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Trapping resources. Trapperman is a very busy online site for trappers. Well it certainly was when I was visiting it regularly. If you didn't bookmark a topic, it could be very hard to find a day or two later when it got swamped under all the new topics. There are some nice, helpful guys there. Naturally the traps most of them use are generally commercially-made ones, but of course they still need to know about animals and lures etc. Here is the link to the main page. I think the forum part of the site is called Trapper Talk.

http://www.trapperman.com/

I am very interested in trap designs and I've done quite a bit of research. But I mostly use just a simple snare with a free-sliding eye (i.e. the snare does not have a lock). I've had a heap of fun with these simple things, and I've caught hundreds of animals.

I've had great success using a simple figure-four deadfall for rats and mice. If I have bigger animals to trap, I'd generally choose a snare.

I have desperately wanted to find a primitive or home-made trap design that would catch a larger animal by the leg. I figured that this might be more gentle to the animal (which I now think is not necessarily always true), and I figured that one decent foot trap could be set in one place and would work on a variety of species and sizes of animal (which is probably still true). I've played around for hours with these, but have not yet caught one wild animal. I did, however, once catch a farm dog unintentionally. Fortunately I had decided beforehand to have the spring device only just strong enough to pull the noose snug..... and not yank the animal into the air. All was well. I think the designs of the foot traps I was playing with would work, but it is a matter of having them set in a game area for a long time, and I have not really had the time to make them (they take a while to make).... nor the luxury of having several days together where I could leave them set and still check them once or twice a day.

If I were wanting to trap a new area or animals I hadn't trapped before, the most important things I would try to to learn about are the animals and the features of the area they live in. Once you know their habits, their food sources, and their preferred routes, then you are more likely to capture them. To me, this is the most important trapping/hunting knowledge to have.

There are all sorts of trap designs around on the internet and in books, and I'm certain I haven't seen them all. But if you have some decent cord for a snare, and sufficient knowledge of your target, then that may be all you need in many situations. Below are some pictures I've posted before, but they show some ideas that have been successful for me.... or ideas which seem good to me. The diagrams show the basic principles and construction, but of course there will be extra work needed in making barriers to prevent access from the wrong side, camouflage etc. I will be happy to explain anything that doesn't seem clear in the diagrams.









I will be very interested to learn about anybody else's trap designs. I'm still obsessed with finding a simple home-made trap that could catch a deer, pig, goat or whatever by the leg without harming it.