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Well, since the fox and coons have sort of dried up around here, I decided to give some water trapping a whirl. I've got a few good ditches on my lines, but I don't know if there are any rats there or not. But we'll find out.

I want to use colony traps, because there's not much maintenance, and you don't really have to have any expertise to use them, which I don't when it comes to muskrats. But I wasn't about to buy them for $25 a pop.

So I bought a roll of 1"x2"x36" galvanized wire




I made mine 7"x7"x36". If you do this, might want to check your state's regs, since I know some states have restrictions on length and width. Cut the wire, and start making your bends. I use a wrench, from the backside. Work down one crease, bending every other wire about halfway, then work back down, hitting the ones you skipped the first time, to complete the bend.





Then fasten the seam with 3/8" hog rings. Put them on with the pliers, and then clamp them down tight with a pair of channel locks. Then shape the trap into a better square.

Then cut the doors. The doors should be 1" smaller than the trap, so mine are 6"x10". That gave me a good angle for the doors to rest. Make sure that the doors don't end up along a piece of wire, or it could get hung up on the rough ends. Make it long enough so that it breaks in between the cross pieces of the trap.



Also, I made sure to run the wires along the length of the doors on the outside, instead of cross ways. That way, there should be less resistance when they're swimming in, and if they try to get out, the cross wires will be on the inside, almost like a ladder, which will make them push the doors down even harder when trying to get out. Tighten down the hog rings with channel locks here also, but don't make them as tight as on the side seam. Just tighten them down enough to keep the door from sliding from side to side, but not so much that the door won't swing open and shut freely.







And that's it. I made 5 in about an hour, and have enough wire to make about 6 more, giving me 11 of them for $40 worth of wire. I'm sure the traps will work, I just don't know if there are any muskrats where I'll be setting them.

Thanks for reminding me Jim, I've been meaning to make a couple of these. I think I'll make my bends with the brake though.

How long do you make the doors though? 9"?

My doors are 10". Probably could have been 9", honestly, but I wanted to keep the angle pretty shallow, since I wasn't too sure how the hog rings would work as a "hinge". I don't actually know if I'm allowed 7" here or not- didn't bother to check. I think a lot of states are 6x6x33 as a max, so the door would be different.


And I thought about going over to my buddy's and using his brake tonight, but then it started snowing, and the brake is set up behind his shop with a tarp draped over it. So I used the wrench, which still worked pretty slick.

I don't have any hog rings in the garage so I was actually planning on using zip ties. Figured for the door I would just leave them a little loose so the door would move free.

I was just giving ya shit on the brake, folding it on the edge of a work bench works fine too on something like the wire.

It'd go pretty fast with a brake, though. And wouldn't get those funky bends. I should've just made one with those plywood scraps. Next time.

The hardest part of working with that stuff is getting it to lay flat when unrolling it.

Very nice! I want to try some also. I was gonna buy some from fnt but they were out of stock. Now my gift card is spent so I'll make some. Look for runs and try to camo well disturbing the run as little as possible. Good luck! Can't wait to see some pics

Jim,
while you have snow, get out and look for your rat runs. You should be able to find some if the rats are there. Where I've seen them when I'm with Quackhead is anywhere the sloughs or water are split by a dike or culvert and beaver dams. Quackhead can probably tell you more.

all the water around here (at least that I have to trap) are smaller tax ditches. I set 5 today, in places like this near culverts (it is underwater, by about 3 inches- just doesn't look like it)

I would think about putting a dive stick on each end of that trap to make them swim under the surface. Would be surprised if you snag a mink

Will do- that's good advice. Thanks!

That was suppose to say wouldn't not would
No prob

I'm not certain we even have mink around here. Guess we'll see. If I catch anything besides a muskrat, I'm going to have to make one of those "What is this?" threads.

assateague wrote:I'm not certain we even have mink around here. Guess we'll see. If I catch anything besides a muskrat, I'm going to have to make one of those "What is this?" threads.

Get a hold of Don Taylor, he's pretty good at duck ID, or so I hear.

"If I catch a mink, I'm going to tattoo one on my forearm."

I'm gonna hold that t you

Oh, hell no. That was a Don Taylor quote

assateague wrote:Oh, hell no. That was a Don Taylor quote

He's a welch.

assateague wrote:"If I catch a mink, I'm going to tattoo one on my forearm."

Not me