


Bh ORE Rt | b 
ee ast some ESBS. that the acide. can get at 
oes aise “beneath Ss i6e: The feliow Water “ily and 
eet usually grow { suttictently déep water so that* 
‘hts purpose of a winter ‘food supply, Muskrets 
also bt on clase dering. the: winter. The source of food durt 
ing bey tae Shain ¢ of” ba ls ; Spring, summer and fai, is the’ © 
certed “Sweety itce, Wepato or Dock Potato, sometimes 
| , Ato™ » are @ll1 eaten in addition to the two 
already ‘nemed. ‘The tubers of the Wapato are sometimes found tn 
muskrat houses where they are stored by the rats as a winter 
food UPPITY, yee eA 
/ e food supply settled, it is GIS oie also that 
ca guna. aie have suiteble ving conditions. This méang | 
that there must te a certain amount. of grasses ‘or cover, which 
of course would be ‘affarded to a considérable extént by the Rild 
Ages atteil, Sweet Plag, Bulrush and other growth that would 
Btéd for fdod! They must also have’ suitetle material for 
butt ing theif houses or tanks in whith they nisey dig and make 
their dens.° Any high banks or ridges along an overflow could 
undoubtedly ‘be used hy muskrats for their dens. Wild Rice, Cat~ 
tail, “ulrushes end “weet Flag all afford consicerable material 
for building houses in: addition to cover.and.food. an = ie 

a1 5." The questior of cover and living’ querters settled, 
it fs twportent that a ‘sufficient depth of water be mainteined 
during the wiiiter So “that the ice does not freece down to the 
pte fom mMiskrats ‘go Out beneath ‘the ice from their living 
Sees rs “to forage beneath ‘the fice for a food supply. The 
reer nie’ tothe bottom cuts off the fdod supply of the muskrits. 
During the winter they come ovt in séarch of food ‘and it is lack 
of food more than anything else that causes the muskrats to run 
away or eave.” Some wWirters you ho dovbt have noticed the musk- 
rats will be running all) over a marsh and migrate across the 
fields. This is because of the ice freezing down to the botton. 
Huskrats then get to be what we call “runvers". 
4. With these other thities taken care of, there still 
remains the question of protection for the moskrets. Probably ; 
the greatest matural enemy of the muskrat is the mink. They 
Kill whole families of muskrats. Therefore, it should be made 
a rule to trap cr shoot a mink on ‘sight any time during the 
year, if you desire to make a succees of the muskrat proposition, 
for the two will not get along together at all. Alsc, because of 
the mink destroying ducks and any other birds that they may come 
across, we believe that mink should be given no protection -- 
father theré should be a bovnty paid on his scaip. The only other 
roblem of dar sbetet en that one has to deal much with, aside from 
the 3 ice freezing to the-bottom and driving the muskrats out during | 
oe nter in search of food, sre sudden rises of water during the 
which often drive out the rats. Of course, stray 
rhas os possibly wolves have a habit of digging into the houses and 
destroying. et the old and. ere, | Yi 
oa = ma 
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