Maine Muskrats

Have not trapped them since the 80s. Back then a 100 plus a year was considered a good size catch for the season.Are there still enough muskrats in Maine to make these sort of yearly catches. Less areas to trap? Pesticides? More predators?

muskrats are on the up swing here ,in the u p of Michigan

Back in the last real fur boom there were a lot more rats available. I don't think anyone knows why but they appear to be a lot less muskrats than there used to be. In one area I trapped back them one trapper often took 3, 4 and 5 hundred in a season. Remember that back in those days it was a twenty four hour check period on everything in organized territory, and you could not start until midnight of opening day. By avoiding concern with those regulations, this one trapper often had three or four lakes set up by midnight and was not overly concerned with checking. He was a worker but it was actually a great way to earn a horrible reputation that follows a man for ever.

Yes I think if you work at it you can harvest a hundred muskrats. A hundred muskrats probably does not sound like much to someone living in the Dakotas or some other rat heaven, but it is what it is.
I have a friend in the mid West that took over 11,000 a few years ago with a partner. Don't shoot for that number here. LOL
Good Luck and hope you get your hundred. That is a very nice catch.
Mac

11,000 wow...

In my experience I've found it possible here on the coast. Up north at camp, it's a little more difficult. I like to find pockets of swamp that feed into larger bodies of water. My theory is the highway system-more access to real estate and feed, the larger number of rats traveling. I think raptors, mink and otter do affect populations-there seems to be a lot more of all three. These are just observations where I trap.

Yes there are trappers in Maine that do that and plus but it's a lot more work than it was in the 70.s or 80.s. I think the decline, nation wide, reflects to overall health of our predator and raptor populations. I can remember in the middle 70.s if someone saw an eagle it made the news. Now they are everywhere along with owls and hawks. I think the waters are healthier as well keeping the otter and mink numbers up, not to mention the fur dollar hasn't really been the same except a few decent years here and there and there certainly aren't the trapper numbers. When you're the bottom of the food chain, times get tough:)

Rereading this post made me think of something. Back in the day I know a couple guys that used to slay them on the Androscoggin. That was back when the river was some kind of dirty. It is my understanding that when the river really got cleaned up it was no longer as good for muskrats. I have read about air pollution having an effect. Have read acid rain etc. moves East. No scientist here so I don't know.

Acid Rain, haven't heard that in a while.

The "Climate Change" of the '70s.