Any tricks for finding muskrat bank dens other than by feel in open water? Is there things to look for to narrow down the search?

If mud is coming out the hole there is a rat in it.

Stay out of the water and walk the banks looking for a visible run or some discoloration to the bottom. And look out deep sometimes a rat den will start out 5' from shore.

Look for air trails under the ice set or mark them for later if you have the right ice.

I figured In Arkansas they didn't have Ice. LOL

This year you never know.

But yes first CLEAR Ice Is a great time to mark rat runs.

Right near dark, while on the water, when activity is heating up. During the day some runs look settled, and vacant, and others you just cant see till the mud gets stirred up, and in my area...when the wind dies down, in the evening, when you have set traps all day, and are dead bone tired and want to hang it up....that's the time to go slow and set every one of them up.

I'm guessing you're talking about on creeks and rivers? I don't even bother looking for them most of them time on these because they're usually under tree roots or deep entrances with no visible runs because of the current.

In still water you almost have to be not looking to not find them.

As for narrowing down, you can forget any flat shorelines most of the times because the muskrats would have to tunnel too far to get above the water line to have living chamber.

.Bar ditch between two fields. No ice and the water has the clarity of chocolate milk. Lol. If the wind will ever settle down the mud may settle to get some clarity. Trying to avoid coons so don't really want to make any baited sets.

If you can find slides, toilets, undercut banks, anything really that gives overhead cover is what iook for. You can do pocket sets in spots that raccoons have to swim to and dont need bait as the pocket is the attractant.

A lot depends upon the type of bottom one has. I trap about 4-5 miles of wadable rivers and streams the most of which have hard clay bottoms and many field stones that were tossed into the streams years ago when farmers used the streams for the stones they picked off their fields. Many stretches were ditched and straightened years ago too and there is very little mud on the bottoms. Also Reed Canary grass was used as erosion control and the roots hold the band and many stretches have undercut banks and the rats can dig their dens under those undercut banks, so I almost never find dens or runs in much of that stream trap line. I have a few sections I can use body grippers in and colonies but not too many. I do trap rats in a couple ponds for land owners that call me and I just walk around and find the runs. It is amazing how easy it is to see the travel lanes when conditions are right.

Bryce

This is a ditch I keep the beaver out of and I've caught rats in the past on it finding the dens by the "feel" method. I may have to do as Les suggested and sit and observe at sun down. Thanks for the help.