Has the population in your area increased, decreased or stayed about the same?

Quite a decrease in my area in central NY. I've been trapping 15 years and it seems like the last 5 years it's really taken a dip.

I see a problem In my marsh this year. With all this rain and above freezing conditions all the rat huts are collapsing. I don't see how those rats are going to survive In those conditions.

In my area there hasn't been much of a rat population in years. The only rats I trapped were a few years ago were bank rats. I drive around the area and not see much for rat houses.

Beaver I think these rats are more sturdy then give them credit. Utah cities have a massively growing problem with muskrat and beaver

It seems to keep decreasing, maybe staying the same which is pathetic at best- Im not running big like I have in the past. I have 2-3 stops out of 30-40 that are like back in the 70s, stream is dead upstream and down from there. Wonder what is so special about those few stops?
Another thing I wonder about their demise, is it one thing or a bunch of little things happening for their decline?

Worked hard to catch 119 rats, each was like a hard fought trophy. Best were in areas that had cold spring feed water ways, very few young rats, lots of otter sign and birds of prey. Seen multiple house destroyed by otters. Very few sets caught more than one rat. Fisher sign was heavy in the marshes and found remains of rats and mink in the snow. All locations had algae (the kind that makes blue/green toxic) The best rats (4 lb) migrated up during high water from the bigger creeks into the low marshes. All beaver dams had 3 to 5 rats good shelter and running water. Best day was 20, next best day was 12 trapping everyday part time. Ice was t

There were more when I was a kid but over the last 20 years it has stayed about the same

Plenty of rats, but I'm not going to put much effort into catching them with fur prices the way they are.

Use to catch them in ditches and along river, now with 4" of rain every other week through Dec. they have left for more "stable " waters that don't rise and fall 4' over night.

I would say the same for me. Never had an abundance of them but still able to catch about the same every year. Was going to try for river rats this year but all the fall rains kept me off of it.

There was an increase here, with the wet summer. I didn't have the time or motivation to check many of the areas farther from home though, so can't really say overall.

Up cycle here. Wet summers work out for rats in flat country.

Beav. Your rats are livin large right now. They are experts at surviving under the coat of ice armor

Those huts that are caving in are more than likely devoid of 'rats.

Now that we've got the cold blast coming meaning thick ice near the shore, watch for the migration of shore 'rats out to deeper huts.

The same in some spots (same catch rate in the same sets as last year) and much better in others . We have fairly decent numbers of rats where I live but not huge numbers . I have never noticed the decline in rat numbers that is supposed to be occurring here . It has always seemed to be pretty consistent . What I have noticed this year is far more small rats as compared to years past .

I would suspect it to be to the contrary. Usually the hot feeders are the ones to collapse. These are simply hollowed out feed beds with a roof , the inside seal is a layer of ice that builds up because of the rats shaking themselves off as they perch on the bed. When the sun is strong, temperatures rise and/or rain compromises the seal the roof can collapse. Very common in late winter and spring. In my experience, It is unusual to see it on the larger lodges. I used to also get concerned when this was witnessed but farther review has me convinced that they don’t really need them.

Did a little research on Pa rat harvest.
1983 575,000+
2003 71,000+
2016 43,436
I'd say they are in a major decline in Pa

Wetdog that sounds about right. I went from 400 to 200 for awhile to 100 to 50 to 20-25. I will admit Im not putting on the miles I did before so that would skew the ratio.....

Out here on the Great Plains the rat population is totally dependent on surface water amounts. And since droughts are common and normal for the Plains you can be on an up cycle when a drought hits and your population is about nil (everything eats a muskrat) or conversely be at the bottom of a cycle with lots of water and no rats. Errington documented a cycle with muskrat populations in the Marsh so you have to recognize and live with ups and downs even back East where water levels are more stable and predictable. Punch up Horicon Marsh and read the data that was collected there in the 30's-40's-50's and 60s for some facts that help determine ideal water conditions. MY OWN harvesting observations (not scientific) show that a wet July causes the females to be in better physical shape and they come into estrous more consistently, hence a crop of little rats in August, which make up the bulk of your catch in November-January. If water is lacking in July then the stress of staying alive seems to take precedent over bodily reproductive cycles and my fall harvest is big mature rats from the preceding May . We began an upward trend around here back in 2010 but a dry 2011 with a drought in 2012 stopped any expanding numbers and then a leveling up in 2013-14-15. The numbers are dropping since 2016 but you still find seed rats in the beaver colonies here. My best day was in 2005 which was drier than normal (but not a drought) but my best years are scattered from '96 to 2016. Usually a drier than normal year where they are more concentrated following an up cycle makes my harvest numbers go up. Just my take.

Thanks nimzy that makes a lot of sense. There were major bubble runs out to those huts. The huts were In 5' of water and situated In some heavy arrow weed patches. Like you said just a major push up.