Posted: 7/9/2011 11:54:08 PM EDT
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So I had a family of muskrats move into my pond last year and my immediate thought was to start poppin them in the head with a 22. I was lazy though and didn't do that right away. I've been watching them though and the patriarch of the bunch swims all around all day long and has at this point taken out every single cattail in the pond (which isn't a bad thing) and taken them back to his little hidey hole. He stacks them up just outside the den and pulls them in as needed and I can only imagine how decked out that hole is inside. There is a huge snake that always lays on top of the stack and I've come to find out that Northern water snakes hang out with muskrats and I'm like WTF? Apparently they have some kind of simbiotic relationship and now the snake has had babies too and they are all over. I wasn't prepared for the ecosystem that developed when I built my pond and it is now so chock full of critters, lots of pond sliders, big bull frogs and ducks and now these guys. All I wanted was epic bass and it delivers on that too, but I can't decide whether I should go ahead and start poppin muskrats before they tear the whole damn thing down. 
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Quoted: Suckers also are a carrier for rabies. Supposedly it appears when it's dry. But people do eat them and make stuff from them up here. Forgot to add they do eat fish. Dad hooked a trout a couple of years back in a deep pool in that river. We noticed the fish looked odd underneath the water. When dad got it close to the surface there was a damn muskrat trying to wrestle that fish under control. The muskrat eventually let go, the fish was torn up, and about a minute later the damn thing crawled up the other bank with another fish in tow.  |
| I haven't seen the muskrats eat fish. That doesn't mean they don't though. My biggest contender is a big blue heron that shows up every morning for breakfast. That dude knows how to fish and I want to kill him so bad because he keeps taking my fish. But he is protected by state law. |
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Quoted:
I haven't seen the muskrats eat fish. That doesn't mean they don't though. My biggest contender is a big blue heron that shows up every morning for breakfast. That dude knows how to fish and I want to kill him so bad because he keeps taking my fish. But he is protected by state law. LOL, I've had terrible problems with herons over the years. Two years ago, found one that looked like it exploded. Feathers everywhere! Picked clean! Couldn't figure out WHAT did it! Found another a few weeks later, then soon after, SAW two eagles killing one. Everytime it'd try to fly they'd whump it back to the ground. Picked it CLEAN! Now, I know the eagles still take a fair numer of fish, but I feel much better knowing they are killing those freakin GB herons! Aslo, over at Blackwater NWR, there is a GREAT series of photos of a GB swallowing a muskrat. Talk a bout a neck bulge! 
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Quoted:
I haven't seen the muskrats eat fish. That doesn't mean they don't though. My biggest contender is a big blue heron that shows up every morning for breakfast. That dude knows how to fish and I want to kill him so bad because he keeps taking my fish. But he is protected by state law. the three s system works best 
ETA: After checking there conservation status, they are not on any list. So no one will look into you're missing bird.
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Quoted:
I wasn't prepared for the ecosystem that developed when I built my pond and it is now so chock full of critters, lots of pond sliders, big bull frogs and ducks and now these guys. All I wanted was epic bass and it delivers on that too, but I can't decide whether I should go ahead and start poppin muskrats before they tear the whole damn thing down. I'm not a fisherman or anything, but this whole thing sounds cool as hell. As long as you can keep fishing there effectively and none of the critters are harshing your buzz, why mess with a good thing? |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I haven't seen the muskrats eat fish. That doesn't mean they don't though. My biggest contender is a big blue heron that shows up every morning for breakfast. That dude knows how to fish and I want to kill him so bad because he keeps taking my fish. But he is protected by state law. the three s system works best
ETA: After checking there conservation status, they are not on any list. So no one will look into you're missing bird. They're migratory and there's no known hunting season of them, so while common, fines will be steep. That said, if the OP spent a shitload of money digging and stocking that pond he might think a potential fine is worth it. |