Muskrats Under Early Ice

A spider web crack spread from under my feet. I quickened my pace across the remaining 30 feet of ice that separated me from shore.

- Phil Goes

Earlier that morning, the ice had seemed perfectly safe at about an inch and a half thick. That was before the sun had come up and before I had acquired the additional weight of a bunch of muskrats.

Two days prior, the pond had been open water. I scouted it from the road not for muskrats but rather as a potential place to trap weasels and coyotes once the snow started flying. When I returned for a closer look a few days later, the ice was on and any thoughts of open-water trapping were put on hold for the following year.

There were no muskrat houses, nothing but canary grass and willows on the bank. It didn't look all that hopeful for trapping anything until I noticed air bubble trails under the ice. These led to muskrat bank dens and setting up a bank den is about as easy as trapping gets. Lean a 110 Conibear against an underwater bank so it covers the den opening and angle the single spring skyward; that's all the support needed. Wire the trap off to a stake and the set is ready for action.

Easy, fast, and effective.

Two hours later, I was back with a bucket full of 110 Conibears and a hatchet. Entrances, even in deeper water, were revealed by air bubbles and disturbed mud. Muskrats operate all day long once the ice forms and protects them from most of their predators.

When I went back to grab my hatchet after leaving it at a previous set, I noticed a stake twitching. The trap had been set for maybe a minute and already held a 'rat. Anticipation for the morning check was going to make it hard to get to sleep that night.

The next morning, I waited for my son to wake up so he could check traps with me. I had a good feeling.

As a kid, I made plenty of under-ice muskrat sets with little to show for it. Most of those public places had been hammered hard while the water was still open; it was a wonder there were any muskrats left.