The question on Alpha Wolves struck a nerve

With the declining muskrat population in my area over the past 5 years I have changed some of my muskrat trapping methods/procedures. I try to target adult male muskrats in the 3.5 to 4 pound size. My thoughts being that these adult males have a more protein diet (clams) and could be canabalistic in nature and will kill the younger rats. I have noticed these rats reside in more adverse areas and after harvesting one the area goes dead for rats sign. An example of this would be a large pool on a medium to large stream, harvest that rat and there are no more in that pool and you have to move down to another pool of water. Same with some farm ponds, harvest one big rat and sign disappears. Beaver ponds seem to have one or two especially on more remote ponds with rocky bottoms. (not swamp beaver ponds). I have also observed these rats while fishing and they will swim parallel to the bank and check you out much like a beaver. Sign for these rats is minimal and I have taken many in mink sets (baited with muskrat meat) in areas where I did not believe there were any rats. These rats when put on the stretchers show many old healed scars. I have also seen these large rats fighting with mink. One other observation is when the big waters creeks flood these rats move back in the old dried up wet spots and will even reside in old flooded out harvested corn fields. They also work up the small feeder stream at this time. I have never caught one in a bank hole. Any input/comments would be appreciated.

I don't live and trap in muskrat country. Most of the muskrats I catch are in beaver traps or occasionally mink traps. I will occasionally find a beaver pond I catch 3-4 muskrats out of, but usually it is a single rat in a beaver trap in a little rocky stream where there is no rat sign and you would not think a muskrat would ever be. I've not noticed that they are a different size than rats in other areas, and I've never sexed them. But then I haven't trapped swamp rats since I was a kid and very little then. So it isn't like I have a lot of rats from other areas to compare them to, I just skin and stretch the occasional rat and consider it a bonus.

I don't think you can actually target what you call the Alpha rat. And If there Is such a critter I don't think by eliminating It is going to make any difference In the rat population other then reducing It by what you catch.

But the statement about rat meat used to catch other rats Is spot on. But I don't think It attracts what you call a Alpha rat. Since I've caught hundreds of rats using rat shanks for bait and they were all different age groups and lots of them were also female rats.

I catch some stretcher fillers in rivers that are meat eaters, all rodents are near eaters given a choice or forced to.Truly giant rats come from marshes that have great food quality and availability, and cover so they have the chance to live long enough to get huge.

I never gave the idea of an alpha rat much thought and after the OPs post I don't plan to either. Not interested in a very territorial, solitary, very large rat that fights and is all bit up. I will take my ordinary xls, 2xls . I don't think that fighting and biting is just an alpha male thing. During the early ice out mating season almost all males would be fighting and when populations get very high then many rats get involved in the process. I had one season when I trapped a section of a flowage that had a lot of rats and after skinning and fleshing I found many with scars and holes but I caught rat after rat in places so there was no real one and done deal.

Bryce

We call them the bishops

I one set I use that catches the highest % of adult m'rats for me(no data on sex) is pocket sets in the side of family huts(lure or no). As many times the drowned m'rat has a mouth full of veg and the pocket are regularly refilled I think it is the adult that are first there to repair hut as they are caught smaller ones are caught. Otherwise the only other thing that accounts for larger m'rats is a gland lure over a food lure. More territory is my guess.

in my situation in large marsh setting, trapping 100 feet from a lodge results in larger rats being caught
they are first to cruise the area and be caught on float sets, spring and fall
stay around the hut and the litters will be caught, down sizing your catch effort.
during the last high prices my averages were 2$ over other trappers but some are hard to believe

But volume will get you more money In the long run.

not when you wack all the next years breeding stock those little ones would produce

It's a funny thing about rats and breeding. 3 years ago I was coyotes trapping on this farm there were lots of low spots on that farm. No real water anyplace near that ground. Next spring It started raining and we had lots of rain fall all summer. Come early fall there had to be 90+ rat hunts on that property. I talked to the guys that trapped It and they took over 400 rats off that ground. Next year It was dry.

I don't think you can over trap a good rat marsh. I have been trapping a 20 acre marsh for 30 years and the only time the population was down was when we were In drought conditions. And I trapped It each year till I was just catching a few rats. It was always back the next year as long as we had good water. There are a few smaller marshes In the area and I believe those marshes produce enough rats where they leave those smaller areas and migrate to the big marsh. Rats are amazing critters

There was a fellow that wrote a book on rat trapping back in the early 80s, he was from Utah, he trapped alot of irrigation ditches that were completely dry for 6 months of the year, when they filed with water they filled with rats, he said the rats would live underground and in the banks when their was no water. He trapped all the marginals rat areas and studied the rats. Good book, he wrote about alph rats also.

Rats are funny animal, John Magel studied them and I spent a day with John back in the 80s and that cost me around $300 back then, he said they were alot smarter than most people thought.

The guy that wrote the book on muskrats really made you evaluate a lot of factors when running a long line for fur. It was a interesting and in-depth book.
John Magel wrote some awesome articles back in the day. He is one of the guys that I wished I had taken instruction from

Mac

I know guys that have found muskrats living under sheds or in old groundhog dens during droughts