The DEC wants to align all the water trapping seasons
in hopes of increasing the beaver harvest.
They also hope to increase the harvest
of better primed pelts.
Now does that seem like two good enough reasons
to lose a week of muskrat season that we will never get back ?
w
In my opinion NO but how much is that worth (rhetorical no need to reply , lol) Indiana years ago moved opening day of archery up from October 15 to October 1st . To me that is way to early because of the heat and by choice I choose to wait most of the time until it's cold enough to hang a deer. My way of thinking that if it's not for the purpose of limiting the catch of a certain species because the population numbers are in a noticeable decline then it's never good to lose. I say let the trappers decide if they want to catch fur that is not prime. Just my 2 cents if it's even worth that much,lol good luck.
With the way the season stands now,
trappers can choose to start on October 25th in good weather,
or wait as long as they want into November or December before
they start their trapping when bad weather, heavy snow, or Ice
could shut them down before significant harvest can be achieved.
Waiting one week later does not change the quality of a pelt appreciably
or at least the fur buyers won't pay a penny more for a rat caught
one week later in my experience based on near 40 years of selling muskrats.
I agree that trappers should make that choice themselves, and not
lose a week's worth of muskrat trapping opportunity based on some
hokie, made up reasoning that does not pass the stink test.
walleyed