I have been trapping for several and I am not a muskrat trapper. Mostly coon and coyote. But I have a new farm to trap and have come across muskrat's in the pond. I was putting in a few coon sets around the pond and noticed muskrat runs coming into the back. The trails are pretty obvious as long as I don't stir up too much mud. My problem is that the entrances are deep. Well deep for me anyway. I'm guessing 5 feet. My hip waders are not going to cut it if I set these runs. I do have chest waders if needed. I guess my question is how do I get the trap into the entrance of the den. I can't reach that far with my arms. I was able to feel one of the den openings with my foot and they are large openings about the size of a basket ball. My 110's may be too small for the openings???? How about 160's for size and how do you stabilize them that deep??? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Randy

I dealt with the same type of thing and used a pole with the trap attached, quick drowning when you catch one.

newears how did you attach the pole?

use a pole with a wedge .... run the pole thru the trap spring ring ... then wedge it solid .... will depend on each situation as to how far up the pole ya will have to wedge it in order to get it solid and on the bottom

If your using mound like beaver sets, might as well use castor too. Castor is the #1 rat catching lure on my line lol

If legal in your state, you may want to consider a muskrat float, or a colony trap if the pond banks are totally too steep (not likely) for you to work with. However, you should have access to the shoreline somewhere to make/create a set using either a #110, or better yet, in that case, a #1 or #1-1/2 long spring.

You can seek out the use areas and make mounds as John mentioned. Do not discount the use of a good muskrat lure in conjunction with bait at such a mound set. If you can physically make a mound on the bank, create a shallow water shelf in front of it to accommodate a long spring of choice. In addition to the mounds, you could make baited pocket sets, using either the #110's or long springs.

Personally, I would set the bank dens using a #110, staking and locating (elevation) it with a stick, using a door jamb wedge as Gary suggested, or better yet, use a stick of 4 ft lath through the eye in the spring. You will not need a wooden wedge then - just adjust in such a way that it will lock itself on to the stake wherever you set it using the trap ring for that purpose instead as shown below.





And, if you want to consider a muskrat float, here is a simple one you can make:



These should give you some ideas for options to catch muskrats in your pond.

Jonathan

i would use floats. they are simple and really effective. but the other methods work really well too.

colony traps in the runs

Here's what I do for those special deep 'rat runs: We've got river willow growing in clumps, that's about an inch or just a bit more in diameter, and up to 15' high. I cut these and dry them, so they don't become beaver candy on the line.

Two feet up from the bottom (for mucky soil) I run a 3" spike (small diameter) through the willow.

Now you can slide your #110 up the willow from the base, and when the coil encounters the spike, just twist it around a turn and it locks in place. Sure beats messing with a wedge.

Now, you can either set from a boat or from the bank, just lean over and set the base of this willow into the run and visibly watch the #110 set into it. That is, if you can do this without stirring up the muck.

If you've got big runs and don't feel like investing money into single spring #160s, just lock one spring with the safety hook and leave it that way. Now you've got a single spring #160 and use that spring to hold the bodygrip trap onto the willow pole.

Thanks for all the tips I really appriciate the help. Randy

Dont forget muskrat stools as well.

How deep are the runs? The dens are about 5 feet, but are the runs in shallower water?

Preston trapper; It looks like you got a lot of help already. When I dealt with this I was using No 1 victors and just wired the bottom of the spring to the pole. This is a good site with good people. happy trapping.

Snipperbbb I have never herd of muskrat stools what are they.

CRT,
I wish the den entrances were in shallower water but unfortuniatly it is a steep drop off.

Newears, I totally agree, I have had very good help from the people on this site. I frequent this site often and always enjoy the conversations. The people on this site are good people. Randy

Bandit Buster---Muskrat Stool: If you locate a muskrat's feedbed, you should be able to find its stool. They push up a small amount of vegetation about two inches above the rest of the platform, looking something like a "stool":

So imagine the top of this stool without the legs, at the edge of the feedbed, preferably under some overhanging cover.

There they like to sit upright, groom themselves, and sing "Muskrat Love" to their mates whilst they nourish themselves with fresh tubers and such.

This is the way that I tackled the problem last year and it worked great for me. The first photo is the stabilizer I made from 1/2" rebar. The total hight depends on the depth of the run your trying to cover.

The second photo is a close-up of the bottom of the stabilizer. The arrows point to the place where the trap sits on the stabilizer.

The third photo is with the trap sitting in the stabilizer. You have to set the trap first and then slide the trap down the rebar uprights until it rests on the bottom of the bends. If you thread the rebar through the springs then the trap cannot come out of the stabilizer after it fires. The demensions will depend on the size of the trap you are using and the depth of the run. I made mine for beaver using 330's; the same thing will work with 110's. Hope this helps.

Pictures were a great help. Thank You, Randy