Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Muskrat!! first sighting

We were losing pondwater last year unexplained....first mowing of the season yesterday I happened to be looking in the pond as I was slowly mowing over the dam. A large appearing muskrat came out from what appeared to be inside the dam under water. I could see him swimming back and forth trying to get away from the noise/vibration. First time I have seen one in our pond. So I can see the water leaking out the back of the pond dam I suppose I need to track it to the source...I love that it's solid blackberry in there by the way. But if I do find the source....wow...then what....set out traps? Then obviously a hole repair will be needed. I will go out and take some photos then post later.

A conibear trap should take care of them (there's always more than one). I got a depredation permit from our state wildlife agency a couple years ago so I could trap out of season. Just be careful of the laws in your state.

Also, on my pond, the dam is about ten times wider than the brushy area where the water runs into the pond. I had a hard time finding a likely spot for the trap. So, I put up some cheap plastic poultry netting across the narrow brushy area. a couple days later they had chewed a hole in it. Voila! The hole is the perfect place to set the conibear.

If you have never used one, be careful! Watch a youtube video on how to set one and even better, get some of the sticks they make to aid in the setting of them. I just use the rope method but would hesistate to recommend it to a novice. Good luck!

Welp...you're right about always more than one. Pictures loading. but I hiked around the back of the pond dam looking for trails. Way to much water back there and the mud will suck your boots off....there was even a spot where it was trickling! so back to the topside of the dam where I can finally spot those fresh earth mounds. They have been rained on so they don't look fresh but we've had a lot a lot of rain so it's worn off any tracks really. So I have located a half dozen likely holes in the dam although there is not water trickling out...I actually cannot track the source of the water...it seems to be seeping out in more than one place but below the bottom of the dam level? So...if I find the hole on the backside (dry side) of the dam is the logical entrance under water a fairly straight shot from the dry side? I wonder if I could find the holes using my gopro....so get rid of the rats and then what...will the holes fill in themselves or will I need to offer up some filler?

Nevermind...I'm not going to load images...our website is for horses so I would have to add a page and all that...several holes that are visible accompanied by the obvious diggings. I'm going to guess we have several...shall I just get traps and get started? I expect Jack (my german shepherd) frequents the pond at night so I should get those traps you're talking about? If I asked around are there people who would want these rats for their pelt? Maybe they would come and set traps.

You can load the pictures here onto the forums or use a free image hosting service like Imgur.com

imgur.com....very easy upload thank you Bocomo....will this work or do I have to load individual urls?

http://imgur.com/a/gVR25/all

oh I see...this works great...I needed to also mention that the pond dam on the water side is nearly straight up and down with little slope to it and...the pond is full of turtles. It's not quite an acre I don't think.