Strictly Trapping


No Profanity *** No Flaming *** No Advertising *** No Anti Trappers *** No Politics
No Non-Target Catches *** No Links to Anti-trapping Sites *** No Avoiding Profanity Filter


Home~Trap Talk~ADC Forum~Trap Shed~Wilderness Trapping~International Trappers~Fur Handling

Auction Forum~Trapper Tips~Links~Gallery~Basic Sets~Convention Calendar~Chat~ Trap Collecting Forum

Trapper's Humor~Strictly Trapping~Fur Buyers Directory~Mugshots~Fur Sale Directory~Wildcrafting

Trapper's Tales~Words From The Past~Legends~Archives~Kids Forum~Lure Formulators Forum


~~~ Dobbins' Products Catalog ~~~


Trading Post
(Please support F&T Trading Post, our sponsor for the Trapping Only Forum)



TrappersPost
Please support Trappers post, a sponsor of the Strictly Trapping Forum



Print Thread
Hop To
Page 2 of 2 1 2
Re: Drought and muskrat's [Re: nimzy] #7361072
09/21/21 05:41 PM
09/21/21 05:41 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 11,292
East-Central Wisconsin
B
bblwi Offline
trapper
bblwi  Offline
trapper
B

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 11,292
East-Central Wisconsin
For me I am one that is not as concerned about predators, chemicals, erosion etc. as many are. We were drier than normal for many years prior to 2018 and our ditches, most sloughs etc. were dry or only mud and our rat numbers declined. We had 3 wetter than normal years, a couple about 10 inches above normal and last year we had rats in every ditch and slough. The predator numbers actually should have increased due to more food and the fact that land trapping and water trapping are way below the norm. There were no changes in crops or chemicals or herbicides. We actually had more flooding, but still had more rats. I trap a lot of area that has very limited cattail habitat and thus fewer rats and smaller rats typically, but I am concerned regarding the continuing changes in the cattail type and abundance. For me where I trap it is still almost all about available water. We have been using herbicides since the mid 1960s and the Mid West had some big rat harvests over those boom years. The one thing about raptors is they don't routinely kill multiple prey per hunt like some other species do.
The other factor for my area is rivers and creeks versus larger marshes. A river is really two edges and predators hunt edge and everyone that walks, flies and swims can cover the edge easily. A large marsh is another whole issue. Many rats may be preyed upon but there is just so much more area for the rats to be that predation pressure is less, plus the water levels tend to be more stable.

Bryce

Re: Drought and muskrat's [Re: TimHoeck] #7361268
09/21/21 09:16 PM
09/21/21 09:16 PM
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 3,967
WI
N
nimzy Offline
trapper
nimzy  Offline
trapper
N

Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 3,967
WI
An eatout completes a true “cycle”. If you’re lucky it’s followed up by a drought.

Re: Drought and muskrat's [Re: TimHoeck] #7361469
09/22/21 06:42 AM
09/22/21 06:42 AM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 9,729
Northern Illinois
M
MChewk Offline
trapper
MChewk  Offline
trapper
M

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 9,729
Northern Illinois
Good post Wife(Mike). A lot of very good info. Water is very low here. With that said it amazes me every Spring the amount of roadkilled ‘ rats I see on the roads...in some of the areas where there isn’t any water to be found for miles.

Re: Drought and muskrat's [Re: MChewk] #7363196
09/24/21 10:49 AM
09/24/21 10:49 AM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 11,292
East-Central Wisconsin
B
bblwi Offline
trapper
bblwi  Offline
trapper
B

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 11,292
East-Central Wisconsin
We typically think about the real migration of rats in the spring, which is major for sure, but it was not until I started trapping some bigger marshes that I began to realize how much rats move in marshes during the fall and winter as well. One year we found a bay of a marsh with maybe 100 houses over 20-30 acres. Got on the ice and in two hours found 6 pushups and they were froze up. Those rats had moved totally out of that area and the area was not froze to the bottom when we were there.

Bryce

Re: Drought and muskrat's [Re: TimHoeck] #7364214
09/25/21 08:48 PM
09/25/21 08:48 PM
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 3,967
WI
N
nimzy Offline
trapper
nimzy  Offline
trapper
N

Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 3,967
WI
Muskrats are masters of deception. They have an uncanny ability to lead us trappers to believe they disappear. I have fallen victim to their trickery many times. They are not necessarily smart or we foolish. It’s more of a perception thing. Just because we struggle to catch them doesn’t mean they ain’t there.

These phenomenas occur in healthy populations like described above.

Last edited by nimzy; 09/25/21 08:56 PM.
Re: Drought and muskrat's [Re: TimHoeck] #7366042
09/27/21 10:50 PM
09/27/21 10:50 PM
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,511
Kanabec Cty, MN
D
Drakej Offline
trapper
Drakej  Offline
trapper
D

Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,511
Kanabec Cty, MN
M'rats can not survive long without adequate water no matter what else. 95% of the small acreage, shallow ponds that I trap dry(ice fully subsumed) during winter and arevery low in mid summer(this year drought dry) because of excessive Ag drainage. Miles of plastic pipe has lower natural water table significantly. M'rat trapping will never be the same now. They may fill in the spring and fall but that isn't enough to recruit many M'rats. The few remaining large lakes/rivers are just not prime habitat. All other factors are just piled on this. M'rat population has collapsed by more than 90% for the last several seasons and doesn't look to improve. I collected barely 100 trapping as hard as I used to take +1000.


I've learned enough thru the years to now know that I don't know enough. KNOWLEDGE IS FREEDOM.
Page 2 of 2 1 2
Previous Thread
Index
Next Thread

Moderated by  Drifter, Wolfdog91 

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.1