Any info on more trapper friendly methods of opening muskrat houses for late winter trapping. I did couple days worth at the end of the season here in MN using a 3lb ax and it kicked my butt. The pelts are fantastic, however I know there are better ways to do this and not beat myself up as bad. Any experience with this would be appreciated.

Thanks

check your mail box

Look for the pop ups ( smaller pail size feeding spots) seal them back up with the trash the rats leave in the exit hole. The bigger soft huts I pass on I just set baited conis about 12 feet from the house or in runs if you see them. For the solid smaller ones a tile spade is used to cut a plug out of the huts that narrow inward. The narrow tapered plug seals better and stays in place again the wasted food inside the house can be mixed with snow to make a good seal for the plugs.

If you have a ice auger and a tile spade working the pop ups and setting baited coni on laths under the ice away from the huts will get you some rats.

Crack the outer shell with a good hatchet, I use a carpenter hatchet the dig into the hut with a sharp tile spade, with a little practice can open one up in a couple minutes and on to the next

I know a guy that uses a chainsaw and it works for him

The real trick is picking the thin side

I go with "Law Dog's" procedure.

A few years ago I made a prototype hut auger/saw that is a shorten handled hand crank ice auger with a 5" x12" hole saw head(large enough to slide a #1 stop loss jump thru). It works real well then meats crashed here and I can't find ten houses in 100ml of line. The head needs some better fabrication to be more permanent but a commercial hole saw that size is VERY expensive. It digs a nice round hole into the hose in seconds till it hits the inner ice shell(which is usually quite thin and easy to pop thru with shortened or regular chisel that I never travel the ice without anyway). Went at many a house with a hatchet or chisel and drill works 10 times easier. I'm sure the drill could be powered if wanted but unless you are opening 100's of houses a day I don't think it is warranted. If you have houses built around a lot of brush(somewhat common in northern willow/alder marshes here) it does work well.

The side the sun hits the most is the thinest but the freezing cold holds the plugs together and seals nicely with the mix of snow and vegetation the discard in the purge hole.

Great info in these posts. Wish we could set huts in Michigan.

I’d do the baited coni through the ice if I only had one choice, they need to sit for 4-5 days before you check they don’t work the sets right away after you auger the holes.

Good info, that gets me thinking of some options. Some things I will do different after this year. 1. Paint the lathe orange rather than just tie a piece of flagging to it (It snowed four inches one night). 2. Try some of those wire flags next year stuck on the top of the house, there is not always good options to tie flagging near a set. 3. Remember to bring the probe!! 4. Research suggestions above.

Thanks everyone for sharing your experience!!

You could staple orange flagging on a lath.