Deadfalls and Snares

[mudpuppy]

Modified Figure 4

Study the pics a little and you will get the leverage idea behind this...the longer that lower horizontal bar is, the thinner and deeper into the trap your trigger stick can be...since its held under compression as soon as anything bumps it, the whole works comes down...My machete is 3' long for reference. I can answer questions on the build, its very fast, stable, and easy to make, of course you add vertical side wood to the structure to form a cave, as well as keeping whatever gets in there sort of corralled when the weight comes down... and you can continue to add more weight to the top, even using several logs instead of one...so you dont need to find a great big heavy log that you can hardly lift, just a good sturdy one and add more weight on top once you got the whole thing assembled....you can build something that through the magic of leverage can hold up well over 1000lbs and catch anything that gets in there...all held up by leverage and a tiny little stick...pretty safe to make this way too, since the main log is something you can handle, once its in place, you dont ever have to dink around with that trigger..


I came up with this in the 70's when I was just a kid, learning how to trap and intrigued with being able to catch things by just using what is on hand...got frustrated with the standard Fig.4 design, which if any of you have ever tried that stupid concoction, you know what I'm saying! ..

Mud

 

[mudpuppy]

I built this down on my river property one Spring day and didnt bait it or really finish it off properly, I left it set more as a model to show to people how it worked...well, one Summer day I went down there and you can see this poor little opossum evidently crawled in there to have a look around and got hisself crushed. in the one pic you can see the trigger stick laying right next to him...


Regarding snares, you can also use this type of leverage to build spring snares that have a very fine trigger and can hold a lot of force...most snares are set in trails and just rely on an animal going through them, and they work great! But you can also make baited snare cubbys or trail sets that activate by spring off a tree, and are triggered about the same as the deadfall...not quite the same set up of course, but using leverage to hold a tree down you know..and tripped by a fine trigger....if a fellow was so inclined, you could bend a big tree down to the point of catching a large animal like a person in a triggered trail set and pull them right off their feet like they show in the movies.!.Hah! .some poor sap walking down a trail one minute, kicks right through that small trigger stick, and gets whisked off their feet and up into the foilage! Ah my misspent youth in the woods! Got so bad setting all sorts of traps down there even my own Father was afraid to come and look for me!

i built another set that uses one of those fiberglas recurve bows and shoots an arrow at whatever trips the trigger, but for the sake of discretion, you will have to figure that one out on your own!

All the triggers and sets I have seen in books are too stiff and unreliable...this is a good deadfall though, you can make a dozen in a day easily and live pretty large on what you catch if you had to...

Well, I dont trap anymore, but the skills learned there translate over into detecting quite well...especially reading sign and tracks....still have my gear if I ever need it, which I hope I never will.

 

[upnorth]

Quite interesting.

 

[mudpuppy]

See? not sure i want to go too deep with folks that dont trap,...anyway, if a fellow has to ever live off the land primitive, this is what will do the trick, or else the structure dies when I do...
Mud

 

[JimmyCT]

Pretty cool Mud!! At one time all our ancestors had to use deadfalls, snares and the like for food. Obviously we became "civilized" Now we use our debit card at the local grocery store lol


Especially if they are getting too close to your detecting spot That will literally throw them right off the trail and won't ever think of coming back.

if a fellow was so inclined, you could bend a big tree down to the point of catching a large animal like a person in a triggered trail set and pull them right off their feet like they show in the movies.!.Hah! .some poor sap walking down a trail one minute, kicks right through that small trigger stick, and gets whisked off their feet and up into the foilage!

 

[mudpuppy]

Sure! and just think of all the coins falling out of their pockets!
Mud

 

[senda]

Mud, you know do some very interesting things ... Lord! that we are far
senda

 

[Wandering Yoda]

That trap is awesome Mud, if you ever do a video of construction, please let us know..... And that machete is a cool looking beast to, ha ha ha ha!!!

"if a fellow has to ever live off the land primitive, this is what will do the trick, or else the structure dies when I do..."

"Obviously we became "civilized" Now we use our debit card at the local grocery store lol"



and that's a fear of mine, to many of the "old" ways being lost to history.

 

[artman60]

Mud, I don't hunt, and if I did it would be with a camera. I do like meat though, and have no issues with anyone who does like to hunt. I think my nondesire to hunt came from one camping trip with the Boyscouts. One of the Scoutmasters had a venison sandwich, and he gave me a bite. I think I threw up for 3 days (seriously LOL). All of my friends who hunt, when told that story, say the same thing "He musta cooked it wrong". I appreciate any craft that takes dedication to master (probably because I haven't mastered any yet). I do find a lot of similarities between the MD'ing and fishing. Artie

 

[GeorgeinSC]

As a youngster growing up in the hills of Wv if we had the desire to eat we had to grow what we ate. To protect his corn fields from chipmunks, rats, etc he would make a figure four deadfall with a large rock. Too many years have passed and too much water has gone under the keel for me to remember how to construct a figure four trap.

I love the outdoors whether it be hunting, fishing or metal detecting. To me venison is some of the finest red meat that one can consume. Great flavor combined with very low fat.

I find that detecting, hunting and fishing all contain the same sense of anticipation. You anticipate the next target, the next head of game and the next fish to bite.

 

[Woodchuck]

I can think of quite a lot o two legged creature around where I live that need thinning out...... you know survival of .......