Survival Trapping

One of the first things you notice when you go shopping around for outdoor stuff is that they sell a large variety of chemical sprays that are supposed to hide the human scent from the keen noses of animals. They even have chemical lures that are supposed to aid the hunter by attracting animals into traps and ambushes.

I don't know about the rest of you, but there's no way that I'm ever going to spend any money on those fancy chemical concoctions, and the reason for that is two-fold: #1 is that I prefer to travel as light as possible, and #2 is that sooner or later you're going to run out of the chemicals and then what ?

You'll be up the creek because you won't have any way of hiding your human scent, and the animals are going to avoid your traps like the plague.

I know a little bit about the subject of trapping, but most of what I know is stuff that I learned by reading books. I welcome the opportunity to hear everybody's ideas on how to conceal the human scent from animals and how to lure animals into traps and snares. I'd also like to know whether or not the infamous "figure 4" trigger is really any good or not. I've seen lots of good trap trigger designs in the books I've read about the subject, but I'm wondering if they really do work in the real world, or if they're just a waste of time.

Thanking everybody in advance for their wise input,

LW.

I have read that wood smoke, as if campfire, will help mask the human scent. You can look here for more trapping info, and/or just do a google search for "survival trapping"...

What you can do is avoid washing your hands with soap before setting traps. Watch cologne use to. In my opinion, men and cologne don;t go together at any time, let alone just before or during camping, hiking, or hunting.

Use creek water, local grasses, bark and leaves, etc to rub on your hands well before handling your snare and trap rigging. When I was much younger, I bought liquid "buck scent" from the outdoors store before going hunting, but I haven't used anything other than nature's offerings in years when hunting or fishing.

It depends on what you're trapping too. I'm no professional trapper, that's for sure, but I wouldn;t want to pet my favorite grizzly just to "mask my own scent" and just before setting a small animal snare. ((( ))) Grasses, berries, creek water, dirt, etc are your best bet I think.

Think of it this way: You can;t hide your scent very well.... your body is going to secrete human odors no matter what you do. One of the best first steps is, of course, avoiding adding to your skin odors that are not present in the wild.

Hi,

I have done very little trapping but extensive hunting and fishing.

Concerning fishing, my 76 year old father always rubs a minnow in his hands (usually a dead one from the bucket) before he handles his trout trolling lure. He is also nice enough to let me gas up the boat and run the motor when we go fishing; he also out-fishes me about 2:1!

I used to use commercial scents when hunting deer and moose but have since just started watching/playing the wind more closely and have had even better success. I did recently buy a Carbon Activated Suit but have not tried in yet.

Mike

> You'll be up the creek because you won't have any way of hiding your human
> scent, and the animals are going to avoid your traps like the plague.

I used to run traps when I was a kid in junior high. I used the metal traps like you see in all the cartoons, I never did anything other than set them and put them in rabbit holes. I got rabbits and skunks - no bait, no trying to hide my scent, no nothing but set it and put it in the hole. (Well, I did use a stake to keep it from being dragged off.)

shrug - I don't know as I'd call this wise input, but I'm not sure animals are smart enough to avoid human scent at all times or at all costs.

first off i'll say that i have never done any trapping..
if i did for survival i would try and put some kind of
snare across a game trail..
as for the question i went to my copy of "deadfalls and snares" by A.R. Harding--1935..i think you can reprints from
the "fish,fur,game" trapping magazine..anyway--Mr Harding has
instructions for making about 60 traps from bear pits to
skunk traps..he either used or got the "how to do" from guys
who traped "back in the 80's"--and thats not 1980's..
he liked hand made traps because you could make them with a
Ax and knife and held that 6 well made and placed wood traps
would get better results than 50 steel traps set carelessly..
he was traping for the fur and needed the money so he was
just not fooling around-----
OK--now to the crux of the matter..HUMAN SCENT--
no where did he talk about wearing gloves or trying to hide
his scent when he HAND CRAFTED all those traps..
his concern was proper placement of the trap and the way
the trigger was made---you need a BIG heavy log for a dead
fall..and that figure "4" trigger has to be made just so..
so i would say it's craft and placement that will work and
not the "good luck charms"

I heard somewhere that hunters used to bury their clothes and leave them so they would smell like the woods, but it sounds like a recipe for rotten gear.

Wow, what the heck is that? Is there a website for this? Is this like a set of coveralls?

Can you filter dirty water through it in a pinch for drinking?

Boy, I know some guys at the gym who should wear one when they work out anywhere near me...

Back when I hunted deer I would fill a large basket or box with dry leaves and put my outer hunting clothing in with the leaves for a couple of days. They came out smelling like fall leaves, which I have never found objectionable. I would shake them out well to get rid of the odd spider or other crawlies before putting them on.

I often got a reasonably clear shot at a deer during the season, so even if it didn't help, it didn't hurt.

Frank2135

I know how to construct this really neat deadfall trigger that's intended especially for catching birds. Birds will have a tendency to perch on the protruding stick and WHAM ! the trigger releases and gravity takes it all down on top of the bird.

I've got zero experience in the art of trapping birds, but I'm keeping one of these deadfall triggers tucked away in my backpack, where I'm keeping it just in case I ever need to trap birds for emergency food.

Does anyone have any experience at trapping birds ?

LW.

I've got zero experience trapping anything..except maybe Spiders under glass. This next hunting season I am going to experiment with a log leaning on a tree and some wires to try and catch some squirrels. I hear it works pretty well...we will see.

Have you ever tried to go "fishing" for birds with a baited hook ?

LW.

I have never used the commercial scents and although they have their uses, I don't see my ever carrying any in my BoB.

I trapped Nutrea Rats when I was younger, using single and double spring traps. Scent was never a problem in that environment but killing the animal without cutting the skin was a sometimes laughable scene to watch. I usually ended up half wet from trying to hit the water type creature with the flat side of an axe, usually getting a lot of water on me (in the wintertime).

I have trapped birds using the old cardboard box, bait, and string system. If I were in the woods, I would fashion a latticework box of branches, probably use bread or cracker crumbs to get the birds into the trap.

You can use a similar, more complicated version for trapping fish in streams. The trick with a fish trap is to fashion a conical entrance that will prevent the fish from finding their way out of the trap. Then check the trap daily. If after a day, you don't have fish, recheck the entrance to the trap, if that still looks good, then move the trap to another location. You have to make some latticework "walls" to run from the trap entrance outward for the fish coming by to see the wall and then they follow it to the entrance, go inside of the trap and then they fail to find their way out of the trap. Seine netting is often used to form the walls on "Buffalo Hoop Nets" and they run 20-30 feet out from the "Buffalo Hoop Nets".

That's been my experience, except for using crab and crawfish traps which are much like the fish traps except for shape and mesh sizes required to hold the crabs and crawfish.

A guy I used to work for ate a seagull on a dare or bet. He said it was tough, but I don't remember what else, but he wasn't planning on repeating it.

Sue

Working on a buoy tender, I can attest to the fact that seagull "expletive" is dry, tart, yet tangy" and not something anyone would eat or taste voluntarily.

We used to get a face full of the stuff as we wire wheeled the stuff off the tops and sides of the buoys that we would be servicing.

Remember kids, don't try this at home,,,I was among "professionals" at the time!!!!

Betcha there's gotta be a practical use for seagull dung. I'm wondering if you can use it as tinder for starting a fire ?

LW.

I wondering if you've given any thought to the type of bait you would use for trapping birds in the event that you didn't have any bread or any cracker crumbs handy. I would prefer to use bread or cracker crumbs or maybe even corn as bait, but it won't be easy to obtain that kind of stuff when the chips are down.

I doubt that bread and crackers and corn will be available in a survival situation.

The good thing about trapping birds is that you don't have to worry about their sense of smell, which is said to be pretty meager, but that said, you've got to know what type of bait to put out, and you've got to know what type of bait is going to attract them if you're hoping to eat something for dinner.

LW.

Right now, I have noticed a large amount of dried corn left in the fields. I would get a few ears from the field, crack up the kernals of corn and use that as bait. I can also dig up worns and place them under such a trap, using fish hooks, fishing line, and twig anchors; as well.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention and when a need arises, a solution will be created or found.

no trapping experience, but I once "killed" a grouse with a slingshot using marbles as ammo, I hit the wing where it joined the body and broke it, dumb luck, my brother and I chased it down where he put a foot on it (to avoid getting pecked). It died on the spot and we had it for dinner.

But my main point is, they were easy to hunt because we were dumping gravel on our dirt road and birds need the gravel for their gizzards. Instead of bait staking out the nearest gravel patch might get you dinner. slings and stones for weapons.

Haven't yet tried trapping birds, but in Idaho, the easiest meat source to obtain in the woods was the spruce grouse (pine hen). Amazingly tame, I could bean them with a well placed rock and they tasted very good.

I'm always nervous about having a fish cop come into my camp and seeing a bunch of snares along a log. Wouldn't look to good.