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Post by Deleted on Feb 29, 2012 21:50:10 GMT -5
I tried it this year for the first time and caught 1 rat in a weeks period. I used an apple for bait along with cherry lure.
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Post by papabear on Feb 29, 2012 22:15:48 GMT -5
Dear Friend, Mash some of your apple on the float also Mr. Paul Dobbins has a muskrat lure that works very well on floats. Other baits that work well are carrots and parsnips... Regards papabear
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Post by Deleted on Feb 29, 2012 23:03:39 GMT -5
It does, but I got it on the first night I had it out, after that someone else was checking it.......I was happy with the results and I am looking forward to tryig this out again next year on a private marsh I have permission to trap. Either way, whether you catch something or not it is still fun to experiment on the trapline!
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Post by brushwolf on Mar 1, 2012 5:21:08 GMT -5
Use a lure with rat musk in it and that will help you catch a few more this time of the year.
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Post by trappermac on Mar 1, 2012 6:03:46 GMT -5
I've messed with them over the years, never found them to be a high percentage method at all. I've used them in locations where it was too deep to get at bank dens and/or it was tough to pin down the shore locations that would have been a better set. Best method I found was to keep the float close to the shoreline and a mound of fresh vegetation in the middle of the float (eye appeal) along with some lure would take a rat or so. This time of year I would never use them as the marshes and lakes near me are filling up with geese and mallards who will be looking for hummocks like this for nesting. Got to keep that thought in mind when using these. My floats mainly hang on the walls of the shed.
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Post by J.P. Wilson on Mar 1, 2012 8:00:40 GMT -5
Floats work best in the spring when the muskrat glands are swelled to the point they look like they could pop. This is when the muskrats breeding season is in full swing and they don't hesitate one bit to climb up onto something to investigate it. I use carrots for bait and a food lure, just because carrots are cheap and they dont turn brown over night. Muskrat gland lure will work equally as well. Floats will really start to work well in about 3 weeks
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Post by johnrockwood on Mar 1, 2012 9:05:24 GMT -5
Only places I was ever very successful with floats was inside large culverts or under bridges on larger creeks. The muskrats would readily climb on floats that were under cover and afforded protection from hawks, owls, etc. I used parsnips for bait as they stay white the longest and produce a strong odor of their own. It didn't seem to matter whether I used a food lure or a gland lure. It was the location that was important. Like Mac, I piled on some vegetation in the middle of the float, too. Used under cover, they worked well during both fall and spring, but in the spring you have more rats traveling so production should be higher then. I do feel using them in places that afford protection for the muskrats from raptors work best.
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Post by barrington on Mar 1, 2012 11:50:41 GMT -5
I don't trap rats much anymore but I use to run about 2 dz floats on a big lake with a big swamp on the end,the floats work in the lake but not in the swamp, the reason for this I think is in the swamp there are more resting feeding places than a guy could cover with traps,but the lake is wide open.I covered with seaweed to give them the hut look,I dont have any pictures of the floats but they were built so I could run them either way I wanted one side was 4 traps and if i flip it over I could run just two.The most important ting was the seaweed,sure I caught rats without it but with GREEN seeweed they worked great.Years later I tried floats in a pond setting with NO luck.
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