LOL, they can be feisty....

That could have been me at about age 12. Finally got the upper hand with help of a large stick. Actually more like fence post than stick. But I won and had my prize.

Mac

Thats funny Mac

Years back i was working in the shop where I was employed. A yard worker came in and told me about a giant rat running around outside. Being curious i went outside to have a look. Sure enough, the guy wasn't hallucinating, as a large muskrat was running back and forth along the property fence. I went and got a box from the office and after
chasing the muskrat around i managed to get it in the box. Returning to the shop i put some grass in the box and the rat settled down. On my lunch break I drove to the nearest water which was several blocks away. It was a boat landing on the Chippewa river where coincidentally I had trapped decades earlier when it was still legal to trap in
the city limits. I tipped the rat out of the box at the waters edge and it promptly headed for dry ground .No matter what I did the rat kept heading away from the water and towards civilization.
Don't know what his fate was but I went back to work and the wayward muskrat was never seen again.

LOL I had a similar deal when I was about 10. I couldn't legally carry a gun. I was running traps, and had a very live muskrat in a #1 long. It was in shallow water, but I had to get into the water to reach it, so I waded in... I had a pair of barn boots on and I thought I would just step on it. Yeah, that didn't work. Little sucker sank his fangs right through my boot and filled it up with water... which scared me and I scrambled backwards and fell on my butt on the bank kicking and yelling at the muskrat, lol. I'm sure it was quite a humorous scene for the squirrels and birds that were watching. After that, I went with Mac's method, lol.

I was floating the Rogue river with Peeler one fall and we spotted a muskrat swimming the river, we chased it to the bank, peeler grabbed it by the tail, and with an evil grin tossed it into raft with me! The little critter calmed right down, we put some grass in the raft and it went for a several mile ride down the river with us. Even let me scratch its ears!!

Funny stuff, I had a dog that would fight and kill coons like there's no tomorrow, he ran across a muskrat and didn't know it would bite and got his tongue and lips pretty good, I'm not sure but I think he was pretty embarrassed about it. lol