Scouting

Pre-season scouting helps you identify specific locations for sets and make plans for the equipment you will need. By planning ahead, you will be able to:

• Set your traps as soon as the season opens.
• Make sets and leave the area quickly, without making excessive commotion that could alert wary furbearers.

Try scouting for fur on an autumn fishing trip. October is a good month for scouting.

• Look first in wetland areas: creeks, rivers, ponds, lakes, swamps, and marshes. Furbearers are most numerous around water. This makes water areas best for trapping.
• In the fall, also look near sources of food.
  • Furbearers fatten in the fall while food is still plentiful.
  • Signs of muskrat are common in wetlands near fields of corn. Raccoons often gather in or near cornfields.
• Remember that each furbearer leaves some distinctive sign. To scout effectively, you must learn to recognize signs of furbearers.
  • Signs include tracks, scat (droppings), food remains, trails, and homesites.
  • Places to watch for tracks include soft mud, trails leading in and out of the water, feeding locations, and dens.
  • Muskrat tracks often can be recognized by the tail drag mark. Raccoons leave large hind footprints shaped much like a baby's foot. Mink tracks are usually paired.
  • The scat of each furbearer are often distinctive in size, content, or place of deposit. Scat may point the way to good trapping sites.
  • Muskrats leave their pellets on rocks or logs protruding from the water. The large scat of raccoons are deposited on logs or drift piles, and they are often filled with corn, berries, grapes, and other fruit.
• Make notes and sketches to record what you see. Include numbers. For example, record the following information:
  • The number of furbearers present
  • Locations where productive sets can be placed
  • The number of traps needed