For sure. If you run "floats" in the spring or even the setup that Randy is demonstrating, the biggest problem will be that the other rats come to fight and eat on any of their brethren that are anywhere near the surface of the water.
We have gone to #2 size traps for the simple reason that they are plenty enough heavier to sink a muskrat to the bottom post-haste and thus avoid being chewed on.
Actually, here we can trap inside huts as well, and if the weather is cold enough to hold iceup until late February, the muskrats just start eating each other inside the huts also. Once the water is severely cold, they won't dive out of the hut to drown anymore. Then they are sitting ducks for the rest of the clan to eat up fast.
Pretty similar behavior to prairie dogs, I think.
