Are we here any good books on trapping muskrat, mink and otter in large salt water tidal marshes. Tide raise and lower 3 to 4 feet every 12 hours. I just can not find any info on this sort of trapping

I've trapped wolves in tide pools, and bucket sets for otter under docks, but that's about all I got. Not that most people have the opportunity, but submerged bucket sets work on sea otters too

I tried trapping on the Outer Banks of NC. Buckets caught coons. Also caught about one otter each year. NPS asked me to trap mink on Ocracoke Island. Mink were eating nesting bird eggs. I had no idea how to trap them in tidal water where the edge was constantly rising and falling.

Captain Morgan is who ya want to talk to,,,,,,,

Newt is good also,,,,,except grumpy…..

Set for the flood tide during the low.

Not sure where you are in Maine but your state has tide charts like this.



Keep track of the times when you can get on the marsh and when the critters will be moving on the marsh. Muskrats would prefer to swim than walk. We don’t have mink here so I’m not much help there.

You pretty much set for coon at the high tide line when its high at night, they'll run that line cause everything else is underwater, kinda concentrates them

For rats, I try to find holes against the higher ground, or runs in the higher meadows, we don't have huts here...but Newt can tell you better than anyone.

Contact Newt at SnareOne I think he has authored books on saltwater trapping.

I trapped tidal marshes as a kid, about 70 years ago.I know of no books on the subject. Conibears were not known at that time, all we had were 1 and 1/2 long springs.The salt water did a number on them as we had no knowledge of how to treat them.
We trapped the holes near the top and took rats by the hundreds.
We had to watch the tides and depth of the mud..Those marshes are now the resting place for the 911 debris.
We averaged
$ 2 for those rats, not a lot different from today.
I would think Newt would be your best resource on the matter.

I trapped tidal water for rats, raccoons and otter. Caught my fair share. I walked all of it at low tide and set rat runs near where the high tide would be.
Raccoons were caught on the banks along the high tide line. Ridge runners they were.
Otters were caught near toilet areas.
The interesting thing was that the entire time I trapped all of those years, I never laid eyes on a raccoon, muskrat or otter that wasn't in a trap.
I'm sure that I would have if I had been in the warsh during the night time low tide.

Wouldn’t you have at least seen tracks on a low tide still going out when you got there in the light?

I have absolutely zero experience with it, but I have quite a bit of duck hunting experience in NJ salt marsh. I have always noticed well defined trails from ditches to closed off ponds or tidal ponds. Some of them are very small trails that look like mink or rats. I would think snaring those trails would be easy money and no worries about water fluctuation

I love it 90% of my rats come from the marsh . Used to walk when i was younger , now i use a john boat. Just the smell of a marsh rat gets me exited

I tried to locate information on tidal trapping as well. Nothing out there !!! I trap brackish tidal marshes. I try to set on a low tide, or look at the winds. For me the North and West winds blow the water out of my marshes. so even if it says high tide, the water will be very low. I try to set on low tide, and check on low tide. So some days I am setting late in the afternoon. Muskrats will not move on a low tide or if the winds blow the tide out. If the winds blow the tides out for days. Don't bother setting. Then there are times I set and the winds blow S or East and I am unable to check half of my sets for days since the winds blow the tides in. Season opens on the 15th for me. I think I just talked my self out of it. LOL. Good luck. But seriously, follow the tides and the winds. We do not have the muskrats we use to. but for me it's a lot of bank homes since they no longer make grass homes here. I think it's because the otters destroy them, and Mink burrow in them and eat them. So only the bank muskrats reproduce (my thoughts on that one) . try to use a lot of bottom edge sets in the marshes for muskrats, mink, beaver and otter. Also when I set up a drowning set. I will sometimes set one for the low tide and one next to it for the high tide. especially gang setting for otters. I also have small coons that steal every muskrat, so I do set for coon so I can get the rats. Not sure if you have that problem. but if you do, set and catch them. I did have an old timer tell me as the marsh freezes the muskrats move inland. I have not seen that here, but maybe in your area since you have a harsh winter compared to me. also my marsh is not as vast and the Eastern shore of MD. But if you want to PM me with questions, go right ahead.

A few years ago I picked up a boat in MD, eastern shore, the road to the marina passed miles of salt marsh with many hundreds of huts, would have liked to trap that place!

In Ocracoke, the otters climb into small boats in the harbor, open coolers, and help themselves to fish or bait left there overnight.