Techniques for trapping/snaring deer for knife kill?

[BushCraft]

I'm looking for a technique to trap or snare a deer in a situation that it could be quickly and effectively be killed with a knife. Due to the trouble of owning a rifle (Or even a bow) over here it's not always possible to have one for hunting. So I am wondering if there are any simple techniques for hunting or snaring deer to be taken down with a knife.

I'm also open to suggestions for alternatives (Entire different perspective on the situation?) or techniques to perform the kill (The current thought for a kill is to bring the knife into the heart either between ribs or shoulder, as it is much much faster than a slit throat and bleed out).

I know in a survival situation we don't always have the option of pleasantries, but I would like to minimize stress to the animal before and during the kill if at all possible. Any advice on this would be more than welcome.

[intothenew]

Never done it, so take this on that note.


The Game and Fish authorities here are using a lot of net traps. They build them walk through, bait them for a few days for the deer to become accustomed, then close one end and set a trip. It's a fall trap, not the hollywood turn em' up-side-down hang em' high deal. I'm kinda thinkin' that's the only way I want to be around a live deer with only a knife, and I would probably add a few extra turns/layers/knots before the "deed", practice my calf roping skills so to speak. A deer can put a hurting on ya. One trouble with that is, bait. It may in fact be more productive to just eat the bait. On the other hand, given good enough traffic, maybe you can pull it off with no bait. I picture that as needing a huge net. Net repair, don't forget to sharpen up on your net repair.

Maybe that knife needs to be on the end of a decent pole?

Any way you do it, that's gonna be one adrenalized critter.

When is deer trapping season, anyway?

[BushCraft]

Never done it, so take this on that note.


The Game and Fish authorities here are using a lot of net traps. They build them walk through, bait them for a few days for the deer to become accustomed, then close one end and set a trip. It's a fall trap, not the hollywood turn em' up-side-down hang em' high deal. I'm kinda thinkin' that's the only way I want to be around a live deer with only a knife, and I would probably add a few extra turns/layers/knots before the "deed", practice my calf roping skills so to speak. A deer can put a hurting on ya. One trouble with that is, bait. It may in fact be more productive to just eat the bait. On the other hand, given good enough traffic, maybe you can pull it off with no bait. I picture that as needing a huge net. Net repair, don't forget to sharpen up on your net repair.

Maybe that knife needs to be on the end of a decent pole?

Any way you do it, that's gonna be one adrenalized critter.

When is deer trapping season, anyway?

I am thinking a snare rope would be the easiest way to go about it, but I don't know. Most people aren't keen on foot or choke snares, so I'm still thinking about how to do it. I've seen what a pissed of deer or stag can do, their hooves are like razers and the kick like a mule on heat. That's not even mentioning the horns those buggers can have. As for bait and traffic, half a hand of peanuts has never failed from what I have heard and I saw ~18 deer while I was walking looking for where to snare (I was only walking a small area for a little over an hour).

I don't know how a knife only venture would go. Perhaps a long pole bludgeon would be the way to go, although I don't particularly like the idea of beating a wild animal into submission.
I don't know about season either, but the mine has professional shooters culling at the moment. I can only assume without father research that the season has started.

[nell67]

I COULD be wrong,but I beLIEve it is highly illegal to TRAP a deer??? now what the authorities do,and what we are allowed to do are two totally different things,a "do as I say,not as I do" deal.

[Stiffy]

I'm assuming the question is in the context of "this is an emergency and me/my family are going to starve if I don't get that deer," right? Okay. It doesn't hurt to be prepared.

I think the comments by intothenew are definitely appropriate. What you are suggesting could be really, really dangerous. However, if that's your only option, I agree that using that knife as a spear is the safest way to go. The actually process of capturing the deer in the first place can be addressed in a variety of ways. Deadfalls, snares, and nets are all possibilities. If you have the raw materials, I like the idea of a heavy object, possibly attached to some netting, dropped from right above a game trail. However, your method would depend on your available materials and the terrain, and your ability to minimize any noise produced by an active system.

For that matter, if you have the ability to make a decent spear, you might just forget the whole snare/net thing and just practice your spear throwing skills, then make a stand by a game trail and wait.

As far as your comment about minimizing "stress" to the animal, if you are in the kind of critical situation that would justify taking a deer in this manner, consideration for the animal's feelings should be about last on your list. Getting the deer without getting yourself seriously injured should be your main concern.

[randyt]

with snaring I'm not sure if there is a way to minimize stress. I prefer to use blind sets when it comes to snaring. Find a trail and find a natural bottle neck, a place that the animal will have to duck down is good. A good cable snare with a lock is preferred. I would use a weight rather than a spring pole, spring poles can lose tension over time. The snare loop can be about the 24 inches in dia and 24 inches from the ground or the top of the snare is lightly attached to the duck stick. For a trigger I would probably use nails but there are a plethora of triggers on the net to choose from. With a locking snare, a weight and springpole isn't needed. The nice thing about a locking snare versus a weighted snare is the safety. If somebody wasn't paying attention I reckon they could get tangled up in a snare and the weight would put immediate tension on the snare and somebody could get hurt or killed. In my opinion large game snares should be checked several times in a 24 hour period. Of course all this is for a hypothetical survival situation.

[kyratshooter]

Ever had a deer on the end of a string? You are not talking about walking fido down the sidewalk.

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y21...sort=ascending

You would be lucky to survive the experience of trying to get close enough to cut the deer's throat, much less "eleminate stress" in the process.

Best bet woudl be to make a spear and hope you could finish it off before it killed you.

I would be inclned to go for a deadfall that would dispatch the critter outright.

[hunter63]

One sure way to harvest a deer with a snare like object is to use a "deer cinch".

Construction and use of the "Up Nort, Deer cinch"

First form an 8"/10" ring out of re-bar, then add a 2 ft arrow shaped 'getter' from the same material....Looks kinda like this
O------>

Then proceed to your local hunting ground and park your truck.....pace off about 8 ft and find a 6" dia jack pine and cut it off leaving a 3 ft stump.

Go back into the woods and find a good deer trail, and stand behind a tree and wait.....

When a deer comes running down the trail, let him pass ans shove the -----> part up his exhaust, grab the ring and hang on......The ring can be used to steer the deer toward the truck, by dragging your left or right heels.

When you get to your cut off tree stump, slip the ring over it, deer will pull his innards out and land next to the truck.

Success of this depends on advanced calculation and many beers to get all dimensions correct.

[Highhawk1948]

When I was a young boy my brother and I waited in a tree for deer so we could drop down on them with our knives. I am really glad none walked underneath us!

[Durtyoleman]

Great idea Hunter that makes guttin him easy but it don't help skinnin him.

D.O.M.

[hunter63]

Leave the hide on till you get home....keeps the meat cleaner.....

[kyratshooter]

Heard about a guy once that shot a deer with his KY long rifle. Him and a buddy walked up on the dead deer and admired it for a spell. Nice ten point about 200 pounds. They decided to take a picture.

The shooter got straddle of the deer, placed his rifle in the tines of the rack and his buddy snapped the shot.

Apparently the deer was only knocked out, the flash startled it awake and it realized some predator is astaddle of his back.

Deer jumps to life and takes off! Rather than let go of the deer and preserve life this fellow hangs onto the rack and goes for a ride through the forest.

Works out fine for about twenty five feet when the deer tries to slip between two trees. The deer fits, but the long rifle does not and the deer comes to a sudden stop with a broken neck.

The rider, on the other hand does not stop and goes flying through the air over the dead deer's head.

At least that was the explaination for the sorry battered state he was in and the necessary trip to the emergency room to treat the antler punctures acquired in the experience.

[hunter63]

I hear ya, that's why the drop out of the tree and go for a ride, trick has kinda fell by the wayside.......

[Wildthang]

Heard about a guy once that shot a deer with his KY long rifle. Him and a buddy walked up on the dead deer and admired it for a spell. Nice ten point about 200 pounds. They decided to take a picture.

The shooter got straddle of the deer, placed his rifle in the tines of the rack and his buddy snapped the shot.

Apparently the deer was only knocked out, the flash startled it awake and it realized some predator is astaddle of his back.



Deer jumps to life and takes off! Rather than let go of the deer and preserve life this fellow hangs onto the rack and goes for a ride through the forest.

Works out fine for about twenty five feet when the deer tries to slip between two trees. The deer fits, but the long rifle does not and the deer comes to a sudden stop with a broken neck.

The rider, on the other hand does not stop and goes flying through the air over the dead deer's head.

At least that was the explaination for the sorry battered state he was in and the necessary trip to the emergency room to treat the antler punctures acquired in the experience.

That kind of sounds like the time I got drunk and tried to ride a bull buffalo, it wasn't pretty

[welderguy]

Here ya go reads this old post, http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...l=1#post332219

[BushCraft]

Some nice replies here, but a bit of basic knowledge that has been ignored. That is probably my fault for my vague question (I didn't want anyone choosing not to give an answer fearing it was off topic or in the wrong direction.).

Pitfalls are nice only if you have energy to spare and you won't be moving. They also require a lot of time to remove the smell of the hard work that went into making them. They are a long term solution that may or may not fit a situation.

Hunter that made me laugh something fierce, I still can't tell if you are serious or not. Either way shoving anything up an wild animals arse sounds like you are begging for a kick to the teeth.

Been thinking about this for a few days, and I think I have a solution. If you've ever seen a deer near farmland you know the first thing they do when spooked is jump the fence. So my way of thinking is create a funnel that they will move along to a neck snare baiting them at the end of the path with food or whatever. I think when they feel the thing tighten on their neck they will try and jump the fence and get away. Given the right rope length you could make it so they hang themselves over the fence once the try and jump it. All just in my head at the moment and I've not really thought how t put it to practical use, but it avoids the razer hoof to the throat situation I've been mulling over. Any thoughts guys?

Also all of this is hypothetical at the moment, but the difference between planning and practice is why we are all here.

[Wildthang]

Put out some food that deer can't resist, and spike it with sedatives. They will pass out and you can hit them in the head with a baseball bat!

[intothenew]

Here at least, deer prefer to go under a fence when possible. Antlered will shy away from that in velvet.


Hepit was gonna tell us all about it until the mods jerked the rug out from under him. LINKY You can install a horizontal snare above a fence/obstacle crossing for a lynching.

[hunter63]

Some nice replies here, but a bit of basic knowledge that has been ignored. That is probably my fault for my vague question (I didn't want anyone choosing not to give an answer fearing it was off topic or in the wrong direction.).

Pitfalls are nice only if you have energy to spare and you won't be moving. They also require a lot of time to remove the smell of the hard work that went into making them. They are a long term solution that may or may not fit a situation.

Hunter that made me laugh something fierce, I still can't tell if you are serious or not. Either way shoving anything up an wild animals arse sounds like you are begging for a kick to the teeth.

Been thinking about this for a few days, and I think I have a solution. If you've ever seen a deer near farmland you know the first thing they do when spooked is jump the fence. So my way of thinking is create a funnel that they will move along to a neck snare baiting them at the end of the path with food or whatever. I think when they feel the thing tighten on their neck they will try and jump the fence and get away. Given the right rope length you could make it so they hang themselves over the fence once the try and jump it. All just in my head at the moment and I've not really thought how t put it to practical use, but it avoids the razer hoof to the throat situation I've been mulling over. Any thoughts guys?

Also all of this is hypothetical at the moment, but the difference between planning and practice is why we are all here.

Of course I was dead serious about the deer cinch......Stop by any saloon in northern Wisconsin, and they probably have one on the wall...unless of course, they lent it to the "city guy" as they will do from time to time.

Makes as much sense as all the traps, and snares and knives........

Now if you are in any area with cliffs around, you can use the "drive a herd over the cliff" method as was used by out ancestors going back to Woolly mammoth days....

Then there is always the 1958 Dodge Power Wagon, Road kill Harvester......Just try not to bust them up too much, you loose too much meat....Just "wing them"....and even then a knife coup de grass, is kinda chancy.

Then there is the quart of cheap beer out the side window of a "57 Chevy, @ 70 miles an hour......But that's another story.

[Old GI]

This reminds of a kid I went the high school with that did the "drop out of the tree stand with a knife" trick. The six point buck did quite well; he returned to school after 3 or 4 months in the hospital. Sooooo, be very careful trying to use a knife on a deer under any circumstances.