I did some pre-season scouting of an area I trap rats at. All the rat hutches were gone and the marsh water was extremely low. Do rats stay in hutches year round? Build them in them fall only?

I'm trying to make sense of what is up and whether I need to scout again in the fall.

I see them in the hutches more in the winter. But if I were you I'd check for bank dens. As for scouting again I'd come out about a month before season starts.

Most of the rat HUTS, are destroyed by spring flooding and rains. Geese and ducks also help beat them down,by nesting on them.
The new huts are built in the fall, you probably have at least a month before they get going on them.
Tom

bogmaster we call em hutches here

We call them huts or houses.
Yes NY,hutches here,are where the special dishes are kept.Or where rabbits are kept.
Were Starsky and Hutch muskrat trappers?
Tom

dostal, no we dont.lol.just hacken on ya dostal. what ever gets your point across.

lol gil your in south michigan((I think))
we rednecks say alot of weird things lol

CT cant do that in michigan, we can set on the house. but not molest it. dostal I am almost a buckeye, bout 20 miles from the border.

Figured you were right down there. Thats right we cant molest a ((House)) in any way

Here in Pa.we call them muskrat houses, except for the larger ones......they are apartments.