As stated in a previous post, I am new to trapping. It has been a life long dream and am now getting into it. When I was a child I used to buy muskrat traps at a flea market near our cottage. Well 30 years later I think I have an opportunity to use them. I own a property a few block from my house that is used as a recreation area. 100 acres with some wooded areas and grass. I have a creek that runs though it and one large pond and several small ponds. In 10 years of owning in, I have seen coyotes, fox, beaver, deer, racoons and mink. I have never seen a muskrat until yesterday. Researching trapping muskrat, I seen how they dig along the shore and eat the roots of the grass. Every inch of the ponds and creek are eroded away. I though is was just from flooding but now I think we have a muskrat problem. I have 110 and some victor long spring traps. The pond is frozen with about 4 inches of ice. I will attach pictures. What is the best way to try and trap them in my situation?

With everything froze up your going to have problems trapping rats. If you have a spring season with open water, you will have better luck.
From what I can see it looks more like stream bank erosion then rat activity. Those under cut banks would be great locations for rat sets if you had open water.
And it looks like those root ends were cut off by beaver

These are picture from our pond. Yes we had beavers this year that did a lot of damage. The co owner of the property without my knowledge paid big money to have the beavers removed. This is what got me to make the move into trapping. What he paid to have 5 beavers removed... Lets just say I could of had a lot of trapping and hunting gear for this. There are no beavers anymore and fresh dirt on the ice below the overhangs. I found rat tracks in the snow along the creek, but no snow around the pond to see tracks. There were not beavers in the creek.

If theres enough water under the ice and the ice is safe to walk on, you can try some baited 110s under the ice

I agree with BEAV the undercut banks are mostly erosion when high water moves through. If you don't see any bubble trails through the ice you either don't have any rats or they are somewhere else. Wait until open water in the falll and wade or paddle those shore areas. If you notice tracks, runss or scat you can set under those banks which will be good for all water species. There does not appear to be much of a food source un those photos we see there and without food there won't be a lot of rats. Also small ponds, streams etc. are good areas for all predators to hunt and that makes it harder for rats to have larger populations. I have a lot of smaller streams I trap and always have moderate rat numbers, but I catch a lot of coons and mink on those streams.

Bryce

Was just out there. I found fresh dirt piled up under some tree roots. The fresh dirt isn't frozen and the dirt below is. What would cause this? There is several piles around like something scratching. I did find small tracks in the snow on one side of the pond (still learning my animal tracks and not racoon). And lots of coyote tracks that circle the pond on the ice. Thanks guys for all your help. I only have trial and error and asking for advise here. Don't have any trapping friends.

Could be just about anything really unless you can get close enough to see scratch marks

not a very muskratty look ditch

There could be a rat come through there every now and then. But not big numbers. If you have a spring season muskrat really start moving around. These icy conditions right now make it tough.

Got clear ice and no directional bubble trails, you din’t have many rats!

If there is rats there in any numbers you should find some runs like this

Ice is not clear. I have seen some bubbles in the ice but on as heavy as the picture. They follow a line but is only a few feet long. I know we have rats in the creek. Saw some the other day digging and eating the shore line. There is a levy between the river and the pond.

Only way to know is to set some traps and see. Just below the ice enough so the trap doesn’t freeze in and centered in the bubbles you see. Try a few and find out.

If those rats are digging and eating on the ice or out of the water, that means there is very little feed for them under the ice. Rats in the open are extremely vulnerable and easy prey, day or night. If the rats are near open water it could be a spring or some current and or the rats are concentrating so they can keep it open and not froze. With the wether we are having now I can't see the rats even able to dig in the frozen dirt unless those areas are not frozen due to what I mentioned above.

Bryce

If you see rats on or at the edge of ice,,,,, that is where to set a trap. Use a platform to hold a foot trap slightly below the open water where they are climbing out and bait with a partial ear of corn, carrot, turnip or such OR bait a 110/159 body grip with a carrot near there. Then slip, break through the thin ice (in the shallows), go over you boot tops, get wet and cold, get stuck in the shore mud, overdress - underdress, have a mink (or worse - a raccoon) eat part of your first rat catch, carry all your gear back to the vehicle and discover you locked your keys in it--------- basically Have Fun!!!!!!! Oh and when you are back in the house pick up your trapping magazine and day dream about a big catch - tomorrow. ..............That is the beginnings of your muskrat trapping career. You have a lot of catching up to do! ...................... the mike

The main thing is to enjoy the muskrat trapping experience. The smell of rats drying on the stretchers is so satisfying. I used to get top lot awards from NAFA before they went bankrupt. I took great pride in those awards. The money was as is today not much. I used to stick an ear of corn into the mud under the ice and set a trap next to it to catch rats. I did it bare handed back in the day. Buy a pair of shoulder length rubber gloves. Better than frost bit hands.

Get Gary Schumann's Rat Race DVD. It has colony trap ,conibear and under ice trapping info. I got it for my nephew, and he learned a lot.

Finally got 3 rats. They are on the creek. I saw a couple on nice days, got the ice melting a bit on the creek and set a few traps. There are several drainage pipes I think they are using. The banks of the creek have the same damage as the pond, but I think the ice is too thick and no way to get above the ice. Could they have just left the pond to live in the creek for the cold winter? Don't think the pond will thaw before the season ends. Next year.....

what part of Illinois are you in if you don't mind. if you're close enough i would be willing to come help ya out as far as were to set for them but id be waiting for open water. i normally start first week of march as the ice around my creeks is already gone. i like open water rather than deal with chopping ice and falling through its not fun ask me how i know lol. our season for water trapping ends march 31st in the north part of the state. I'm 20 minutes from Wisconsin going straight north

Otter and beaver go to March 31, muskrat ends February 15