Hey it ain't about just making money remember? A good muskrat trapper keeps the numbers down and traps the sloughs that are gonna freeze solid in the fall regardless of price. A nice late fall muskrat with the skunk like markings on the leather is better than a beat up spring rat that might be the only broodstock after a tough winter. I trap big numbers in the fall every winter and shut down when the numbers drop. It makes it better for the ones you leave. You get big and small but it's the surplus population. They are prone to disease around here. The auction houses just want top quality fur that is not available in big numbers and that's a limited market. Remember when any old rat was 10 bux? When it crashed guys bought up hundreds of thousands and the buyers know where they are and what they have to pay on a hot market so they are trying to starve the speculayers out and promote only premium fur which is not feasible to the average trpaper.
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