Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss My daughter's going to State!

"Muskrat Trapping in Ohio" is a two part project. Part 1 (which is what E did this Spring/Summer) can be done anytime; Part 2 involves actual trapping and can only be accomplished during trapping season (February IIRC).

Part 1 involves knowledge of muskrats themselves, their affect on aquatic environments (at low and way-too-high densities), the various types of suitable traps, and trapping layouts. Some of the optional activities she did include: 1) giving a presentation on body hold traps (110 conibears) at a 4-H club meeting, using a model conibear she built with K-Nex (think plastic tinker toys) (a steel conibear is too much spring strength for her hands right now), 2) making a model pond and taking photos that demonstrate the affects different densities of muskrats have on the shoreline, banks, and vegetation, and 3) building a full-size, operable box trap from hardware cloth and 3/16" diameter steel rods (joint project with Dad).

We aslo took a "field trip" to observe the little varmints. The 'rats at our pond are rather human-averse, probably due to all the fishing, mowing, and other activity there 12 months a year, and it's hard to get more than a glimpse of them as they jump under water. But there is a small pond across the road from us where we were able to get a good look at one which frequently eats grass up on the banks.