Morning journal and courier., 1886-03-04
mUsKRAT HUNTING IN mARYLAN1
Thousands of Those Rodents Killed for Their Fur and for Their Meat.
 [From the Baltimore Sun

Thousands of Those Rodents Killed for Their Fur and for Their Meat. From the Baltimore Sun
 Along the lowlands of Dorchester county, Md, bordering Fishing Bay and it's numer- Transquakin rivers, is found a class of hardy trappers, or muskratters, they are locally known, who depend entirely upon hunting and trapping for livelihood. The marshes which they frequent in quest of muskrats and otters embrace portions of Lakes, Straits Drawbride, and Bucktown districts, and in an covering thousands of acres The marsh in summer affords excellent pasturage for cattle and hogs, which are only half tame, and many of them can only be cap tured when the winter drives them to the up lands for food. Looking from any point on the edge of the upland the eye has an unob- structed and almost unlimited range to the horizon over what resembles a vast prairie Through these marsh lands small rivers and innumerable little streams permeate, occa- sionally emptying into large lagoons or lakes before reaching Fishing Bay. At times the lakes are filled with wild ducks and geese. afordlng rare sport to gunners. Keeping well away from the lagoons. the marsh fur nishes solid footing, but as the streams are approached margin of several hundred yards of treacherous bogs and quagmires is encountered, which is a terror to the foreign huntsman, who sometimes finds himself waist deep in the mire, the result of single unwary step.
 It is among those bogs that the trapper plies his skill most successfully. He may be seen making a circuit of the ponds on their very edges, and apparently without the least concern where his foot falls. His eye is quick to detect pitfalI and he seems to es cape almost dry shod where the wits of the trembling stranger would fail him about how to follow. The rats cut pipes in every direc- tion, and build their houses in mounds of mud and marsh grass. These houses are always built over well in the marsh, which affords an easy escape if the house is moles- ted. They generally contain from four to eight rats. On windy day the skillful trap per sometimes meets with success by ap- preaching the houses noiselessly from the ieeward and driving gig crashing through them. Sometimes several rats are thus pin toned at one stroke, but it is only at favora- ble times that this method can be adopted, for even the cracking of flag under the foot will suffice to give the alarm, and an imme- diate exit through the well to the pipes un- der the marsh is made. They are usually trapped by the use of what is called choker This consists of a triangular shaped wire sus- pended by strong cord from a pliant pole driven into the marsh and bent over so as to allow the wire to intercept his ratship in his passage through pipe. An ordinary days catch by single trapper is about thirty rats. The meat is considered wholesome and great ly relished.
 The fur, which is of two varieties, black and brown, the black being considered most valuable, is sold to dealers at prices varying from 12 to IS cents. There are prob ably 75, 900 skins sold in Dorchester county during the trapping season. One dealer in Cambridge has shipped many as 3O,O00 During the late freshets and high tides the marshes have been about four feet under water and the trappers have not reaped such harvest in ten years It is not unusual for the tide to overflow the marshes few inches, driving the rats rom their houses and pipes, but enabling them to find hiding places in the marsh grass, but the recent extraordinary tide, rising above the top of the grass, has deprived them of all hiding places, and they have been at the mercy of the guns of the trappers, and thousands have been killed. One man alone killed upward of 100 in day, and the slaughter has been in progress for nearly week