I checked traps today. 46 sets, caught 16 muskrats and had 10 snapped traps. These are all bait sets using single spring 160's. Most of them were body caught. Did catch one by the face that a 110 would have missed. The amount of snapped traps bothers me but I did get to watch a rat swimming from it's hut out to some cattails and back. It made the vegetation under the water move around so I'm thinking sometimes the wave might push the bait on the trigger wires and fire the trap. Just a theory. I set around the huts, in areas that show feeding, and edges of cattails. When I set the huts I like to be back 5' or more. I don't look for the entrances. They are usually too hard to find. I also like setting between the main house and the smaller feed houses. I look for openings in the cattails above the ice between them. Most often this is the route taken under ice between them. When I set near the feed houses. I usually set the trap within 3' or closer of it. I also set the edge of the cattails where it meets deeper water. All the sets are under the ice about 2" to the top of the trap. I like using MB coni brackets to hold the trap to my stake. When the trap fires the muskrat sinks to the bottom. Nothing worse than a muskrat butt froze to the bottom of the ice. The area I'm trapping was trapped in the open season. More so this year than last. I don't know how hard. But it's the only place with enough ice to hold my butt. Hope this helps.
Shawn
