Not all traps are equal.

[Sluggo]

One of my passions is primitive trapping,Being able to fashion snares/traps from nature is very satisfying.Over the years I have tried countless variations of primitive traps/snares.A few things I would recommend to anyone wanting to delve into survival primitive trapping,go ahead and experiment,study and build the many varieties out there.Once you have been through the vast number of them,build one of each and use them for future reference,I promise you that no picture can replace an acual working model.After you have completed your collection,choose three and no more than five of the best,successfu,simple to build,easy to gather materials traps/snares in your collection.Learn to build them without hesitation and thought.The fact of the matter is,many of the traps out there are to complicated or time consuming to be energy efficiant.Once you have chosen your go to sets,build as many components for them ahead of time as you can easily carry.I after many trials and error,chose three,ironically these three are nearly the same,but differ enough to be used for different types of animals,yet most components can be interchanged with one another.I love building sets,but when it gets down and dirty,my three go to set ups are already built,packed and ready to set in mere moments.

[SlowRide13]

Can we see some pictures of your favorites?

[Rick]

And of course be aware of your trapping laws and regs unless in a survival situation.

[ottawafm]

I have 2 or 3 that I depend on. Look at the Laos bird snare, the figure 4 trap, and the toggle snare.

[Enigma]

Do you have an image of the Laos bird snare?

Another variation of the figure 4 deadfall snare, which is simple to construct, is one that I teach, which originates from the Nth Italian Alps, and the Pyrenees. I learnt it when I live over there in the early 90's. (They are banned now). They were used to catch birds, but I guess you could bait it with meat for ground dwellers like Goannas, Lizards, Rodents, Possums etc. They have around a 10% success rate, so the locals woud put out quite a lot, and just check them daily on their rounds. The beauty of these traps, is everything is just local material, rocks and sticks, so no cordage needed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWk9gOSMCUM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3-W6b5cZ3A

[Rick]

@ Enigma - I don't know if you've seen this one or not but this is one that Mac uses.

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...ight=bird+trap

[Enigma]

Thanks Rick, yep I know this one. :-)

Another Euro trap I like is a version of the Objiwa bird trap, but instead of using gravity with a rock, they use a piece of bent wire, under tension, so when the trap is sprung, the wire springs out (and this is the important bit in physics) HORIZONTAL, on the same plane as the string, which catch's the birds legs. No energy is lost, unlike the stone which falls 90* degrees vertical, to the horizontal snare.

Those traps are also banned in Europe.

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Objiwa bird trap

[Enigma]

this is some info I posted on my own Aussie Forum about 3 years ago, regarding Nth Italian bird 'Bow' traps.


Bow traps - archetti - are one of the most archaic types of bird trap in European cultural history.
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At first glance, the mechanism of this simple trap is remarkable and extremely brutal. A small stick and a piece of cord keep the bow – made traditionally out of a hazel branch – under tension. Birds are attracted by rowan berries and thereby lured to perch on the horizontally positioned stick. At the slightest touch the bow flies apart. Within a fraction of a second the bird is hanging upside down with its legs crushed in the trap.
Bow traps date back as far as the Bronze Age and could be found in all European countries into modern times. In Germany, called “Sprenkel”, they were banned in the 19th Century and were last found in use during the years immediately preceding WW I.

Since that time they have vanished from Europe’s forests with 3 exceptions. In the Friaul region of North Italy isolated cases of their use have been recorded, and a single case was reported from the west of the Basque country in the French Pyrenees in the past few decades. The bow trap is however only used on a large scale in an area just 1,500 square kilometre in size in the northern Italian province of Brescia in Lombardy, in the mountains between Lakes Garda and Iseo.

In the middle of the last century bow traps could be seen by passers-by in the front gardens of houses in the mountain villages of Brescia. They could also be seen along hedgerows and on grassland and meadows from bordering tracks and paths even though they had been banned in Italy since the 1950s. Experts estimate that at the beginning of the 1990s there were still some 150,000 bow traps in use in the Brescia Mountains.

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[Rick]

The Objiwa is actually a tribe of indigenous folks that lived in Canada and the northern U.S.. I think I'm correct in saying they are the largest native group in North America. Part of the Anishnaube People. The trap is named after them. It's not European. At the time they developed this snare there were literally billions of Passenger Pigeons throughout North America. I've read accounts that there were so many pigeons that a single flock would pass overhead for hours and block the sun. Anywhooo...several of these traps would take a pretty decent meal.

[wareagle69]

in Canada primitive trapping is illeagal. all traps and snares must conform to the international human trapping standards act. that being said I got my licence 5 yrs ago and do carry some traps in my bag but I prefer snares, I use aircraft cable very light and have multiple options to snare with. I have to say tho I do prefer muskrat for eating and I carry belise 120 to trap them I could use 110 belise but they are limited to only muskrat so 120 gives me many more options