Now don't get me wrong here, I have no problem with my cattails going away...but what could be digging them up? I've noticed several "clumps" of cattails laying horizontally on top of the water, roots and all. While this seemed great at the time, I'd like to maintain some proper "balance" by leaving a few of them in there. In addition, I want to make sure I don't have a nuisance animal of some sort in my pond that could create even more problems.

Thoughts?

Sounds like you have a muskrat or two.

or three or four! It's little muskrat time now......

Muskrats.

Nip 'em in the bud.

I was afraid that was the answer. Unfortunately I haven't seen them yet. I usually subscribe to the Smith & Wesson removal method. Is there a better solution?

Give your local COOP a call and ask if they know of any trappers in your area, it worked for me and the price was a few adult beverages.

Ruger 10/22, Anschutz This should do it! or Conibear 110.

Conibear 110's (or the knock-offs I was able to obtain locally) never sleep.

I've heard that keeping the grass trim around the pond will eliminate some of their habitat and annoy them enough to leave.
Also, according to the Illinois Department of Conservation in Fisheries Bulletin #5 they state:

"muskrats may be trapped during the open season, or they may be driven from the dam area by drilling holes at 3-4 foot intervals on the upstream face of the dam about two feet back from the waters edge. Extend the holes about two feet below the water line. Place four to five ounces of creosote, calcium carbide, or napthalene in each hole and fill the holes with dirt or sod. When a digging muskrat comes in contact with the treated area, he will usually leave the area."

Sorry I don't have an e-link, this is just an old document we have laying around the office. Muskrats can wreak havoc on aeration tubing. This document also suggests flucuating the water level by 1-2 feet every 3-4 weeks until they leave.

One final kind of humurous suggestion from a different document put out by the Dept. of Interior and USFS (1983) is frightening them, and I quote, "gunfire will frighten muskrats, especially those that get hit, but is not effective in scaring the animals away from a location." I suppose that in this case you have to pick the dead ones off the shore and dispose of them in order to get them to leave the area .

When I was younger I once asked an old timer at a gun show what he thought the best deer hunting rifle was. He said a .22 and a flashlight. Never thought I would pass that info along to anybody else but seems like it might work in your situation.

Eliminate their food source completely which are cattails. Use a systemic herbicide vs. one that only kills on contact though. The systemic takes longer but it kills the cattail all the way down to the roots vs. the contact herbicide that allows the rhizome (roots) to survive.

Way ahead of ya, Cecil. I sprayed my cattails two weeks ago with Pondmaster, which is a systemic (glyphosate) with a surfactant added.

Just playing the waiting game now and watching them turn brown. It'll soon be time to chop them down.

I bet that is your problem. I have never sprayed them but maybe your roots are rotting making the clumps rip out and float around. I am just guessing.

We'll soon find out. I'm pulling an Elmer Fudd tonight at dark down by the pond.

Good for you Derek. I keep forgetting most people are usually way ahead of me.

Keep us posted after your Elmer Fudd event.

FWIW, when I sprayed mine with glyo/2,4-D (amine)/surficant mix they just died and stayed in place, even next spring they were still there. No floaters just brown and bent over.

esshup,

Based on past experience, you're going to have to cut them down to the water line once they're dead if you want them gone completely. That's what I did last year and will do again in a week or two. They don't pull up any easier when dead.

On another note -- stayed up most of the night Friday waiting for a muskrat sighting. No muskrats, but lots of herons. Caught four nice CC before going to bed the next morning.

Deer will pull up cattails. If this is the culprit, you should see tracks. More stealth will be needed to catch them in the act. Had a couple deer using a very small earthen pond in my backyard as a swimming hole but was not willing to stake it out all night. After a few weeks of having a mudhole, I bought a sprinkler with a motion sensor that did the trick.