- The muskrat is about 20 inches long, including its 9-inch tail, and adults weigh 2 to 5 pounds. - Muskrats generally have a reddish-brown upper body with grayish-brown coloration farther down. - ...

We were touring the neighborhood backroads one summer evening when the kids noticed a sleek movement through a small pond. At first, we thought it was a beaver, but its smaller size and — once we got ...

Muskrats are a large, semi-aquatic animal belonging to the vole or lemming family, not the rat family. The name “musk” comes from scent glands near its tail, that gives off a strong “musky” odor.

GOLDEN HILL, MD. — How do you skin a muskrat? Let’s ask an expert. Here’s Dakota Abbott, 17, the only woman to win a muskrat-skinning contest and the Miss Outdoors pageant. Her father and uncle, both ...

This time of year, I often see a muskrat gracefully swimming along the surface of our pond with a mouth full of greens. At a certain location, the animal dives down and enters its bank den with a ...

Muskrats tend to get overlooked — we're all aware of beavers and their role in building wetlands with their dams and impacting surrounding woodlots by cutting down valuable timber, but you don't hear ...

Biologists at Voyageurs National Park are counting on the voracious appetite of rodents to help contain a cattail invasion. Several decades ago, cattails with narrow leaves and short, brown flower ...

Tom Hardisky believes he knows the reason why muskrats have been on the decline in Pennsylvania. Problem is, there might not be a solution. Muskrat populations have declined over the last 25 years and ...

Growing up, in northeast Ohio in the early 1970s, trapping was a huge part of what my father and I did every Fall. And while we didn’t specifically target muskrats, they were our bread and butter. Why ...

Mike Walker stepped out of his canoe and onto the banks of Pitts Creek. He swayed as thick mud nearly swallowed his boots whole. Unfazed, he trudged toward firmer ground near the edge of the Virginia ...