Muskrat Trapping in Ditches

I am new to Muskrat trapping this year and have been muskrat trapping in a small pond. There is a ditch behind this property I am trapping. I believe their are muskrat in there. Is there and signs I can look for and if so how should I trap a ditch? Thank you.
PS. The ditch is very steep and is about 6-8 across in length. Some parts narrow and some parts open up. Also how should I go about trapping their for Mink? Thanks again!

Pocket sets will catch rats, mink and coon. Look for rat toilets, bank dens, feed beds, trails under overhanging grass, etc.

Also (for mink), look for dry trails up on the banks. They FREQUENT the water but spend a lot of time on dry land too.

Those ditches can be really tough to trap. There is quite a bit of silt in the bottom of many of them and they can be very difficult to walk along. Sometimes the sides of the ditch are so steep you can barely climb up and down them.

The overhanging grass makes the bank dens pretty difficult to find and they can be hard to set also. I have the best luck setting 220 body grips in narrow spots in the stream. If the stream isn't naturally that narrow you can make your own narrow funnels on the stream using sticks, brush, or even wire fencing. It won't be long before the rats swimming the stream are accustomed to going through the narrow spots in the ditch. Colony traps might be effective in those locations also.


Of course, I will also set toilets and bank dens whenever I can find them. In the ditches I trap, those locations can be hard to find and sometime hard to access. I've also used foothold traps on boards shoved into the bank at a shallow angle - kind of like making my own toilet log. But I find all of these to be less productive than the 220's in narrow spots where the rats are already swimming through.

Also, I find ditches that have cornfields on the sides to be far more productive than ditches that go through bean fields.

Good luck, have fun, and don't get stuck in the mud!

Question: Is there a culvert tube/pipe in this ditch somewhere, with perhaps a road above it? I trapped many drainage ditches where I used to live, and also had the steep banks and silty bottom to deal with.

Here's how I made life much easier trapping 'rats, and even mink, in these ditches. Floats.

So if you've got ditches, and there are culvert tubes connecting ditches, maybe to the pond, maybe with a road on top, you've got current, right? If so, take a look at these pics, and maybe you can work this into your trapline.

The floats I made were V-shaped, to "ride" in the current. On the front end, the point of the V, I attached a nylon cord, sort of similar to trot line, and would wrap that around the float when not in use. I took a portable drill and drilled a small hole in the top center of the culvert tube on the upstream end. The float nylon cord was then tied to the lip of this culvert tube, and the float would be slid into the water and would position itself inside the tube once it floated downstream inside the tube just a bit 'til the nylon cord tightened. 'Rats and mink had no problem swimming through the tube then get up on the float for a break. You can even use a little 'rat lure or "the Beav's peppermint paste" to entice the 'rats up there. In longer tubes I would have a wagon train of two or even three floats all tied together. Looked like of line of destroyers riding in the tube if one leaned over the pipe and peeked inside.

The picture should tell about all on building these, just a couple of 2x4s, plywood base, and Styrofoam under that for floatation. Drilled a couple of holes in the 2x4s for dead sticks to poke up.



Marsh grass and whatever could be wrapped around these sticks real easy to make it more inviting.



About any trap for 'rats will do, I used #1 and #1 1/2 longsprings. Less likely to tip over. Build up a little vegetation on the floor for coilsprings so if the 'rat steps on the lever it won't flip.



And they do work. Might seem like a lot of hassle to build 'em, but once they're done they can easily store in the attic/rafters of your garage or what have you.



Made the mistake the first year of leaving them on the farm I was trapping and the carpenter ants made homes out of 'em. Best stored high and dry.

I don't trap ditches anymore since moving down here, but get them out when mother nature decides to flood the bottoms and most other sets are out of commission. Might look weird tied off in the middle of a flooded slough like this, but they do work!

I pretty much muskrat trap ditches exclusively

That would be great. There is no culvert that runs underneath the bridges it is just open with big rocks in the bank. I will look making some floats, how do you go about stakeing them down? Thanks all of you guys for the responses. I might have some pictures to upload here soon.

No culvert? Did you look at coonwild's short video above on colony traps? I believe colony traps are legal in IN, right? I would go with the colony traps before making floats. How about posting a picture of your ditch?

As far as staking the floats down, I just tied 'em off to the culvert tube lip, after drilling a hole in it.

Seriously, necking a ditch down with some of those rocks to make just enough room for your colony traps should really do the job.

Yes colony traps are legal in Indiana is there a good size any of you guys recommend getting for a colony trap? I have some pictures headed your way. I will post more later tonight but here are some.

I was looking at a 8x6x36 or maybe a 7x7x24?

Whichever is legal in your state, go with it. That 8x6x36 might do you real well with those long straightaways you have there.

Looking at your second picture, here's where I'd stick that colony trap. That bank side that's sluffed off, probably from 'rats digging in , is real shallow, right? And if you wade to the opposite bank, where that red rectangle is should be deep enough to fully submerge your colony trap, right? With your boot, can you feel almost like a "groove" along that bank and the bottom? You should. The bottom edge. A right angle if you will. That's where I'd stick that colony trap, tight to the vertical bank and level on the bottom. You might have to dig some of it up with your boot or get debris out of the way.

Now I see some brush in the foreground. Snap a dozen pieces off, say two feet in length, and on each end of your submerged colony trap, form an angled wall from the corner nearest the middle of the ditch to that sluffed off bank. Angled so it tends to funnel the 'rats into the colony trap. Six sticks on each end. That will insure your 'rats traveling up and down this ditch will swim into your colony trap. I'm not sure of your laws, but if all that's legal, I'd even add another colony trap, along side of that one. Your first one may fill up quickly.

Anyway, there's a start. With no brush hanging over the ditch, traveling 'rats will more often swim on the bottom, hugging the edge, as will mink.

Good luck!

If the water is to shallow for a submerged colony trap you could use a 3-4 ft culvert box with 2-120 body grip traps, at the location shown by "Muskrat". It will take any rat or mink travelling the stream as it seems they cannot pass up exploring the tunnel. No bait or lure is needed.

Everything you said is correct it is fairly shallow and very undercut. I also found a spot in the ditch where it funnels and Muskrat have dug into the side to get around the rocks in the middle. Thank you for your help! My Last question is, how and what do you need to stake down a colony trap?

I run a length of lath down the middle on one side. If you've got 1x1 wire, you could snip a piece to accept the lath. If you've got a solid bottom, a 24" length of 3/8" T-bar would snug it down. If you've got a rocky bottom, you could position it in place by setting rocks along the sides and top. Just be sure to wire it off to something solid, like a shrub or its root, or set a stake in the bank, and wire off to that. 14 or 16 ga wire should do it.

Many don't stake but I always do.I usually put a T stake down through the top.I have had coons drag my trap out of the water and steal my catch.I have also had strong current move them.

Aside from colony traps,( not a lot of experience with them),that ditch sure looks like a target rich environment for pocket sets,..coon,rats,and mink.
If you have them?

I have seen many signs of coon and mink, interstate I-65 is right next to it and many coons have been hit by running this ditch.

Yes, they will leave sign.
Put on your waders and walk up through that ditch, looking at the banks closely. They will have dens somewhere that you can use a coni over.
Also watch for their feedbeds. These are usually a small indentation in the bank with some cut grass, chewed roots or crab pinchers laying around. Watch for area's where they scratch at the roots under an overhang or sometimes it can be a small V scratched into the bank where they exposed the roots to eat.

Once you learn the sign, you can avoid dead-water and keep your traps and time on productive water. Good luck!

good info hippie,i'll add to look at places where they can rest with protection from overhead.

Update: I have yet to pull anything from this ditch so far, I'm not sure what it is. I just put out a colony yesterday and the water went down so I relocated it underneath a bank on the ditch. Here is a picture of where I had it located before.

Still trying at it. Just curious if anyone knows what this is I noticed it today but didn't really see any tracks by it?

Unless you've made this mark I have circled, I'd say that's a muskrat tail drag in the mud.



Spot #1 appears to be a 'rat dive hole, but I can't tell from the pic. Same goes for #2.

Muskrats will have these dive holes under the vegetation, coming out on the other side somewhere. You don't want to walk on top this vegetation, as you'll crush the runs with your boots. Walk around and check to see where these runs come out on the other side. Then set your #110 or what have you in these runs or a colony trap.

Remember the rule of thumb . . . work upstream. You'll see things better that way in the water.

Now, back to the first pic. Can't tell from the shadows, but I'm thinking you need to relocate that colony trap to where I've got it red inked in. That looks to be deeper to me. 'Rats and mink will normally "bottom edge" where the water continues to be deeper than the inside bend, though that's not always true. I also think that inside bend becomes too shallow for 'rats to feel safe in.



You might want to bring a tile spade along with you to help form that "bottom edge" where I've got the proposed new site for the colony trap. Tile spades make quick work of helping to form that nice 90 angled bottom edge.

And the third pic. Look inside the red circle. What've you got there?



Now follow those two trails leading northwest and southwest in the picture and you might be able to find places to set bodygrips or colony traps.

Another thought. Take the colony out and let's set three bodygrip traps in there. I've replaced all my #110s with #150s, but whatever you've got, probably #110s, let's set 'em in these three places marked in red.



Avoid walking upstream in the ditch once you've got these set up, as you'll have crud heading downstream into these bodygrips. You might add a few sticks on both sides of the trap to help funnel 'em.

And a word about tile spades. Here's a standard tile spade when purchased from the store.



Now grind off the nose so you've got it flat across. Like this.



Not only will this help you create "perfect" bottom edges for colony traps and bodygrips, but makes a good walking staff while wading that ditch and helps getting up and down the sides of it too.

Set it.

If you want to perk curiosity dig some fresh mud up in a run. That should get some attention

Colony traps aren't necessarily my thing but they do work quickly to take a majority of the rats. Another option is a version of what Muskrat gave you for advice---fill the entire width and depth with colony traps if you have them. I'd start setting under the bank and work out. I suspect the water isnt deep enough to stack them but if you run into that situation stack them as high as possible while still keeping them submerged. In your current picture you only have a small strip of stream before you hit that little island. its only going to take 3-4 cages to fill that. You may want to look at the other side of the island/strip grass and fill in the remainder of the stream if you have the traps.

I made a set like this a week ago. it took 5 cages up under the bank and then another 8 or 9 to fill the distance from the edge of the bank to the other far bank. took 16 rats in 3 days. 13 of those came under/against the bank

Listen to Coonwild, he knows of which he speaks. I watched his video and chatted with him a few years ago and have had good success with colony traps.

I hate those shovels made in China, there is a bamboo core from the steel to the fiberglass. When you use these in water the water soaks in ,swells the bamboo, it freezes, and the next leverage you have in the condition, snap, the bamboo is only 6 inches and the fiberglass is kaputt.
Try to get one with a good hickory handle, USA MADE. The steel will be a tempered and hold an edge, not like the pressed puncked out junk mentioned above.

Are you allowed to fence? old fridge racks work perfect

Ouch!

My mistake! Just Google Imaged up a tile spade and used the pic as was. Northof50 gives good advice.

Now I'll have to check to see where my tile spade was made if I can still read any of the print on it. But it's 20+ years old, before the China Syndrome most likely. Haven't had the bamboo freezing issue with it. Hmmmm . . . .

How about this one Northof50? Already comes with a squared off snout! Fiskars baby!!




The steel D-handle design offers excellent control and durability to make edging, slicing and digging in tough soil easy.

The Fiskars® steel D-handle square garden spade features a durable design that provides excellent grip when you are working with soil or cutting turf. The welded steel construction is far more durable than wood and won’t flex like fiberglass. The extra-large D-handle design offers two-handed control, a sharpened blade cuts into dense soil easily, and an extra-large foot platform helps maximize force to break up hardened soil clods.

Features
•Ideal for edging, cutting a trench, slicing through thick turf or digging
•Extra-large D-handle design offers secure two-handed control when digging, even while wearing gloves
•Welded 14-gauge hardened steel blade and 18-gauge steel shaft provide durability that far outlasts wood-handled tools and won’t flex like fiberglass
•Sharpened blade makes it easy to penetrate tough soil or break up hardened dirt clods
•Extra-large foot platform helps maximize force when driving the blade into soil
•Powder-coated steel resists rust and offers easy cleaning
•Length: 46"
•Lifetime warranty

I do believe I just talked myself into buying this particular shovel tomorrow. Going to the big city for my grandson's birthday, just might stop off at the new Fleet Farm there in DeForest and see if I can't scare one up.

Fiskars Steel D-handle Garden Spade (46")


I'd have to guess I've got at least 200 bottom edge sets out by mid-January, some years closer to 300, and the tile spade I have now works just fine for making that 90-degree right angle throughout the length of my 36" colony traps against bottom edges.

So I'll purchase this particular model and give a product review in March when I pull all BE sets.

Thanks for pointing out the flaws in the pic I posted above Nof50. Hopefully the Fiskars meets with your approval.