Muskrat Trapping in Maine ~An Outdoors, Maine Post!

(Warning:  This blog post contains pictures of dead animals & the processing of those dead animals.)

I have always been attracted to & interested in long-held professions.  
The farming I grew up surrounded by.
Watching lobster boats on the Maine coast.
Gold mine in Lead, South Dakota.
It's intriguing to think of the generations who have worked in very similar ways of previous generations.

Trapping.  The fur trade.

It seems timely, as Kevin & Micah just received their paycheck back from the furs they sold & as this was just in our local paper:

http://bangordailynews.com/2015/03/14/outdoors/a-tradition-worth-savoring-trapping-helps-bring-carmel-family-closer/ 

..to talk about trapping!  We don't claim to be experts.  (Especially me!  I am merely the storyteller!)  We certainly aren't paying the mortgage with it.  We like to dabble in a bit of this & a bit of that and enjoy the journey & see if anything sticks.  But even if nothing 'sticks' the adventure is always well worth it!  Primarily Kevin & Micah have trapped muskrats, but they have also got a couple of beavers.

This is the 3rd season that my son, Micah, has been trapping.  He started when he was 9 years old.  As a taxidermist, my husband has enormous experience with furs, obviously.  He had a bit of experience with trapping, both in Maine as a kid and also in Alaska.  

3 years ago furs were going for a very good price.  Due to the conflict in the Ukraine, the price has gone down, as muskrat furs primarily are sold to China and Ukraine.  Even so, trapping muskrat has been a way for Micah to make a bit of money.  He used his trapping earnings plus birthday money from his parents to buy an ipad mini a couple of years ago!  

Even this change in prices has proven a learning experience in the global economy & how conflicts, even half way around the world, can affect us.  Micah has been able to learn through reading about trapping - the 'how-to's' and history and regulations.  He has learned through doing- the time spent in the outdoors, observing how animals live and observing weather conditions.  He has learned through skinning and stretching the animals.  Anatomy, certainly!  He has learned many more lessons than just the obvious ones.  

One of the biggest benefits of trapping is being in the Great Outdoors.  Glorious.  "For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made..." -Romans 1:20.  The universe is singing all His glory!  "Everywhere I look you are.  Deep & wide, near & far..." -Phil Keaggy.  Glorious but also just so good for us.  We are happier & healthier when we spent time outside.

I have to be honest.  I wasn't sure that Micah would have an interest in trapping.  When he was 8 years old we celebrated Leap Day on February 29, in part, by dissecting frogs.  He had a bit of a hard time with this experience.  

I try to be careful about  pushing things on Micah.  I believe that he needs to have a say in what he does.  If it were up to me he would still be taking piano lessons!  I really wanted him to continue ballet this year.  However, this year would have required ballet classes during the week and also on Saturday and he really just didn't want to take classes on Saturday.  So we didn't push it.  No ballet then.  We have never, ever pushed hunting on any of the kids.  I personally did not grow up in a hunting family.  We got our meat through farming.  My step-daughter did grow up with both of her parents hunting.  However, she showed little interest and was scared of guns when she was younger.  She did get a moose permit and she did shoot the moose- by her choice- and I think that was a wonderful experience for her.  Noelle has zero interest in hunting & frankly I don't blame her!  Micah likes learning about different types of guns but he really doesn't want to shoot them.  It truly makes no difference to us.  He did go bear hunting this past fall with a cross-bow and shot a bear this way, since he wanted to hunt but didn't want to use a gun.  

So we did not push trapping on him.  We informed him and let him decide if he wanted to try it.  

It is a lot of work!

I liken some of the trapping experiences, (from my observation point), Kevin & Micah have had to my experiences with tapping trees last year!  I learned a ton.  It got me outdoors, exercising, learning.  It got me a bit of syrup!  However, there were a lot of frustrations!  I learned by doing the wrong things sometimes!  It was a lot of work for a little profit!  

Kevin & Micah have by no means been trapping a lot!  It's been a 'dabble.'  Kevin needs to work and Micah needs to go to school and the conditions need to be right and the desire there!  The trapped the least in the 2013-2014 season.  They began that season very excited about trapping.  Then they had some traps stolen and/or relocated.  That was pretty discouraging after the hard work they had put in.  Plus, life was just kinda more challenging that year, and there wasn't a lot of extra energy for trapping!  

Here is a bit of the process:

~Buy traps.  Prepare tags for your traps. 

~Prepare your traps!

 They dyed the traps so that they wouldn't rust but also so that they would 'smell like the woods.'  They used tree bark & leaves to dye the traps.

 They waxed the traps so that they wouldn't rust and so they would work smoothly.  This may be an unnecessary step for underwater traps.  But as I mentioned earlier, we learn!

 
~Get food for your traps!

 

 

 The first year they didn't start trapping until there was already ice.  The second and third years they tried some open water trapping.  They scouted out properties & asked for landowner permission.  They looked for evidence that muskrats lived there.  It is a good idea before there the ice is covered with snow to map out the muskrat runs so that you know where to set your traps. 

 They set their traps by first drilling a hole.  Set the trap, put the carrot on it and put it down the hole.  They use foothold traps & conibear traps

 They learned that it was a lot more work chipping out the traps when we have really cold weather.

 ~Success!  These pictures were taken in early 2013 & capture the first time Micah got a muskrat!

 

 Micah had prepared a lot & in the excitement he was the first to remember that he needed to rub the wet muskrat in the snow in order to dry it out!

 

 I guess I will admit right here that I don't think I was even aware that there was such a thing as a muskrat before they started trapping!  (Sad, I know!)  I am sure I must have seen the muskrat houses, which now I notice right away, but I guess I just never payed attention before!  I have learned that they are prolific animals.  Mink and coyote prey on them as well as birds of prey.  Muskrats are herbivores. 

 Sometimes The Boy gets tired.  And eats snow.  And rests!

 Basically, the muskrats must be skinned.  Quick work for a taxidermist, a bit for a boy to learn!

 We throw the meat out in the woods so that coyotes, bobcats & fishers can eat it.  After skinning the muskrats, they need to be fleshed.  This is what Kevin does for a career, so again, it's pretty easy for him.  It takes some practice for Micah to flesh the muskrat without putting holes in it.

 We found that a spoon works well too!

 After skinning the muskrats, they must be stretched & dried.  Then they are ready for sale.

 As mentioned in the newspaper article, I did insist that we try eating muskrat!  Now, I have to say that the Lord has provided plenty of food for our family through berry picking & our garden & yummy, raw goat milk & our chicken eggs & mostly through moose hunting & bear & deer hunting!  Now, should we need to, we know that we could handle eating muskrat.  However, since we do not need to, I would rather not!  There were a surprisingly few number of muskrat recipes I was able to find (!).  The meat is very dark and has an odor that is quite off-putting.  (Not because we punctured the scent glands!)

 While on his moose hunt this year, Micah also did some trapping and got a few muskrats in northern Maine.

3 years ago muskrats were selling for about $11 each.  This year they are about $6 each.  They sell primarily to China where they line hats & vests with them.

This year we are donating most of our earnings to help refugees in Syria. 

Maybe someday Micah will trap on his own.  

Maybe he will make some money for college.

Maybe he won't.

But without a doubt it has been & will continue to be an adventure!