Trip wire bow trap.

[RandyRhoads]

Didn't make a good bow or a great set up just practice to get the basic idea of making it down.

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[Rick]

I'm sorry but I just can't see a practical need for that. Boobytraps often wide up killing or maiming the wrong animal/person. Perhaps it's nice to know how to build it but I try to spend my time on things I'll use. That's just my opinion of course.

[RandyRhoads]

It's more of a military trap if you're alone in enemy territory. Can't hurt the "wrong person" if you're in a completely hostile place. Couldn't hurt to learn as much as possible. Clearly this isn't something to set up while on a camping trip. I think I could see this being a good way to procure food in complete isolation, set up along a big game trail far away from people. Only thing i'm not sure about is the height of the trip wire deer are pretty high steppers aren't they?

[TresMon]

Not saying I agree or disagree, but I see folk that go through all kinds of labor pains and theatrics to make a deer trap, when deer traps are literally the easiest traps to make.

Find a good deer trail.
Tie a rope, you-made or store bought, off to a tree.
Make a large lasso.
Drape the top half of the lasso in the tree limbs over the trail, quite a bit higher than deer head high.
Let the bottom lasso half hang across the trail about thigh high on you.
Done.

3.6 minutes flat. Not cutting or whittling or driving stakes or *heavily scenting up the area.*
Deer walks through, bottom half of lasso contacts deer chest. Deer keeps walking, top half of lasso drops on deers back. Deer keeps walking. At some point the deer realizes something is snugging up round his neck. He panics and runs- and presto you show up tomorrow or the next day with a live, or dead deer on a leash.

Don't ask me how I know this is incredibly reliable and effective.

[RandyRhoads]

Don't ask me how I know this is incredibly reliable and effective.

Ha. But wouldn't that depend on having great cordage? I've never been able to cord anything I think would stand up to a deer trashing. Even snaring small game like raccoons and rabbits is normally done with cable/ really strong wire. The way I see it, can't hurt to learn as many as possible, you never know what situation you may find yourself in....

[TresMon]

Yes good cordage. The secret is the loop. Don't just make an eye loop out of the cordage- the loop on the end of the cord is what gets the most abrasion and breaks. Use a (small) caribiner, chain link, hollow vertebrae bone, section of leg bone etc. for the end loop.

[RandyRhoads]

Do you have any pictures of what you're talking about, or can you explain a little more? You just tie the end of cordage to said piece and attach to the piece back on the cord to make a sliding loop for the snare? I still can't imagine myself being able to make cordage that wasn't ridiculously thick able to stand up to the thrashing.

[TresMon]

yeah it's just a BIG snare.

From (this crazy old nut job that told me's) experience their is really not much thrashing. They just go to the end of the rope, pull hard against it and choke themselves out. Sure they wiggle their heads and such, but they don't go ninja-ginsu.

[RandyRhoads]

Never tried a deer so I have no idea. But every rabbit i've snared has thrashed so much it broke loose and got away. I was using military trip wire. Have to try some cable....

[TresMon]

Single strand wire and a static (no spring stick) snares often break. The critter twists the whar in two. Spring poles keeps whar fro being twisted in two, and keep critters from chewing through the string or cordage snare too if thats what your using.

[hunter63]

Tie a big fishing swivel in between the wire sections.

Deer on a leash will pull a 2X 4 thru the siding on a garage unless it gets caught on the studs......kinda hard to control it....

I'll pass on the bow snare/boobie trap, too much work for questionable results.

[Rick]

I am NOT going to ask how you know about the deer and the 2X4. Not gonna do it.

[TresMon]

Kind Mr. Hunter,
My friend Rick want's to know how you actually know a deer, affixed to a 2x4 can cause the entire assembly to pierce garage siding...

[Rick]

Oh, man. You don't ask Hunter questions like that. You watch, it will have something to do with a deer being shot but only grazed and it knocked him out and I'm not sure what the 2X4 was used for, can't be anything legal, then the deer wakes up in the garage, can't get the truck started so goes through the wall kind of a story. I've known him too long. Oh, yea. Fire will be in there somewhere.

[hunter63]

Yeah, was something like that......that's the ticket....Oh yeah, they will kich the bejuses out of the inside of a trunk lid on a '57 chevy as well.......Just mark that down as ....I never try THAT again.......I don't care how many beers you brought...............Put that fire out.

[TresMon]

Yeah, was something like that......that's the ticket....Oh yeah, they will kich the bejuses out of the inside of a trunk lid on a '57 chevy as well.......Just mark that down as ....I never try THAT again.......I don't care how many beers you brought...............Put that fire out.

HEHEHEHEHE!
I have a buddy that (used to) drive one of those little tin can economy cars. It was the day AFTER Front stuffer season and he saw a big deer on the side of the road. He still had the muzzle loader in his car so he shot the deer from the car, on the road, outta season. He trotted over and got the deer real quick like and crammed it in the little hatch back and drove off. Well- the deer managed to come too. My buddy ripped on the 'mergency brake right int he middle of the road and jumped out of the car. Just gave the car to the deer.

The deer managed to kick out three windows and just absolutly grenade the inside of the car. Junked the whole car out. It finally figured out how to get out of a car and ran off. Good for my out of season shoot'n buddy said me.

[Rick]

That sort of falls right in line with, "If three firecrackers will blow the bottle cap 25 yards off this glass bottle I wonder how many yards we can get with 5!?" That was a bad day in Flat Rock I'm here to tell you. 4 went off about the same time. If that wasn't enough glass shrapnel the 5th was a slow burn kicker on the end just to give you one more try at OMG! or whatever it was that came out our mouths (it could have been a lot worse than that I'm afraid).

[JPGreco]

Viet cong booby traps are still the best. Too much can go wrong with a bow trap IMO. A pit fall with spikes requires very little to make as well.


Personally, the roller pit fall is the nastiest one I've seen.

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[RandyRhoads]

That is a good one. The Viet cong had alot of nasty ones. I don't know why every body keeps saying the bow trap takes too much time for questionable results. Can't take much longer than setting up a pitfall/ pungee pit. If it's positioned right what could keep it from annihilating a persons body. Seems like a great anti personnel trap for sticks cord and little time to me.

[TresMon]

bo

That is a good one. The Viet cong had alot of nasty ones. I don't know why every body keeps saying the bow trap takes too much time for questionable results. Can't take much longer than setting up a pitfall/ pungee pit. If it's positioned right what could keep it from annihilating a persons body. Seems like a great anti personnel trap for sticks cord and little time to me.

Boobie trap's only function is to harass the enemy. They are terrorism "bombs" if you will, just without the "bang."

You and your buds are on patrol are walking through the AO. A bow trap goes off and the arrow goes flying and almost hits a guy. Or it goes through your calf muscle, or another guys love handle. Everbody is thinking - that could have been me and to the chest!!- Now folks patrol more carefully and more cautiously, which takes some heat off the enemies movements. So if the arrow from the bow trap got me right in the chest and punctured a lung. Maybe I'm dead maybe I'm not. But it's main function -terrorism, to cause fear, unrest, worry- disrupt the status quo by interjecting fear etc. has been accomplished. If the trap actually kills, it's a bonus, not the main event with the bonus being one injured guy makes for two distracted men, if not more.

In any scenario we likely could face, we'd not need to put out traps to harass the neighbors. We'd need perimeter alarms. A device that let's me know someone is patrolling into my area. Granted if a guy get's arrowed in the love handle on the way in I'm prolly gonna hear it. But perimeter alarms cover more area and are far more effective for alerting.

Now a chapter from counter tracking:
Let's say a feller gets a big idea of putting all sorts of booby traps in the area of his buried food cache, to protect it.
All that guy did after creating some harassment/injury t to my teams patrol is to have made an obvious statement "THERE'S SOMETHING OF REAL VALUE OR REAL IMPORTANCE HERE." And accordingly I'd probe the whole area for said valuables. This illustrates that, depending on how snazzy your enemy is, putting out man traps can have the OPPOSITE effect you intended. If your enemy is on that level of competency...
Without all those man traps-Likely a regular patrol & especially a simpleton would have walked right past your food cache none the wiser....

Man traps are for (1.)
Long engagments in a given area of operation (AO)
You spoke of the VC. The VC's general strategy was to avoid the American soldiers at all costs, except for when they had incredible advantage or surprise, preferring both. VC used booby traps as a sort of remote soldier. They's go out and place a bunch of man traps and disappear gleefully assuming that at some point in a few days, few weeks, few months, or next year a GI would blunder into it. They were to whittle down (will, moral, confidence) the American forces.
That was an entire Army against an enitre Army.

We individuals and small groups would be CRAZY not to evade without a trace as a primary strategy...

(2.)
Evasion:
You set the trap and hope it slows down your pursuer. You set the trap in an area your moving through and will never return too. But much of this even is hollywood. In evasion you put as much ground between you and your seeker as you quickly can. If your lucky enough to be able to daisy chain grenades or place claymores- great that can be done really quick for a huge potental payoff. But we commoners have no such plunder in our tackle boxes. Making a bunch of primitive traps eats up all your time. Sure if a monster storm rolls in and makes you and your seeker hole up- take advantage of the stationary period and make a bunch of man traps all around the area. But this is when the situation smiles pleasantly upon you you, not Standard Operational Procedure SOP. Or, instead of running around making man traps during the storm, would the extra rest/sleep have served you even better?

Again if a given trap interests you, have at it! But think of the reality of the big picture too. Fisher & Martin traps interest me for sure, but there's not any Fishers or Martins in TN!