The Hunting And Gathering Survival Manual

by Tim MacWelch

  STEP 1 Once you’re at the trapping site, lay your trap out so that the safety clips will be on top of the spring when clipped in place. Use your setting tongs to grab both rings on the trap spring and squeeze them together.

  STEP 2 When the rings are squeezed together, hold the tongs with one hand and clip the safety onto that spring. Repeat on the other side for double-spring traps.

  STEP 3 Using your hands or your setting tongs, squeeze the trap together even more. This will compress the springs further and loosen your safety clips. The trap must be in position so that the clips stay on top of the springs, as the trap clamping will cause the clips to fall free if you’re setting the trap “upside down.”

  STEP 4 Clip the “dog” onto the trap so that it is in the proper position in the center of the trigger. The dog should release if the trigger is pushed in either direction. With safety clips still in place (but loose), set the trap in your desired spot and flip open the safety clips.

  Note: If you’re setting this trap in flowing water, make sure the clips are loose on the downstream side of the trap. There have been cases where the flowing water actually pushed the clips into place (locking the trap open) when they were on the upriver side.

  066 USE ROPE FOR SAFETY

  This rope trick can replace the need for setting tongs or allow you to make quick resets in the field. Start off with a length of strong, slender rope, and tie a large loop tied at one end. Place this loop over your foot (with boots on, please). Thread the free end of the rope through the rings on the spring, and loop around and through a second time so that you have wrapped a loop of rope around the rings. Pull up hard on the free end of the rope (while keeping tension with the foot loop) and the spring will close. Securely place the safety clip to hold the spring closed and remove the rope.

  If you keep this handy, you can release yourself with one hand if you ever get an arm or hand stuck. And on the subject of safety, never walk around with set traps on your person; you should always wait to set them until you’re placing them.

  067 GET READY TO GET SET

  Here are a couple of interesting set to use in common locations:

  THE BURROW SET Use this easy set for groundhogs and other hole-dwelling creatures. Prop up the body grip vertically in front of a burrow mouth, or lay it horizontally over a burrow mouth that goes straight down. The horizontal set is less effective, as it tends to jump up in the air when tripped.

  THE BOTTOM EDGE SET Find a steep stream bank in a sluggish waterway with abundant animal sign. This body-grip set is particularly effective on muskrats. Anchor the trap vertically at the bottom edge of the waterway, and connect a snare wire or similar trap keeper, in case you catch a tail or foot, or the water becomes faster.

  068 CATCH ’EM ALIVE

  If you’re a student of pop culture (aka Saturday morning cartoons), you may think of a live-catch box trap as little more than a crude box propped up with a stick, and a hungry person lying in wait to pull the stick away. This setup can actually work, but there are far better methods available to the modern trapper. After all, the whole point of using a trap is that you don’t need to be present to pull the trigger. To get started in box trapping, you just need to decide between store-bought and do-it-yourself options.

  BUILD A BETTER BOX TRAP

  Box traps are available from different manufacturers that offer a few different sizes and features to choose from. They’re typically made from galvanized wire (for years of dependable service) and can open either at both ends or just one. There are fewer moving parts with a trap that only opens on one end, but easily frightened animals (like rabbits) will be more likely to go into a trap with both ends open.

  HOMEMADE BOX TRAPS

  The best of the homemade bunch are made from durable wooden or metal boxes with a sliding door that closes behind the animal. They can be made with a number of different trigger mechanisms (in contrast to the commercially available box traps that only use a pan trigger—a flat metal strip that the animal steps on to activate the trap). The downside of these traps is that they take some time to build, and gnawing animals can damage or chew their way out of wooden box traps.

  069 BUILD A BETTER BOX TRAP

  A few tools, a little scrap lumber, and a few odd bits of stick and string can provide you with the material to build a trap that can catch a variety of animals and last years.

  STEP 1 You’ll need 4 wide boards about 1 1/2 feet (46 cm) long, 2 small strips of wood about 8 inches (20 cm) long, a handful of small nails, 20 inches (50 cm) of string, a piece of wire mesh, 2 pencil-diameter sticks, a hammer, a drill, and a saw.

  STEP 2 Cut a piece from your longest board to act as the door for the trap. Nail the four boards together to create a wooden tunnel. Make sure you do it so that your door will slide up and down freely. Nail the mesh at one end of the tunnel and nail the two small wood strips at the other end as guides so the door can slide down securely.

  STEP 3 Drill a hole about 8 inches (20 cm) from the mesh end of the box. This should be slightly larger in diameter than the stick you will place into it as a trigger. Whittle a notch on the shorter stick, and tie the string to the other end of it. Tie the string to the top of the longer stick, near the shorter stick, and tie the free end of the string to a bent nail in the wooden trapdoor.

  STEP 4 Now comes the tricky part: adjusting everything. You’ll probably have to untie and retie the string to get it right. The trigger stick may need to be recarved to make it more or less sensitive. You can also carve a point and/or barbs on the tip of the trigger stick to skewer bait on it.

  070 BENEFIT FROM BOX TRAPS

  No, you can’t fit a bunch of box traps in your pocket like you can with snares. But box traps can offer a few benefits that other traps cannot.

  BOX BENEFITS

  You can safely release pets and other unintended catches. The critter may have a scuffed-up nose from trying to get out, but overall, they’ll be no worse off from the experience.

  Live catch allows you to examine the animal before making the decision to dispatch it. It’s easier to identify illness in a live, whole animal (if it is foaming at the mouth, for example, or exhibiting other diseased symptoms).

  The traps are easy and fast to set. No more smashed fingers!

  071 PUT YOUR TRAP TO WORK

  You could have a perfectly functional box trap and still not catch a thing—especially if you’re in the wrong spot, frightening the animals, or failing to lure them in.

  DO

  Place the trap in a field, forest, swamp, or glen with lots of animal sign such as (scat, tracks, beds, and trails).

  DON’T

  Place your trap in a heavily used trail. The large, unexpected blockage will scare the animals and cause them to detour around your trap.

  DO

  Set the trap near the animal’s water source, as this will be a popular place for them to visit.

  DON’T

  Set a trap where it will wash away. Wooden box traps are particularly vulnerable to floating away in rising water.

  DO

  Bait the trap for local animals. Follow the tracks, look at the dropping, and use these signs to identify the local species.

  DON’T

  Forget about de-scenting. Human scent soaks into wooden traps particularly well.

  072 MASH A MUSKRAT

  Resembling something between a beaver and a rat, the muskrat is an aquatic furbearer that can be a tasty dark-meat meal. The warm, thick fur can also serve many purposes.

  Body-grip sets similar to the underwater beaver trap can work well, as well as foothold traps, when properly placed in muskrat-laden wetlands. Look for muskrat feed beds (piles, mounds, or even floating mats of cut vegetation—spots where the muskrat sits to eat), and logs or rocks that they use for toilets (you’ll see plenty of scat). Feed-bed foothold traps need to be anchored to a pole driven into the mud, if no shrubs or trees are present for attachment. Drive the pole in deeply, not only to hold the muskrat, but
in case a stronger animal like a raccoon steps into the trap.

  You can also place footholds underwater, on the submerged portion of logs that muskrats climb up onto for a toilet, or attach them to floating logs, secured underwater by protruding rocks.

  Use poles with flags to mark each of your underwater traps, and any other hidden traps on wetland trap lines, as they are easy to lose in swampy conditions.

  073 HARVEST A HARE

  Fast and wary, hares and rabbits are often tricky to catch. In my home state, rabbits can only be legally caught in live-catch box traps. These can work, but the trap needs to open on both ends to reassure the animal that it can escape. Try baiting the box with apple slices or fresh vegetables like sweet peas and lettuce. Snares can be effective, too, when placed in the critter’s run. Make the noose large enough for those big ears, but small enough so your potential dinner doesn’t jump straight through.

  074 PICK UPA ’POSSUM

  Opossums are strange and tasty beasts, and they’ll be plentiful in areas abundant with wild foods. These omnivores eat fruits, berries, seeds, and anything else that happens to be available. Processed meats are good, but almost anything has potential. I once caught an opossum in a box trap with the tail of another opossum as the bait. I’d like to believe that he smelled his absent friend and was coming to check on him, but with this species, you can’t rule out cannibalism.

  Since they are not averse to confined spaces, a medium or large box trap is a good choice when targeting these critters. Snares can work, but the setup has to be flawless, because opossums are excellent climbers. They also have 50 teeth and can chew through softer snare wires and cables (among other things—don’t get on the wrong side of an angry one). If you don’t catch an opossum by the neck with a strong snare noose, it has a good chance of getting away.

  075 BAG A BEAVER

  In cold northern climates, beaver can reach massive proportions—100 pounds (45 kg) is not unheard of. Beaver castor (an oily secretion) can be used as bait for foothold traps on land, but the best trap for beaver is a large body-grip trap. These can be set on a beaver’s “slide,” a place where they routinely slide down a bank into the water, but an even better location is underwater.

  An underwater set will take some work to build, but it can last for a long time and be very effective. To construct one, drive poles into the muddy bottom of a heavily traveled beaver waterway. Create a fence with a gap in the center, and tie a log at the water level over this gap, which will encourage a swimming beaver to dive under the log for passage.

  Attach the body-grip trap underwater, at this fence opening. This is best done in sluggish waterways, as fast water will eventually destroy your work. And make sure the trap is on the upriver side of the fence, otherwise the current—even a slow one—can lift the trap out of position.

  076 REAP A RACCOON

  Raccoons are exceedingly smart and nimble, and can grow much larger than opossums. You can use many different kinds of bait for raccoons—they tend to have a sweet tooth, so confections and pastries can be a big success, but they also like fishy flavors.

  Snares are more successful with raccoons than opossums, due to their greater body weight. They will usually fall for a box trap as well, smaller raccoons are candidates for body-grip traps, and any raccoon could be caught with a foothold trap. Be aware that they have a greater risk of carrying rabies than other animals, so use disposable gloves when dressing, use antimicrobial soap when you’re finished, and cook the meat well done.

  077 SUPERPLANT: WILD ONION

  SPICE THINGS UP WITH WILD ONION

  Winter can be a cold time of year to run around outside, but if you brave the weather you can still forage for something spicy. Some tougher wild onion species (the pungent wild relatives to cultivated onions and garlic) are out from January through spring and are well worth the trouble. Not a fan of the cold? Then wait for the larger, more solitary onions and garlics of summer. Grab a small shovel and a bag to hold your greens—it’s time to hunt down one of nature’s superfoods.

  POUND A PUNGENT POULTICE

  The tear-inducing, sulfurous compounds contained in wild onion and garlic—along with another compound called allicin—possess some antibacterial properties. Since wild onions are both healing and tasty, this is a combination that’s hard to beat. Eat more onions, and you may find your immune system boosted. But for an on-the-spot treatment, pound onions into a poultice, which you can use as a topical field dressing for wounds.

  SPOT THE RIGHT PLANT

  There are roughly a dozen different species growing in North America that could fall under the name onion. Some species grow even in the dead of winter, favoring open ground and sunny conditions.

  Look in fields and meadows for some species, and look no further than your yard for others. Some are closer to garlic in appearance and flavor, others closer to chives or leeks. The critical factor for all is their membership in the allium genus.

  Allium plants are edible and generally very tasty. But don’t just wolf down everything shaped like an onion. The broader family they belong to is the lily family, which can be problematic for foragers, because some are toxic.

  Your first step in making sure a plant really is an onion or garlic is looking for the classic shape: a bulbous root and a rounded stem. Once you’ve established a passing grade here, move along to the scratch-and-sniff testing phase. Scratch the bulb or bruise the green tops, and you should immediately smell the familiar oniony odor. If a few tears well up in your eyes, all the better—then you know you have an onion or garlic for sure.

  DE-SCENT WITH ALLIUM

  The powerful stink of onions and garlic can be a valuable de-scenting tool for traps and hunting clothes. Crush some up and wipe them on your skin before building or setting traps. Rub some on your clothing before the hunt. You can even chew the leaves or bulbs to hide your breath. If there are onions around, they are your top pick for hiding human scent.

  078 MAKE DEADFALLS FROM SCRATCH

  Deadfalls are a set of traps that use a weight to crush your prey. They can rely on bait or simply be placed in the animal’s path. Their triggers can be a little tricky, but they are very versatile—most can be used with a crate or box (instead of a rock or log) to switch a lethal trap into a live-catch box trap.

  Deadfalls are often persnickety to set up. Everything has to be balanced and stable for the trap to stay standing. And everything has to work just right in order for the trap to fall correctly, so pay attention to these basic tenets.

  WEIGHT ANGLE The deadfall weight is always propped up by the trigger mechanism. Don’t worry so much about the height of the weight—instead, look at the angle. The weight should be propped up between 30 and 40 degrees off the ground. If higher, it takes too long to hit the prey. If lower, the weight doesn’t build up as much velocity.

  SOLID SURFACE The deadfall weight should impact a solid surface. Rather than setting up your weight over sand or mud, set up your trap where the weight will hit a flat stone or other solid surface.

  RIGHT ANGLES Many trigger parts work best when they are at right angles to each other, or carved with notches that are exactly 90 degrees. The figure-4 trap (see item 079) is the least forgiving if you don’t carve perfect notches and square edges.

  079 CREATE SOME OPTIONS

  You can use rocks, logs, or stacks of lumber as the weight for a deadfall, and the variety of triggers available is even more numerous.

  FIGURE-4 This trigger is just three straight sticks. The vertical post needs a chisel-shaped top and a 90-degree facet carved on the side. The diagonal lever has a chisel on one end and a side notch on the other, while the horizontal piece has a notch at the end, a notch on the side near the middle, and a point on the end for bait. Put some bait on the horizontal stick, lock these three pieces together, and lower the weight.

  GREASY-STRING TRAP You’ll need a forked stick, some string, some bait, and a small stake. Tie the string to one leg of the fork and the other end
to the stake. Drive the stake into the ground and apply some bait to the string. Set the weight in place so it’s propped on the fork and the string is tight. Once the animal gnaws the string in two, the weight will fall.

  SPRING-POLE DEADFALL You’ll need three stakes, a springy pole, three strings, a small toggle, a prop stick, and some bait. Make a little hole, and drive one stake near level with the ground. Tie a loose ring of string around the stake. Connect the end of the spring pole to the toggle with string, place bait on toggle, and tie the prop stick to the spring pole with another string. Prop your weight with the prop stick, put the toggle into the string ring on the stake, and use the remaining stakes to create tension on the spring pole. When the baited toggle is jostled, it slips free, pulling the prop stick out from the weight.

  080 BUILD A PAIUTE TRAP

  One of the best “tool-free” traps is known as the Paiute deadfall. This very clever trap dates back hundreds (if not thousands) of years to the early Paiute Indian nations. Like all other deadfalls, it uses some type of weight (often a rock) and a trigger system to hold part of the rock up in the air until your future meal gets under there. But the difference between this deadfall and the rest of them is its stronger and more sensitive trigger, which you can create even if you don’t have a knife. To make this trap, just break a few sticks into the right size and shape, scrounge up a bit of string, and locate a flat rock.