Our rat population declined to almost none then a few years ago our mink population got some kind of disease and died out. Now we have no mink to speak of but the rat population has really rebounded. The thing is the rats are just tough as all getout. Almost like skinning a beaver. Over the years I have skinned a lot of rats but never have I had rats like this year, some you have to skin from tail to nose all the way using a knife. I am not the fastest rat skinner alive but I can skin 1 a minute or so. Today I skinned 16 and it took me over an hour. Anybody else finding this? I mean I cannot even rip the skin off the back feet. Front legs, the whole leg come off on the pelt before I can get a finger through to peel off the skin. 5 in this trap.

The only ones I've seen like that are the big old ones that live in lakes without a lot of vegetation. They get big but are often a scarred up mess. I think they eat a lot of clams. And fight a lot.

Skinner getting a little older maybe???

Are the smaller ones that way too? I've skinned some big old tough rats before, but never seen all of them be that way. The young of the year have always peeled easy!

we skin ours the following day. they peel a lot easier for us that way. 24 hours at room temp.

Yes . I'm just over the border from you in NY . More than half the rats I skinned had the skins clinging to the carcass like I've never seen before . I can usually do a couple of opening cuts then run my fingers between the hide and body to peel the legs . The membrane was so tough this year I tore the skin on several rats trying to force it without any additional cutting . Also while pulling the hide it would cling to the body so bad I tore the bodies in half and / or had the front legs pull off before I could work my fingers in to pull the hide off the legs . Most of these "tough" rats went 2xl on Top Lot boards . They were all skinned fresh . We seem to have as many or more rats than ever in my small sample this year . Due to a work schedule change I only ran a few traps for rats this year that I could check on my way to work .I started on December 28 with 9 traps out . Bumped it up to 10 traps for a week or so then back down to 8 and set one day with 15 traps (6 covering bank holes , I will not call them dens) out and then down to 6 traps until yesterday down to three .They were split between two locations in travel ways and bottom edge (except for one day six traps covering bank holes) and not moved . I picked up appx. 55 or so rats and 5 mink . The mink were all males . About 5 rats were bit up pretty bad (from this last week ). I set these two locations every year with around the same number of traps . The numbers this year are maybe a dozen or so better than past years . My observations in other locations where I usually trap but did not this year are about the same (from other trappers ) . In the one spot there are usually 10 to 15 or so huts built . This year there are none but I still caught around the same numbers of rats as in the past . I'm close enough to Wantage that I sometimes go to Franks pizza next to Sussex meat packing for a chicken Marsalla pizza . Our numbers of rats and mink seem to be holding up pretty good .

What is the fat content like on these rats?

The fat content on my "tough" rats was low . Maybe a couple of tablespoons or so . Other rats from the same water/traps had large amounts of fat . You would look at them and think mini coon . Big handfuls of fat from some of them so I don't believe it was a habitat issue . I also think the tough ones were males as starting about mid /laterJanuary I pulled fairly large glands off of them (I'm not sure but I don't think the females develop these glands ?) .

I just thought it was me this year Eric, Same thing tuff going and like VH60 said I tore a few earlier in season

wimps,we aint gettin no younger.

We trapped two areas through the ice that have lots of cattails and good rat numbers. These were all caught in mid-December The average size was smaller than we had hoped and they were skinny or with much less fat on and they seemed to skin harder as well. The rats I caught later near home though the ice were bigger and had more fat on them and were what I would call typical winter rats for around here.

Bryce

pcr2 you may be right . I'm slipping up on 60 and I noticed a big difference from 59 until now lol . It seems like late 50s is when things start to go wrong but I don't think you'll have that problem . The other night I was processing some beaver castor in a cheap food processor and adding some EverClear to it (and some to myself) and I thought I saw in another thread where you boiled your penis and skull ?!?! for some reason and I thought man is that some tough guy ! . I would have just taken a shower ! lol .

Toughen up Sally.Maybe next time smack them around with your purse first to loosen the skin up a bit.

Crap! I'm 55 and thought I'd already went downhill.

its a big hill.

I like to freeze mine first. Upon thawing they seem to develop a layer or water (to some extent) between the hide and muscle, making them easier to peel.

I heard a term years ago regarding what NYC street rats had evolved into, they had been called "Super Rats"

I am 67 but I don't think that is the problem. Won a bet with my grandson when I lifted 320 pounds off the ground on New Years' day. Did make my hip replacement ache for a day. Most of the rats I am getting are big ones and reasonably fat. They are not badly scarred up and few have fresh bites yet. When I get home I roll them up in newspaper to dry them and usually skin later that night or the next day. I have also had a couple rip by the back legs this year, now I cut around the back feet. Front feet I cut off before skinning. On a different note, saw 3 little red fox pups playing outside their hole. Second earliest date I have seen fox pups above ground, about 30 years ago I saw some on Valentine's Day.

The few that I gought Eric, Skin'd as usual.
I cought'm in "bottom edge sets,Try'n for mink On the salt meadow. (marsh)




Here too