Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Trapping Learning to Trap

I used to trap a bit when I was a kid. Mostly rodents and raccoons. Actually used to make some money trapping gophers. Kept me in Wildcat .22 solids which were a penny a piece.

Had an assortment of box traps and foot holds.

After a recent go at a weasel.....did not catch him....the kids got really interested in learning how to trap.

I never did any coyote or muskrat trapping and would like to learn how, maybe those screwball kids would get into it as well.


Is there a good book out there that would cover the basics? Maybe just enough to get me started?

Thanks.

I could help you with muskrat trapping. It's easy if there are any around.

What conditions do you have? Creek, slough, shallow, deep, etc?

What size and type traps do you have available?

I have some old 00 foot holds and some new D size foot holds.

A few `110 body holds and 4 330 body holds.

On my place it is mostly little ponds in the coulees where there are some muskrat. Shallow.

I could get out into the hills on some creeks for rats and beaver.

JC, google Gutenberg, go down about 1/2 page to find eBooks and click on first one 'book search', on search bar type in 'trapping'. There are lots of ebooks on just about every kind of trapping you can imagine. Not all of it is relevant to what you want to do, but some interesting reading. I'm no expert, but what little I know, this is where I learned most of it.

I'm not sure what the D size means?

I personally would not bother with the 00 myself, as you will catch muskrats but also lose enough of them to make it bothersome. That trap is better for weasels, or actual barn rats.

The 110 conis are fine for muskrat. The 330 conis are for beaver. Be very careful with those--they'd crunch a kid's arm pretty good if they messed around.

Are the ponds frozen yet, or will you be trapping in open or frozen water?

Ha! I looked at the pan and it had a D on it.........they are actually #0 long springs.


All the water is open for now. All I can figure is to set a 110 in a run.

The water will freeze here shortly next month.

The ponds were all dry earlier but now after that snow we have a little water in them.

Soon I think the rats will be headed out across the prairie to find better water.

Thanks for the tip OldMan. I will check that out later.

DakotaDeer........can you use a size #0 in the water or does it have to be dry?

The size 0 longs will work in water or dry, but if dry you will get wring-outs where the rat twists its own foot off. A bigger trap actually catches the 'rat up higher above his elbow and he won't wring out. But if you're drowning them then it won't matter. Your bigger problem will be when you catch a raccoon and he pulls himself to the offside of the trap away from the spring, then pulls out. Or a mink that spins himself out. If it were me, I would take the springs off of half of the 0 traps and put them on the other half of the traps, making a double longspring size 0. Nothing will pull out of that if it gets into it. On small ponds, you will be getting muskrat, coon, and mink, with an occasional coyote. All of those critters will be able to swim with that small of a trap stuck on their foot so you have to come up with alternate ways of drowning them.

On those small ponds, the rats have to have a home, which usually means they have a tunnel in the banks somewhere. You can find those by walking around in the water with waders and poking your boots up into every little crevice. Sometimes you can see a muddy water trail leading up to the bank then find the hole.

Here are some sets that will work:
1) 110 coni set in a "run" on the bottom, staked to the bottom

2) 110 coni covering a den hole in the bank, staked in the water

3) 110 coni on a pole about 2' off the bank or near some cattails, wedged up so that the trap is just below the surface of the water, put a carrot on the trigger for bait.

4) 0 foothold set in a "pocket" that you make right on the edge of the water with your boot. Set trap in about 2" of water, with a long chain/wire running 3' out to a stake in deeper water. You then put a second stick in the deeper water about 2' away from the actual stake. That second stick is to cause them to tangle the chain when they start swimming around. Once they tangle on the second stake, they will be stuck and drown.

5) The above set but using a wire slide drowner going out to deeper water instead. One end of wire staked solid to the bank, other end of wire staked solid in deep water. Trap is attached through a drowner slide that only goes in one direction. This is better than the above, since it will pull down a huge coon or even a coyote with just a small trap. Once they try to swim away they pull themselves down the wire and there is no possible return.

6) A muskrat float or stool. Take a 2x6 cut to about 16" long, with a small hole drilled dead center that just slides over a 4' pole. Good poles are 3/8" fiberglass fence posts if you have them, or 1/2" conduit or pvc. Put the pole in about 2' of water near some cattails with the float on it. Then slide your trap ring down the pole and float the trap on the wood platform. You can set two traps on each float. The rats will go crazy trying to climb up on the float--when they do they stick their foot right in the trap and then jump off into the water. You need more weight on your trap to drag them to the bottom. Zip tie a piece of channel iron or something heavy to the underside of your trap frame. Or just use a size 2 trap or heavier. This is probably the easiest set to make. If a coon decides to swim out and go for a ride on the float, he will rip everything to shreds and probably run away with your trap too. Oh well. You can run hundreds of floats at once if you want to haul them. There is a variation of a float that is made out of heavy wire clips that you can buy. That eliminates the wood float and uses the trap itself as the platform. That lets you run extra hundreds of traps at once if you desire.

7) The old "leaning pole" set, which is pretty fun for kids especially. Cut a 6 or 8' stick pole a couple inches in diameter. Push it into the bottom at a 45 degree angle so it is sticking up out of the water just a few inches. Strip some bark off the pole as an attractant. Place your foothold trap on a little nail about 6 inches below the water line. Your traps should have a hole in the bottom cross member already or else drill one there. When the muskrat comes to check out the pole, he will be lazy and try to climb up the 45 degree angle. When he puts his back foot down to get traction he gets caught in the trap then jumps off and drowns.

8) If you can trap huts legally in Montana (check regulations first), then you can put traps on the side of huts or it might even be legal there to put traps inside the huts themselves. That's usually an endeavor best left to well after freeze up with solid ice.

Sets #5 and 6 are your money makers.

Set #5 will catch a lot of different types of critters.
Set #6 is how you catch thousands of rats fast.

If I were you, I'd double spring those longsprings that you have, and go at it with a combo of the above two sets. Throw some conis in for fun.

Thanks very much for the info!

I picked up some 220's and a couple each 1.5 and 2 under spring(?) traps.

I'm assuming the 1.5 and 2 traps are "coil spring" if they are new. An underspring trap is also called a "jump trap" and haven't been made in a couple of decades.

Those bigger traps will pull rats to the bottom pronto, and will hold coons as well. If you think you'll catch coons with the 2 size, try to keep them standing in water or else they will chew their own toes off on a trap that large.

The 1.5 is about the perfect all-purpose water trap.

Yes, coil spring traps. Duke. Pretty affordable. I never used them as a boy.....I was not strong enough to set them.

I had never thought of that, a trap being large enough to allow an animal access to the underside.

So much to know!

I thought I could use the 2's on a dirt hole set for coyotes.

Thanks again!

Hoping the rats come back. Most of my ponds where I used to see rats are dry.

Some of them have a little water again.

Rat ponds are mostly dried up here over the past couple of years as well.

Last year, rats on the carcass were only bringing 50 cents around here. Not worth it except for a little fun.

If you want to make any money, go for coyotes.

This book was my bible when I was starting out.

https://www.amazon.com/Trapping-American-Furbearers-Hawbaker-paperback/dp/B0031TRYY2

Check with your state trappers assc. Some have trapping classes, MN used to and I believe PA had a very good trapping book.

I have about a dozen legholds myself. Locally, a trapper safety course is required first. I may have to find time for the course.

Rather than trying to learn from a book, I would recommend getting a few videos, they will cut the learning curve tremendously and a lot quicker.

I never rat trapped so I can't help with that. For coyotes, I recommend Mark June's Coyote Trapping Vol 1 and 2. There are other good ones but those are the best.

Equipment has advanced a lot in recent years. A lot probably because you have to be able to hold coyotes just about anywhere in the lower 48 now. Figuring out what equipment you want to use is something the videos can be useful for as well.

Thanks for the info and suggestions everyone.

Got a few traps out this morning for some prairie dogs.

My neighbors dog town is crawling today! I could just shoot em........but the kids and I had fun.

I have a picture of the kids and I with a prairie dog caught in a 110.

Be damned if I know how to post it.