. And the females 
of the first spring litter also themselves have 
voung early the same autumn. In October, or 
as soon as frosty nights occur, the muskrats 
begin to build their houses for the winter. 
Much ingenuity and intelligence are displayed 
in the location and construction of these winter 
residences. They are made of flags, pond-lily 
tops, grass, roots, 
sticks, etc., cement- 
ed together with 
mud, carried in 
the mouth. Their 
houses are made in 
the shape of a dome, 
and are sometimes 
five or six feet high. 
Like the houses of 
the beaver, the en- 
trance is under wa- 
ter, the muskrats 
diving under the 
water to get into 
them. Here they 
live during the win- 
ter, the family con- 
sisting of from six 
to ten members. If 
one of these houses 
is destroyed, the 
members are re- 
ceived in the other 
dwellings, and the 
hunters sometimes 
take advantage of 
this hospitable disposition to get several families 
in one hut, and so secure a large number at once. 
The skins of the muskrat are most valuable 
early in the spring, and as soon as the ice begins 
to disappear, the hunter commences operations. 
The rats are speared or shot, but the best plan 
is to catch them with steel traps. The muskrat 
is nocturnal in its habits, and while sometimes 
found feeding in the daytime, is usually caught 
at night. The hunter ascertains the feeding 
grounds of the muskrats from the tracks and 
droppings, and sets his traps in the paths. He 
usually takes a small, light, flat-bottomed boat, 
TRAPPING THE MTSKRAT. 
sharp at both ends, which he propels, where the 
water is shallow, with a pole, and with a paddle 
where it is deeper. He carries with him an axe, 
a trap-hook, some bait, traps, and gun. About 
sundown, on bright, warm days, the muskrats 
are seen swimming, and he gets a shot at them. 
By imitating their peculiar cry, which is like 
the whining of a puppy, they can be induced 
to come within gun-shot, and a little exciting 
sport can be obtained. But the main depend- 
ence is on the traps. 'When a log is found 
i 
J& 
torn to hold it in the loose ground. The chain- 
ring is slipped on to this tally-stick, and 
care is taken to so place the tally-stick and trap 
that when caught, the muskrat shall take to 
the water and be drowned. If on the land, 
among weeds and bushes, he will not nn fre- 
quently twist off his leg and escape. The traps 
- -.1. are also placed in 
the runs, on bogs 
and old muskrat 
houses, and wher- 
ever there are recent 
indications that the 
muskrats come to 
feed. Where the 
game is scarce, the 
traps are sometimes 
baited, but other- 
wise this is not 
necessary. Carrots, 
parsnips, apples, po- 
tatoes, or a piece 
of the flesh of a 
muskrat can be used 
for bait. A stick is 
stuck in the ground, 
slanting in such a 
manner that the 
end shall be six or 
eight inches above 
the treddle of the 
trap. The bait is 
stuck on the end of 
the stick, and in this 
way, if there are any rats in the vicinity, you are 
pretty sure to catch them. Sometimes the traps 
are covered with an inch or two of weeds ; and 
some trappers put a drop or two of the oil, 
found in the glands of the muskrat, on or near 
the traps. The next morning the hunter takes 
his boat and visits his traps. Mr. R. E. Robin- 
son, of Vt., who made the sketch for the accom- 
panying illustration, says: "A good trapper will 
tend from 50 to 100 or 125 traps, visiting them all 
every day. I have known a man at the begin- 
CSi ~_r • toss= i ning of the season 
W 
jtefc- 
trapping the BLACK BEAR — {Sec next page.) 
with some recent droppings of the muskrat on 
it, a notch is cut in the log for the trap, an inch 
or two under the water. The trap is fastened 
to a tally-stick, as shown in the illustration. 
These tally-sticks are green saplings, with a 
fork at the upper end, and a hook near the bot- 
to take upward of 
40 rats out of 50 
traps for tw» or 
three nights in suc- 
cession. After that 
the catch begins to 
fall off. The season 
lasts from the 1st of 
March to the 1st of 
May. Twenty years 
ago it was not un 
usual for one trap- 
per with 50 traps 
to catch 300 musk- 
rats in the marshes 
of Lake Champlain 
and its tributaries in 
a fortnight or three 
weeks ; but their 
number has been so 
diminished by trap- 
ping in the fall and 
winter, that the 
trapper is fortunate 
who now gets 150 
in the whole seasou. 
The muskrat is usually skinned by beginning at 
the head, ripping from the chin to between the 
fore legs, and then stripping the skin off over the 
body. When taken off in this manner the skin is 
stretched on a bent rod of tough, pliable wood. 
When skinned,from the tail it is stretched on a 
