Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1909-04-23
TRAPPING OF MUSKRATS


Tom Plump Tells Of Some
Characteristics Of the
Little Animal
The following article on muskrats
communicated this week by our old
friend, Tom Plump, now located in
Idaho. Tom Plump has heretofore
favored as with many interesting con-
trlbutlons, and we are sure that our
large family of readers will be GLAD to
hear from MIN again. : :.
He writes interestingly as follows:
Little Falls Herald ~:
The muskrat> is a.: water varmint.
He also can live out of water, but IN
order to thrive az nature intended he
should, he must have access to both
water and LAND. He gets his food in
various places, some of it comes OF the
bottom of the lakes he ll1habits This.
is called watercress. He Is q great
lover of grass while it is green and
tender; and is q lover of all kinds Of.
vegetables, the parsnip preferred. He,
loves the roots Of alfalfa and sweet
clover, but what he likes best and
possibly gets the least of, Is commonly
called sweet flag. He will risk his
lite for a mess of it, after losing two
or three feet, by his enemy. tho steel
trap.
The rat is coming to the front as a
fur bearer. His fur is now used to
line overcoats, and called water
mink. He. in: the past; was not
looked after much by old trappers, ana
little boys camped on his trail but
could not lessen his numbers He is
now looked at by older trappers as
among the fur bearers worth catching.
The name muskrat does not fit for
the reason he mas no musk. have
skinned thousands of them and have
never found the musksack of a musk
rat.
The higher price of the fur of the
rat along with the draining Of the
places he lnhablts in the east. will ex-
terminate him, unless individuals 70
into the business of rat farming.
There are thousands OF acres of land in]
the northern states that are not pro-
would, and easily could, be made to
pay big by fencing them into rat
farms. The rat IS a very clean animal
and will not stay long in filthy water.
He is strong swimmer and good
fighter in the water. A mink can kill
a muskrat on land easily, but loses
his life if he fights the rat in water
to finish. The strength OF muskrat
is in his hind leges and tail. 1t is
not difficult for him to swim after the
loss of front foot, but ii he loses a
hind foot or leg he Is not good In
water after that, as swimmer or a
fighter.
The otter, the fisher and the beaver
can stay longer under water than the
muskrat before drowning, and are
stronger swimmers.
The muskrat In the arid west costs
the ranchmen hundreds of dollars
every season and when one happens to
tap the main ditch 1t floods many
acres and the cost IS much greater
than individual bitches. The western
rancher is always glad to see rat
trappers rambling around on his ranch
and will often pay small bounty to
the trapper who catches rats.
In the eastern cities the bodies of
rats are now considered rare and
delicious dish, and there IS good
market for all the eastern trappers
may catch. :.
It is net necessary to bait a trap in
order to catch rats except In special
cases.
The skin, flesh ard bone of 3 rat is
very tender. especially OF the front
feet, and often the trapper tnds his
prize gone and the foot a reminder OF
what the would have had it he had
went soon after the rat was caught.
If the rat IS caught by the hind foot
he is apt to stay in the trap. as the
cords Of that leg are tougher and
stronger than are the cords of the
front leg. I have caught rats that
only had one foot and strange to say,
they are always the latest ones [ ever
healed and we'll. If rat has been
caught and has lost leg or two. the
trap will have to be balted, if caught
easily again. Then is when bait
of some vegetable he is not III the
habit of finding daily should be used
and it throws HIM off his guard and
makes an easy prize for the trapper.
Mrs. Plump accompanied her worst
half to the trapping fields, the last
winter, thus relieving me of the camp
work. I tell you Mr.. Herald Editor
it IS relief to the trapper, whose trap
line is twenty-five miles long, to
come In at night and find fine
supper consisting OF the best meat
gun can bring down cooked with the
best vegetables the country produce
on the table ready to b9 eaten.
When ducks, fish, quail, or any
other kinds Of game got too abundant,
which was the case, it was canned for
future use, but when I wanted to skin,
flesh and case skunk skins IN the
camp, the line was drawn. But, Mr..
Editor If Won have aver haen COM