Why yes, my boss is on vacation.

I found this trap for sale on ebay. It looks simple to reproduce. I'd shied away from figure-4 traps because around here we don't have any big rocks, only logs which are harder to balance. The cage portion of this trap could be easily reproduced by lashing some branches together.

-Blast

I'm confused...

That is a figure four with a "cage" replacing the "deadfall".

You can always lash sticks parallel to one another like a raft, and place other objects on top to give you the weight you need to crush the critter in question. It will give you more options on how to balance the whole shebang than an individual log will.

Or were you just siting that particular trap as a way to practice without killing?

I'm sorry, I'm completely lost.

I've done quite a bit of live trapping. The trickiest part is getting them out of the trap. Try a boar raccoon. Try a skunk!

Question about deadfalls, which I have never used: Is there an issue of squashing and contaminating the meat with the intestinal contents?

Sue

Interesting. On one of Les Strouds episodes (lost mountain biker in Arizona or Utah canyons), he killed a packrat (I think) with a deadfall. When he pulled the critter out, it looked as flat as a pancake. Using some parts off the bike that he scrounged, he hung the thing about 3 feet above a medium fire and cooked it for what seemed to be at least two, maybe three, hours. No gutting, dressing, skinning... just a dead packrat over the fire.

I wondered about intestines and other parts, but he ate the thing. The hair was singed completely off but, other than that, nothing else was missing.

Nicodemus,

The high heat/humidity around here causes dead animals to rot really fast. I'm thinking a live animal will be fresher.

-Blast

My thoughts exactly. This is nothing other than a variation of the old figure 4 box trap we used to make as kids, to catch the neighbors cat, etc. Biggest problem is what do to with the critter once you catch it (assuming that you aren't just gonna let it go like we did with the cats...usually). With the slat-box at least you have the option of bayoneting it thru the slats, but if you are a bash em' type, you've gotta be really wast with the old headknocker when you lift the cage, otherwise your catch will either get away, or get you...

How about improvising a noose on the end of a stick similar to those used for animal control? Snag 'em around the neck, pin 'em down, open the trap and club 'em in the head.

Ah. OK. I see.