Hunting

Muskrat was usually hunted in winter and/or spring [11, 12, 14, 16, 21, 28, 43, 48, 49, 54, 55, 63, 73, 81, 83, 84, 87]. Traps (snare or steel), nets, spears, bows and arrows, and in recent times guns, were used for hunting muskrat [1, 4, 8, 9, 11, 12, 37, 43, 48, 49, 52, 54, 63, 64, 74, 79, 80, 83, 84, 88-90].

The Southwestern Chippewa used baited steel traps positioned along the shores of lakes and streams in winter [52]. The Kalispel dug muskrat out of its burrow and used club or bow and arrow to kill it [42]. The Western Abenaki dug or drove muskrat out of its riverbank den and also trapped muskrat in its lake dwelling [37]. The Salish of Middle Columbia River used shellfish to bait muskrat [50].

The Tutchone, Tagish and Tlingit used spring-pole snares positioned in the grass along muskrat trails; later they switched to steel traps, which they placed beside muskrat houses after snow cover started to clear from ponds. They also shot muskrat, luring them into shooting range by cupping their hands on their mouths to form the whining noise of a young muskrat [46]. Others lured muskrat with a teasing, “kissing” sound when traveling on water. Some hunters would scare the animals out of their houses so that when they surfaced through the air holes, community members, such as the hunter’s wife and children, would kill them with spear or bow and arrow. The muskrat was also shot as it swam in the water of spilled-over ice [56]. Yukon Indigenous Peoples used nets in runways below the lake: the ice was tapped with a bone chisel to determine the location of a runway – if one was found, an opening was made and a babiche or root net was placed inside with a little stick in front of the net and when the rat touched the stick, the net was pulled out with the animal trapped inside [11].

Muskrat hunting on lakes with canoes was an important springtime activity for the Chalkyitsik Kutchin (Gwich’in) in Alaska. When they spotted the bobbing heads, they rowed to within shooting distance and shot them with rifles. The hunter also lured the animal by squeezing his lips together to make a couple of low squeaking noises resembling the sounds made during mating season. When the animal came close enough he was shot in the head. After these methods of hunting were banned in Alaska in 1969, they placed traps at muskrat water holes [12].

The Red Earth Cree of Saskatchewan caught muskrat at “pushups” (vegetable meal remains that muskrats carried up via snow cavities) using a spear or foot traps or placed foot traps in muskrat lodges [49]. The Mistissini Cree hunted muskrat with bow and arrow, however after the 1970s they captured them in steel traps or shot them with a rifle [54]. If the trap was placed in late spring, a scent was smeared on the log at both sides of the trap [84]. The Anishnabeg (Ojibway) (Anishinabek) used deadfalls and placed nets in rivers and lakes [69]. The Micmac (Mi'kmaq) shot muskrat from canoes and placed traps in ponds, marshes and rivers [21].

Preparation

An individual muskrat yields only a pound of flesh, but when caught in large numbers, muskrat forms a considerable volume of food, of which many cultures took advantage [12]. Muskrat flesh was reported to be tender and tasty. The animal was roasted and/or boiled for immediate consumption or smoked or dried for later consumption [2, 11, 12, 17, 46, 61, 73, 74, 76]. Aside from the flesh, other parts eaten included the brain, head, liver, tail and skull [20, 74, 76].

The Upper Tanana first hung the whole carcass over a fire until the fur was burned off and the skin roasted, after which they boiled it. They also dried muskrat for later use as dog food by skinning the carcass, splitting it in the middle and drying it whole [73]. In spring, the Koyukon had communal feasts of recently slaughtered muskrat, ducks and geese [48]. Chalkyitsik Kutchin considered muskrat a delicacy, but also fed the meat to their dogs [12, 93]. In 1847, Murray writes that he found the Kutchin preparing a feast of “a lot of muskrats, moose fat and wild onions stowed in a vessel of birch bark” [13]. Chandalar Kutchin children ate roasted muskrat tail as a snack [74].

The Slavey (Sahtu) are thought to have rendered fat from muskrat [92]. The Hare are reported to have considered muskrat a delicacy [93] and Dene are reported to have smoked the flesh [91].

The Cree, Chipewyan and Métis of Wood Buffalo National Park dried the excess muskrat meat and took it back to their communities [28]. The Chipewyan removed and discarded the stomach and intestines at the site of the slaughter [9].

When there were many muskrat, the Mistissini Cree also dried the flesh [54]. Since Micmac hunted muskrat primarily for the fur trade, they ate them at the point of capture and did not take them back to the community [21].

The Penobscot skinned, cleaned and put muskrat legs on skewers, leaving the rest of the body to hang. The skewer was thrust in the ground near a fire, and the carcass was rotated until it was well roasted. They cooked the entrails of the carcass by placing them in ashes, removing them when they were well roasted, rinsing them and eating them. A common spring meal they prepared when muskrat was abundant was sikpe′s∙u, a dish made by stewing slivers of muskrat flesh. The eyes, brain, tongue and tail were delicacies; the tails extremely sweet. They fried the tails in sheets of fat, which made them tender and moist and ate the skull after it had been boiled [76].

Beliefs and taboos

A few Tagish and inland Tlingit believed that the bones should be returned to the water, but from the Tagish annual cycle, it appears that the bodies were fed to dogs and it was just the head that was cleaned and burned. The animal does not seem to be high in the spirit power world of the Tutchone, Tagish and Tlingit; nor does it appear as sib crests in their cultures [46].

In Mistissini Cree culture, the main part of the animal relating to honor is the head. The muskrat head was usually given to a young boy, while adult hunters received the head of larger animals [63]. The Iroquois considered it taboo to place a muskrat carcass on the ground after it had been skinned; they believed that doing so would cause the muskrat to be insulted, resulting in few or no muskrats allowing themselves to be captured [64]. The Micmac did not throw muskrat bones to the dogs, believing that this would prevent the hunter from catching the animal again [16].

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