Pond has been quiet – in that each day it looks the same as it looked the day before. In other words – the muskrats have not been active.
Are they gone? Or just laying low?
No new broken reeds. No half chewed bits of reed floating about. The surface holes to their dens have not been repaired. And they have not been used in over a week either. Nor have their underwater entrance holes shown signs of use. And there are no indications of new underwater entrances having been dug.
But the west bank reed patch is still relatively thick, and still capable of hiding underwater entrances to that bank, and the dens I know are still in that bank. But still, I see no reed bits floating about among those reeds – which would be there, if muskrats were at work.
Time will tell. But assuming the worst for now – and trapping continues.