| Early
settlers of coastal Louisiana found a bounty of income in
the form of muskrat furs. After several cold fronts, trappers
knew that the muskrat’s fur had grown long and thick
and was prime for the fur market.
Once the trapper located a colony, indicated by mounds of
grass constructed by the muskrats, he would set his traps
in the “runs” or trails used by the semi-aquatic
rodent. Many types of traps were used. They included the
long spring, used in shallow water; coil spring, which worked
better in deeper water; the conibear, which actually required
the muskrat to pass through the trap; and the stop loss,
which greatly increased catches by reducing escapement.
Traps
would be left overnight. Muskrats are primarily nocturnal
creatures, and on cold nights they actively move and feed.
Early the next morning, the trapper would return to his
traps eager to see how successful his efforts had been.
In remote areas, the trapper would build a camp in the marsh
where his entire family would spend months at a time. Everyone
in the family had to work long hours to keep up with the
trapping operation.
In
areas where the trapper had to travel long distances, muskrats
were skinned in the field and the pelts carried in a sack.
This reduced the trappers load when walking in the boggy
marsh. Upon finding a successful trap, the trapper removed
the muskrat and reset the trap. Next he got out his razor-sharp
skinning knife.
He
skinned the muskrat by making cuts from the tail to the
foot down the back of each hind leg. Next he would reach
under the skin on the back, separating it from the carcass.
The skin was then pulled over the animal turning it inside
out. Around the head the trapper had to take care to make
cuts at the base of the ears so that they remained on the
pelt. This was a requirement by the fur buyers. A quick
skinner could skin a muskrat and be on his way to the next
trap in a matter of seconds. This was necessary since he
may have hundreds of traps to check daily, and his day wasn’t
finished until all the traps were run.
Back at the camp, furs had to be washed to remove blood,
dirt and mud. Then they were scraped of excess flesh and
put on a stretcher to dry. After the pelts were dry they
were removed from the stretchers and stored in a cool, dry
place. When the trapper had a good load of furs they were
sold to a fur buyer. The buyer would grade the pelts after
examining them for holes or other imperfections and by running
his hand inside the pelt to feel the thickness and length
of the fur. The buyer and trapper would negotiate a price,
and the furs were sold.
This seasonal way of life continued for decades across coastal
Louisiana. During the early 1900s, Louisiana’s fur
industry involved more than 20,000 trappers and 1,000 fur
buyers and dealers. Muskrat populations exploded during
that period with the harvest peaking at more than 9 million
pelts worth $12 million in 1945. This production was more
than occurs now in the entire United States.
In 1937, the nutria was held in captivity in Louisiana near
Avery Island. In 1940, a hurricane hit the area and nutria
escaped changing the history of fur trapping and coastal
Louisiana forever.
Free
in the coastal marshes, nutria, a much larger rodent than
the muskrat, was in a near perfect habitat. Like most exotic
species, in the absence of their natural enemies, the South
American native multiplied rapidly. In 1955, the Louisiana
Department of Wildlife and Fisheries estimated that there
were 20 million nutrias in Louisiana. By 1962 the nutria
surpassed the muskrat in numbers harvested. Between 1962
and 1982, coastal trappers averaged harvesting more than
1.3 million nutria each year, representing 64 percent of
the total catch and 60 percent of the total value of all
furs harvested.
Fur trapping has been a source of income for coastal residents
since the settlement of this area. However, today it is
also viewed as a valuable marsh management tool. Muskrats
and nutrias can do serious damage to marshes by eating out
large areas of vegetation.
Most
nutria today are harvested for the bounty on their tails,
as part of the Louisiana Coastwide Nutria Control Program,
funded by the Coastal Wetland Planning, Protection and Restoration
Act (CWPPRA). For more information on controlling nutria,
visit www.nutria.com/site10.php.
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