Page 153 - The Lost Ways

Personally, the biggest beaver I ever trapped weighed in unofficially at 98 pounds. People
came from all over town to see the monster. I got a lot of use out of the scale that day
because, of course, they wanted to see the weight themselves.

The thing is, his pelt wasn’t that good. He was old, and so the pelt was only given a grade
B at the trading post.

Their Local Habitats

Beavers rely on freshwater areas for
their habitats and mainly prefer
areas with running water; I’ve yet to
find any in stagnant waters at all.
They like to follow trails, and that’s a
good thing for a trapper. Once you
find a good trail, all that’s typically

needed is setting a good trap. We will
discuss how to find their trails a little
later.

Muskrats will inhabit many more
types of wetland areas than you’ll typically find beavers in. They will live in most any
wetlands with an abundant supply of aquatic vegetation, such as swamps, coastal and
freshwater marshes, lakes, ponds, and slow-moving streams. For the most part, they feed

on aquatic plants, including cattails, duckweeds, water lilies, arrowheads, and sedges.

That really turns out to be your key with trapping muskrat. If you don’t see anything they
would consider food, then you’re not likely to find any muskrats there.

Beaver, as you may know, eat mostly tree bark in the winter months in their huts or dens.
Their preference is for aspen trees, but they will feed on almost any trees that have a
good cambium layer to their bark. Cambium is the soft, smooth inner layer of the bark,
and beavers love it (and it’s also edible for humans). However, during the summer
months, they will feed on both bark and select aquatic plants.

The reason it’s important to know what each of these critters feed on is that it will make
you a much better trapper. Think about it…if you didn’t know what they eat, you’d be at

a disadvantage scouting places where you could be successful trapping them.

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