Fall Rats
 

Dose anyone do fall rat trapping, if so when to start

Late October/ Nov. Or depending on when your season opens. Take a look at the regs and your zone. The trapping couses probably mentioned something about fall rats.

Bill

Fall Rats
 

If it's a low water area with chances of the rats being froze out then I would catch them so they just don't die and waste,other than that it is better to wait until spring or if possible under ice trapping to give you the optimum fur and the best the animal has to offer,muskrats don't prime fully until the spring and with the market the way it is this will bring your most money and especially on the biggest rats of the year,hope this helps cheers Peter

I trap a few. I start mid October and trap Muskrats like they killed my dog until freeze up....then keep going under ice until it snows (sometimes same day, sometimes a week or two, this is optimal time).

I then concentrate on bigger higher value, lower volume animals.

Time permitting starting in Feb, hit the feeder houses and push ups when temp is projected to stay near the freezing mark for warm spells.

Begin trapping Muskrats in the warm March/April days until ice out with vengeance. These are the best Muskrats to catch, but the hardest to catch.

Once ice is gone, I will trap rats for a max of 1 week, or until they show any sign of fighting. Pelts will degrade from excellent to poor in 24 hours. Last year fighting began before ice out, I think I trapped 60 open water rats first day then pulled sets.

My 2 cents.