Where is the best spring out/breakup rat country up there ?

Breakup rats tend to be shredded messes. Best rats are now til breakup trapping pushups.

It has been a nightmare this year with the goofy weather still managing to get a few

Folks here used to camp all spring and hunt rats by the thousands. Its pretty much a big swamp.No closed season on rats and beaver here.

Yukon Flats around Ft. Yukon were spring rat country back when folks needed an income source after regular trapping.
mt

Kobuk River delta has hundreds of miles of river, lakes, sloughsand a high Muskrat population right now.

Now untill break up in May is good for Muskrats by the pound or by the ton. hung up and dried 2 days and then roasted untill the tail is crunchy....yep....

They were a form of currency around here, back in the old days.

When the Break up flood go's down and some pretty violent love making ruins 'em...LOL!

Interesting ! Thanks to all

Mackenzie river delta. Over 40,000 lakes.

I've talked to friends who used to shoot spring 'rats out of Fork Yukon back in the late 70's, it sounds like a lot of fun.
Would that still be possible to do today? Are there still the number of 'rats they talk about?

Thanks for the replies. I wondered if anybody put up a few at ice out . It hadn't occurred to hang, dry, and cook and eat the carcasses. But I can see it .

Southern Saskatchewan best rat country I've ever seen, we are in drought now so rats are down in numbers.

When I did work there in the 70s the numbers were incredible 5 rats per acre of water on the ice at on time

The air sun drying is befor the fly season

I love rat hunting. Its not uncommon to get a good lake with 100 rats or more. Baxk in the day a good lake could give you 500 rats.

Flys are the best flashers in the business. Leave your rats out in the Flys in the afternoon and they are meat free by evening. No fleshing required.

Sounds like an interesting place to be for spring rats. Rats are good here for a week or so after open water, in late April, but not legal to keep. If I up there, and that was the thing to do at the time, I'd do it.

Pretty good spring Ratting to be had where I live. Huge numbers can be put up in the first week after ice out, after that they start fighting.
There is 10 times more water than a person can trap where I live....was thinking about cutting into a few huts this week.

Spruce

Now I wanna go Rat trapping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Me too ! That's a nice pile of rats right there .

Anybody ever trap through the ice before breakup? I'm in the Yukon kuskokwim delta right on the Bering coast and there's tons of rats down here, but they dont use push ups so I'm not sure how to locate them under the ice. Was thinking about just busting a few holes to see if any rats started using them. If that doesn't work I think I'll just have to mark the bank dens and runs in the fall as it starts freezing over

Don know if it would work in your area,but you could try the colored puck set(baited trigger) that was shown in the nafa magazine last year.