Beaver & Muskrat in your areas?

[willyp]

How do they seem. Are they around?

[good ole boy]

I haven,t seen any Rats in awhile and never seen a Beaver but know where they have been in my area.

[cspot]

Muskrats have been on a major decline in PA and many states. Don't think they have figured out why either?

[Deleted]

We had beavers in the one valley. I believe there were all trapped out though. Sucks they were in an area where they weren't bothering anybody.

[redarrow]

Very few muskrats anywhere that I know of. It used to be common to see their droppings on most rocks and logs that stuck up from the water of most streams. It's rare to see it these days.

I usually have a few beaver in the stream that flows through my property. My sons and I trapped a few each year until last winter. The downstream neighbor had a pair of trappers come onto his place in the '15-'16 season. They trapped 13 beavers that year and I have seen no sign of them since. I expect beaver to be back at some point, I just hope the other guy will use some common sense and leave a few for seed like my sons and I always did.

[longbeard2372]

I see far more beaver and beaver sign then i do muskrat here in Lancaster and also in Potter county. As for muskrat i see maybe 1 or 2 a year here in Lancaster. I think thier limited numbers in the past were a result of farming chemicals and other pollution. But i think a lot of that stuff has been "cleaned" up. I think the reason they havent repopulated the last 15 yrs is because of all the birds of prey flying around and mink have made a huge return in my areas.

[Dutch]

Great Horned owls also take a toll on muskrats.

There are many fewer beavers in Pine Creek. Rare to see them now. Were once common.

Rats, well, about the same as the beavers.

[dougell]

Just remember,a clean beaver gets more wood.

[bear]

There use to be lots of Rats in Big Rivers. In the 80's I once got 50 rats in one day. The big problem with this type of trapping is if it rains a great deal your traps may be under 6 ft of water or more.


I was trapping a big river in PA. 2015  2 rats 1 mink 14 days.    I'd say the rat population is in big trouble. I think you can find small pockets of them in areas that have good food.

[bushmaster]

Lots of beaver out at my club. They've done a ton of damage to trees along our lakes. We had a club trapper, but he passed a few years back. I've seen a few muskrat as well, but not lately. This is in Washington County.

[Dutch]

A trapper friend saw fresh muskrat sign at a groundhog hole, well away from any water course.

My brother finds sign, during warmer months, but when it gets colder, it disappears. Same thing happens at camp along Pine Creek.

Is there something messing up their ability to handle cold water? Something causing hypothermia??

[redarrow]

I love trapping beavers and muskrats. There are so few muskrats now that I wouldn't trap one on purpose except for a few that I trapped for a guy who was afraid they'd cause his dam to leak last year.

I didn't trap beavers the last two years for a couple reasons. First of all I never sold any of the last several I did trap. They are all dried and in the freezer except for a few I gave to guys for wall hangings. Secondly, the population in the stream that flows through my property is way down. My downstream neighbor hates the things and when I stopped trapping them he had a couple other guy come in and they leave none for seed. I don't hold it against the neighbor for wanting them out. They killed about half a dozen of his very old apple trees a few years ago.