Muskrat vandalism

[Guest]

A week or so ago I had left my boat in the water over night at my grandparents place b/c i was going to be out fishing early in the morn.
There has been this muskrat roaming around and has been in the bays (including the one I'm in) quite a bit lately. But this one is smart and mean. He only likes to show up late at night to wander around, looking for things to fulfill his needs.
Well, when I came out in the morn to go fishing, I found that this muskrat came and chewed all of our cables off the back of our boat. There was one for the speed, lowrance depth finder and a vexilar high speed depth finder. But the vexilar one can be repaired b/c he left some for us to splice back together.
The next night i didn't leave the boat in the water but my grandparent pontoon got it, their depth finder cable got snipped.
So what do you guys think is a good idea to get rid of this varmint? I don't really feel like staying up until 1:00am and shooting it. What do you guys have in mind?
This one is smart, he learned after his buddies all got knocked off during the day. He likes small wires and is a night time roamer in this bay. Any ideas?

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Fish ON!

[kslipsinker]

Put a leg trap out with wire for bait.

[BarryG]

Put a little wire with 110 hooked to it!
FRIED RAT!

[waterwolff]

Barry has the right idea just make sure the cord is not GFCI protected that should take care of your fury friend

[brian6715]

I think e-bass is just the man you want to talk to, he seems to have a little experience in getting rid of nuisance critters, it's just you might lose your boat or a good chunk of your house in the process! Back in the day we used to set out cattail root rigged up on our icefishing rods right outside thier holes then walk back about 40 feet (they cant see). Well the little punks would grab on and we would yank just enough to get them out of thier holes than go pick them off with the bb gun. But hey you would probably get a lot of prison time if u tried this today! But whatever it takes....
Brian

[Guest]

Naw we take the .22, LOL and it still takes 2 or 3 shots to kill them. But this one i cant shoot b/c it comes in at night unless i catch it during the day.
Ya i was thinking about fried rat too but id like to torture it alittle bit more. He [PoorWordUsage]ed me off.
I'll maybe take Ebass ideas and put something together. I got Fireworks! Do ya think, Bombs Bursting in the Air, will work? LOL!

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Fish ON!

[brian6715]

Here we go again!

[EBass]

Where's Granny on this one? First you need M-80's, some gas, roman candles, and.... j\k of course.

Hmm, it likes to chew on wires huh? I wonder if you can rig two batteries together on the dock and have the wire drag in the water. Then he starts chewing and ZAP!! Just a theroy, but I think the shooting it would be the best move. Have someone with a spotlight shine em then POW,BANG,ZOOM right in the kisser.

Do you have power by the dock? There's some company that makes some thing that emits some high pitch freq to send those pest away. I can do some digging and get you a email address.

[Granny]

I was going to jump on this one too, but I took it a little to far on the ground wasps. I have never heard of something like this happening. I would get a spot light and a .22 with a scope and head out on a midnight ride. If a spot light is not available use a high power mag light and tape it to the barrel of the gun. Be carefull of whats in the background in case the bullet skips off the water!

[Flashman]

use a shotgun, for Muskrat I'd go with 5 shot. you don't have to worry so much about skipping lead accross the lake and you won't have to be as percise with the aiming thing.

My dad uses #4buck when the Beavers get out of hand at the pond behind our cabin.

Goodluck hunting.

[TUMBLEWEED]

I second the shotgun. Much safer then
the 22. A cheap way to keep your
neighbors from alerting "the man"
when you out there shining the spotlight,
is instead go to office depot and buy one of those cheap laser pointers. Using duct
tape, install to stock or barrel of the
shot gun.Do a quick dry sight-in to adjust
point of aim. Then wait for dark, and
watch for the tell tale "V" that they
make as they swim!! Align up dot. FIRE!!
Mission over, return quickly to base.

As always, should you or any members of your crew be caught and captured, the secretary
will not be held accountable!!!!

P.S. The #000 buck is impressive on the
rat's cousin the beaver, but #4 or 5
shot will do the job....

[fishinphyl]

We use to have a german shepard husky cross female dog that would kill the muskrats in our pond all the time. The only problem was she brought them up to the house and placed them under the pine tree right in front of the house! So any time someone came to our house they were greeted by a really nice sight and smell. UGH Now we have a border collie and she pays no attention to them at all and we no longer have yard ornaments.

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Phyl

[Benny]

Get a number 0,1 or a 2 leg hold trap.
Place two 3 inch diameter 4 foot long logs together to make a small raft.Place a 8 inch high stick right in the middle, with an apple(in your case wires)on the stick.Place a trap on each side, anchored to the raft with enough steel wire to let it fall off and sink a foot or so.Instand meal on a raft, feels safe out aways from shore,taste apple(wires) as a treat.Klank,splash,bubble-buble,DEAD RAT!!!

This raft set up worked great for me when I used to trap them pests up North.
Benny

P.S Be sure to anchor the raft down on both ends so it won't swing around to much and spook it.

[This message has been edited by Benny (edited 08-27-2003).]

[Surface Tension]

TUMBLEWEED absolutely look for the V

[protrapper]

Buy a 110 conibear at fleet farm. put a carrot on the trigger. Run a stick through the spring eye to stabalize the trap. Put in water where the rat swims. carrot is for bait and attracter.

Just so you know shooting beavers is illegal. And why would you shoot on the water????

Lets use our heads here. Wanton waste.

[This message has been edited by protrapper (edited 08-28-2003).]

[EBass]

What was the outcome of the varmit?

[Guest]

Havent got that far yet. Mabye I will get a chance this weekend or next weekend to get the muskrat, somehow. I dont know how im going to kill him yet but i got all week to decide. But when i get the chance I'll get right on it.

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Fish ON!