Leaving some for seed

[JODakota]

Question for you guys with colony traps. When trapping rats, when do you decide to pull the sets? Do you clean them out or leave some for seed?

[JODakota]

Nobody wants to touch this one huh?

[CoryTDF]

I'll touch it!

[Turner89]

I'm thinking I may have cleaned them out for awhile in my spot.

[JODakota]

I'll touch it!

Hahaha Cory, I don't believe there is anything you won't touch....

[3nails]

 Just about every drop of water is attached to another where I trap so "re-seeding isn't far away. I'll trap a spot until it isn't worth the gas to drive to it and move on. So far the same spots have produced equally over the years.

[JODakota]

I'm thinking I may have cleaned them out for awhile in my spot.

I understand when your restricted to cage traps that it can be hard to control your catch rate when it comes to rats. But there has to be a limit to how much you take, that is if you want to continually trap the same areas. My limits is 4 rats per hut, then I pull my traps. I bring this up because of a talk with one of our local game officers came out and found me on my line a couple weeks ago. We were talking and he was surprised I was using just leg holds. I told him I like to leave a few left over. He found that surprising because everybody will use colonies and wipe them all out. He told me he appreciated that, said he didn't see a lot of that anymore, so I was curious how you guys do it. Wipe em out or pull after a certain amount?

[eburgtrapper]

I dont worry able leaving any. Like 3nails said i leave traps til im not catching enough to make the drive. even where i live on the eastside, water connects every where and its not far for a new family to move in.

[pnwmtnmn]

I will set the traps for a set number of days and pull them, whether I am catching a large number of rats or not.

[buglebuster]

DISCLAIMER: I did this when I was 10-14 years old and just having fun!

I grew up on the wenas creek and over the winter I could catch a rat every couple of days using an apple slice set on the pan of the trap. I never ran out of rats to trap and that was with shooting a few here and there. I don't think I would worry about leaving any

[JODakota]

I will set the traps for a set number of days and pull them, whether I am catching a large number of rats or not.

That is nice to hear! Guys who are saying don't worry about leaving any will soon be going through what the north is. Muskrats are losing ground and quickly.

[3nails]

I will set the traps for a set number of days and pull them, whether I am catching a large number of rats or not.

That is nice to hear! Guys who are saying don't worry about leaving any will soon be going through what the north is. Muskrats are losing ground and quickly.

I can see where in drier regions this could be a concern. On the west side of the state, in most areas, there is so much water that can't be trapped combined with very few trappers it's not a concern.

[cat daddy]

I move traps every 2 days regardless. I get the cream the first night and a few stragglers the 2nd check then time to move. I trap the same ditches every year and catch about the same amount of rats