Client asked me about excluding muskrats from her pond bank with netting or hardware cloth. Have any of you done something like this? Circumference is about 230lf.

I've seen decent results with chain link fencing. Got to bury a bit unless your goal also is to annoy anyone that fishes there as well.

Netting or hardware cloth I doubt would last too long.

I did a pond that had almost 850 (that was a typo, it should be 350) lf of circumference years ago before wire prices went ridiculous. It took 10 rolls of 4 x 100 ft 19 gauge 1/2 x 1/2 PVC coated wire cut into 4 x 10 ft sections. I choose the 1/2 x 1/2 wire over chain fencing for several reasons. Chain fencing will still allow young rats to dig, it has a tendency to sink into the bank over time, and it allows too much plant growth which then becomes a pain to maintain. Plus, it is much harder to work with than 4 x 10 ft sheets.

We installed the wire by first using a sod cutting machine to cut 12" of sod around the pond that we then flipped over. Next, we laid a piece of cut wire starting in the area where the sod was removed and then out into the pond. This gave a protective area of 1 - 3 feet above water and 9 - 7 feet below the water line based on how much water would be in the pond. At times, we had to overlap multiple wire panels to ensure no spaces were left open as we rounded the corners. Each panel was attached to another panel with a Stanley ringer and then held in place with left over Out-Of-Sight mole trap setters. We finished by flipping the sod back in place, staking in in certain places and having the homeowner water it. The actual installation took less than 4 hours with a crew of 5. The prep work took much longer. I ended up working in the water fastening panels and staking them down while two techs fetched and installed panels while one worked with the sod and the other worked as my gopher for supplies and reloading of the ringer.

Here is a link to some PVC coated wire for pricing info http://www.louispage.com/welded-wire-mesh/vinyl-coated/vinyl-coated-19-gauge.

Eric, 22 rolls if I figured right? Or almost $10,000 material cost at todays prices? That's getting a lot of work done in 4 hours!

Greg, No it wasn't 22 rolls, it was 10 so I must have posted the wrong circumference. Instead of fixing it and making readers wonder about your post, the circumference should have been 350 not 850. Materials cost was almost $3,000.

That's still a lot of work in 4 hours! I'd love to have seen that project.

I would guess the we all could trap muskrats on these ponds for the rest of our natural days ( Or the customers ) and the customer

would save money and we'd have more fun. I got a muskrat job today that will last forever. I'd better start showing the grandsons.

I worked a golf course a few years ago. They had netted the banks around all of the water hazards with plastic netting. It held the sod on the steep banks. But did not keep the rats out and was a pain to trap around.

I had that exact scenario on a golf course a few years back, Jim. Hey, by the way, I'm going to miss you and the rest of the guys

tomorrow. Not only don't we have the new F-150 that we ordered in December, but today one of the Transit Connects got backed into and

put out of commission. At least it wasn't our fault and no one got hurt but two new doors on a BMW would be cheaper than those TC

doors. Glad I'm not paying!

Sorry you are not coming. I wanted to pick your brain. By the way, your pm box is full.

Jim, I learned two things; my mailman will only deliver 120 PMs and you must have a very small pick.

Question for you Conibear style trap users. I may need to purchase some more traps. I've always used 120 Conibears because they were

the easiest to get. Is there a better trap than that on the market for muskrats? Thanks ahead for your opinions.

Ok, more information, the water level is controlled and it's kept at the same level within a couple inches. How deep below the surface will they burrow in? I've always seen burrows right next to the surface. I'm trying to figure out how far down we need to go.

Paul - I'd use 110s instead of 120s if they are just going to be used for 'rats. You don't need that second spring and if you have a lot of tree roots, it can interfere with set construction. As for brands, just about any will do. If you can get to a convention or trapping supply house you can handle several different brands and see if you like the springs and trigger configuration. I do prefer the "magnum" style which will have the bumps on the ends of the jaws to allow the spring eyes to set level with the bottom jaw, but aside from that I'm not too picky.

EatenByLimestone - that's a good question. I've never seen a rat do a tunnel more than 3 feet below the water surface in my area. Of course, when the water is low that can translate into a tunnel system that not only is 8 ft below the surface but 10 ft away from shore when the water is up. What I did was look at how low the tunnels were (lowest was 2 ft from top edge of bank) and estimated how low the pond could go to come up with my 10 ft sheets. Like your case, the water level was very controlled so I felt that even if the water somehow dropped 3 ft because of drought, I'd still have 2 ft of coverage left (1 ft on the bank under sod, then 4 ft down (1 ft of exposed bank) and 3 ft below surface making 8 ft of "working" wire with 2 ft of extra in case.)

Okay, the water level is normally stable unless I'm doing a stream and it rains heavily. I used to use 110s but we have few rocks or

roots to interfere, so all I own now is 120s and I love them. Lift the springs, insert your stakes to form an X over the top of the

trap and you've got your Conibear stabilized and ready to go. Usually not more than a couple of inches of water over the top of the

trap. It's just been so long since I've been to a fur trapping convention that I figured I might be missing something new and

revolutionary. I did grab a couple of Belisle because I needed something a little wider but if I get my fingers caught in them, like

I occasionally do in the 120s, you will hear the bad language all the way to Ohio!

I've seen rat entrances in chest deep water 15 to 20ft from the bank. This was a few years ago when we had a severe drought, so that may have been a factor in the tunnels out farther in the water. Their original openings had been between 2'-3' deep water, were then 3' out of the water. This little lake also had a very established muskrat population, so that could have been another factor in tunnel construction. I wouldn't expect that any new rats would ever start a tunnel that far and deep.

G Hanold, glad you brought that up. I've seen the same thing and was completely amazed. And it looked like those deep entrances were

not new but were probably not used much except during a drought. I would never have been able to spot them with normal water levels.

Paul, I imagine you'll only find tunnels like that when the rats have been there for a long long time as well.