Mousetrap?

[saiga7]

i was watching Les build a trap with big rocks, sticks and strings to catch a rodent. so i thought, why not include a strong mouse/rat trap (or 2) in a bugout bag?

they're pretty light and much more effective and easier than a snare. $2 at Home Depot. $3 for a fancy plastic one. just tie it to a rock with a thick string to prevent the animal from limping away with it.

[corndog-44]

Hey, why not. I think I would go with the rat trap.

[Fog_Harbor]

Sounds logical. The trap rarely kills instantly, so tying it woud have to be with something it couldn't chew through. There's also the fact that you'd have a lot of scent on the thing that might just have a deterent effect on wild rodents, such as the paint on it.

It seems you could also use it to fish with if you placed in in a slow stream, or an eddy??

[nell67]

In another thread earlier (way earlier) someone had mentioned attatching a rat trap to a tree and bait it to catch squirrel.

[trax]

ask people who trap furs for a living how easy all that is...:)

[scabbyota]

I've done some trapping and I think a #1 or #1 1/2 steel trap could bring in plenty meat for the table.

[saiga7]

i want to try the mousetrap out but i don't like to kill something and not eat it. and i really don't want to eat some nasty squirrel when i don't have to.

[pilgrim]

ever ate a squirrel? some friends and i went out hunting small game for a few days and just eating what we killed... The squirrel/rabbit stew with wild onions was prettty darn good to a bunch of cold wet campers!

[nell67]

squirrel is not nasty, LOL it is very good meat.

[RobertRogers]

Not a bad idea. How about a #2 steel trap too.

[warrigal]

It wouldn't be hard to rig a mousetrap to provide a lighter trigger on a heavier trap.
Carl

[corndog-44]

Talking to some friends the other day and I asked them if they would eat a rat or mouse. I almost fell off the stump when they told me they had and that rats & mice living in the woods are delicious, particularly good if made into a stew. (They said that if I didn't believe them just go "ask a cat".

To prepare them, skin them, empty them and boil them at least 10 minutes, cook them with the liver & add Dandelions. Cut off the head and tail of course. Never tried them, myself.

[dilligaf2u2]

I love when someone says I would never eat this or that. They are the same ones standing on the street corner, after a disaster, saying "Where is the help"? Katrina showed a lot of them yelling about where is the government to take care of them!

I have been to country's where rodent was the primary meat protein. A rat trap works well for squirrel. Drill a hole in it and screw it to a tree. Dinned will be served soon. It works well for Ground Squirrel and Chipmunk too.

Don

[HOP]

A quality rat trap woud be an asset to your kit a lot less time consuming than making a figure four for a dead fall and I kinda like the fish idea ,don't know how wel it will work but I like it.

[flandersander]

I used to use rat traps on the farm for gofers. They worked great. What else you could do is take a bunch of gofur leg hold traps and hook them to a pole at a 45 dagree angle. set them and wait for a squirrel to step on in. he would jump off and hang there until you found him. Any other ideas?

[Rick]

When I first read this I thought, "No way." The more I think about it, though, the more convinced I am this is an excellent idea. Thanks Saiga, I think you've come up with a spark of brilliance. Now the boys are really going to eye each other when their old man pulls out the rat traps. (chuckle)

[LarryB]

:) Hey there Saiga7, what a great idea you've shared here! :) You can look in a lot of books on survival and you won't see any mention of your awesome innovation. About three years ago, I stuck an el cheapo, ol' school mouse trap in one of my survival kits along with a new set of surgical rubber bands, to make it a sort of luxury kit. Never thought any more about it till seeing your kool post here to-day. The regular rat trap will indeed break a tree rats neck as fast and efficiently as it does a regular city type rat. This idea of yours needs WAY more investigation and field testing from the boys in here to perhaps start a whole new trend on what to put in your car, boat, 4 wheeler, ski-do or BOB survival kit. Love it! :cool:

Chow 4 now,

lb

[flandersander]

Sounds logical. The trap rarely kills instantly, so tying it woud have to be with something it couldn't chew through. There's also the fact that you'd have a lot of scent on the thing that might just have a deterent effect on wild rodents, such as the paint on it.

It seems you could also use it to fish with if you placed in in a slow stream, or an eddy??

Actually rat and mouse traps almost always kill instantly. They aren't smart enough to know to chew through the string to get away. The paint or even the mouse blood has no effect on even the most wild mouse. Heck you could pee on the thing and the mouse would still come in for a tiny piece of bait.