Could someone give me a little list of some of the sets they have used to catch muskrats? I'm mainly talking with footholds, but sets with conibears are cool too!

Thanks

Just look for piles of poop on rocks or logs, or big piles of vegetation that they've.pulled up on logs and such, or the obvious crawl out on their houses. It's usually pretty obvious where they've been coming out of water, or where they'll crawl out to get up on a log or rock. stick a 1 1/2 trap in front just under water, and you're good to go.

On creeks, I pretty much only use portable pockets and kick-in pockets.

Make sure they drown after catch.

Thanks guys!

Contact Dakota Line Trap and Snare Supplier... look them up online... order one of their books called "MUSKRATS" … will give you about all you need to know about muskrats, trapping them, and processing them afterwards.

Garry-

Hagz set up with carrot,parsnip, or apple for bait

All my rat traps have 3ft of chain with 3 swivels. The extra chain will help with drowning. It’s ditches or creeks I always look for the toilets and the small feed beds they make. Rat trapping is my absolute favorite !

Look under every overhanging bank along the water edge. You'll find resting spots or feed beds. Like mentioned above, my favorite critter to trap too. I have chased them elusive muskrats for 55 seasons!
Also more obvious are the slides going to the fields above from the water.
I use stoploss footholds with extra swivels and extra chain.

Use your boot stomp out a slide get It looking all muddy and set a trap In front of this spot. Set no deeper then 1" and a shot of a good rat lure up on the bank and your good to go. Never set only one trap make 4 or 5 slicked up spots about 4 feet apart. Catch as many rats as you can as fast as you can.

Thanks everybody!

For moving water, steams look for slides where the rats are climbing up to feed and coming back. If the bank is steep just step out a shelf at below the water line and set a trap firmly in the mud. Also if you have over hanging banks check underneath those as that is where you will find feed beds and set those up. As to dens walk up stream so the mud flows away and look for the dens. I am not real good at doing that. Set those with supported body grippers.

On flat water or marshes look for feed beds which are of varying sizes from a small bed the size of a plate to several times that size. Depending upon size you can set multiple traps and stake them so the caught rats can't set off the other trap(s) if possible. You can also find areas where rats are feeding or working on the houses. There should be either a slide or clippings to give you the place to set. Set houses when they are really actively building. Later in the season they are not nearly as active around the houses. If the water is clear, look for runs in the mud or channels through the vegetation. With open water the rats travel at the bottom, once ice covers the water they swim right under the ice. Look for bubble trails. Small huts or pushups are built on the ice. We can not enter houses in WI so we chop around the edge to find the opening into the pushup. Set the trap on the floor of the pushup but under the water level. An active pushup will not be frozen over. Run you hand along the inside of the roof of the pushup, if it is iced over the rats are gone. A pushup is really a feedbed with a roof on it and typically will be 30- 100 or so feet out from a larger house. Some marshes with steeper banks will have lots of rats using dens all winter so if you have pushups with few houses you still have rats.

Bryce

Thank you very much!!

very good especially this part ". With open water the rats travel at the bottom, once ice covers the water they swim right under the ice." Lots of people do not understand this......jk

Yep, I like to keep it simple like Goose here. Just look for where they're getting out of the water and plant a trap just under the surface.

Anchor in deeper water, done.

Thanks guys!!