At home, I don't have any experience with em, but read enough to try this!

I couldn't find how high to put the apples, so we went about 16", hope that's not too high!

Would work in SD on spring rats, good luck!

They work In ND but they don't work In WI. I have 8 of my rat stools out right now and have not caught one rat on them. feed beds and colony traps are working.
Only have caught 18 rats so far but they are huge and so far no bites.

When i bait my rat stools I place the bait about 10" above the trap. This gets the rat standing on It's hing legs . And that gets you hind foot catches which Is preferred.

Thanks Beav! Was trying to get a feel for the distance, and just used a skrat hide that I caught earlier this season, definitely trying for back foot. I also set a live trap with apples, so hopefully get it either way.

I put my bait about 8 inches up. Don't worry about front foot catches. Looks like you got a 1 1/2 and #2 coil. Those traps will bring them down and drown em before they wring out. I've caught plenty on the front foot with fiberglass poles and hagz brackets with 1 1/2 Vic's and not had one wring out yet. Hope you post a catch pic soon, good luck

If I ran mine above water I would rarely catch a rat.Trap should be an inch or two under water.That set up would work in the Dakota’s.

Would work great here, but yes a little bit underwater should help.

I've watched rats that were caught by a front foot In 1.75 crawl back up on a float.
I like to have the trap out of the water I think It gives the rat a visual as to where to land.Lots of rats are caught on floats where the traps are high an dry.

Never consider trapping the muskrat alive to relocate it ?

As an old fur trapper, I get trapping an animal for it's pelt, but muskrats of late are of little value, especially late in the season.
Here in Ohio, muskrats are starting to shed as much as a month ago.
I trap many muskrats alive on planks, using planks and an 8X8X24 inch cage trap.

* Photos can be seen on my face book ( Meta) page

Nothing thus far, I submerged the sets this afternoon, and put a foothold at each (2) run that we've found.

That's too high

And. . .a carrot will out perform it !!!

Caught him last night I'll post a pic later, I want my son to find it. Not sure if it was the lowering of the traps, fresh apples, or the castor smear we put on the rod.

Good for you.

Good going!

Way to go John, parsnip is my favorite rat bait, stays white.

I don't think I'm done yet, bought a 110 (to guard a major run) today to make sure I've got the problem taken care of! Kinda getting into this water trapping thing, seems like it may be my calling! A lot to learn, but definitely having fun!

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