Trapping. Or the silent methods for taking game and fish

Doomsday Prepper Forums

Help Support Doomsday Prepper Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Arctic,could you or do you have any vids for someone like me how to make snares and what to make them from?
Just yesterday I received my trapping supply catalog from Cumberlands Northwest Trapping Supply, www.nwtrappers.com. They have everything needed for making snares. Plus they have books and DVD's for making and using snares.
I'm not pushing Cumberlands, its just one outfit that I use and have been very happy with.
I like snares, but usually they're only good for catching 1 or 2 animals, depending on the size of animal, before they need replacing. Foot hold traps can last for generations. Some of the traps I use are over 100 years old.
 
Right now I guess I am just not hungry enough to want to kill an animal anymore. I’d rather watch the deer and rabbits here than shoot them. But if hungry I could forget how beautiful a deer is in a heartbeat. I’m sure a roast with vegetables is beautiful too. I’ve always thought snares and traps were cruel as they don’t kill quickly like a bullet or arrow. But in a real survival situation I can’t think of a more productive or effective way to get food than trapping. I would love to see designs here of traps that can be homemade to add to my mental skills if ever needed.
Ok you can do that. Hunting is is more time consuming than it sounds. It’s knowing the animals. I am happy I know what’s around me. Deer, elk, turkey,quail.and maybe even a pig.

Secondary Food sources in SHTF- freerange cattle

i know that if I go out for a couple hours, I may not be successful. It’s just relaxing for me.

If you think you can go out and get a weeks worth a meat in a couple hours, good luck to your prepping strategy.

I know what I can do, and what to do tomorrow If I need to.
 
My air rifle doesn’t seem to bother rabbits or turkey too much. They stick around long enough to reload. Turkey are really stupid around here, but I could get a couple meals of of 1. Quail not so much

We had a rat problem one year. The .22 air rifle made quick and easy work of them.
One winter, we had a flock of turkeys hanging out around the property. Even got a picture of them gathered around the wife's bird feeders.
The dogs and I came up over the hill in the spring and, well, lets just say the turkeys did not come back.

To the OP: I have considered traps, namely in the winter. But based off the tracks I see, unless I want field mouse (rat with a small tail) for dinner, not much in the way of rabbits/hares. Occasional squirrel, but not enough to sustain us on.
The back 40 might be different.
 
Ok you can do that. Hunting is is more time consuming than it sounds. It’s knowing the animals. I am happy I know what’s around me. Deer, elk, turkey,quail.and maybe even a pig.

Secondary Food sources in SHTF- freerange cattle

i know that if I go out for a couple hours, I may not be successful. It’s just relaxing for me.

If you think you can go out and get a weeks worth a meat in a couple hours, good luck to your prepping strategy.

I know what I can do, and what to do tomorrow If I need to.

Yes, I know of more than a few guys who think exactly that.
 
We had a rat problem one year. The .22 air rifle made quick and easy work of them.
One winter, we had a flock of turkeys hanging out around the property. Even got a picture of them gathered around the wife's bird feeders.
The dogs and I came up over the hill in the spring and, well, lets just say the turkeys did not come back.

To the OP: I have considered traps, namely in the winter. But based off the tracks I see, unless I want field mouse (rat with a small tail) for dinner, not much in the way of rabbits/hares. Occasional squirrel, but not enough to sustain us on.
The back 40 might be different.

You must have Easterns, because the Merriam/Rio crossbreed I have here are pests and the easiest birds I have ever hunted. Picture as evidence.
447F076B-2605-48F9-8371-D2055EAAC86A.jpeg


I had a large colony of ground squirrel here when I first moved in. Got rid of the destructive little POS. Air rifle was fun for a while. Also the rattlers are few and far between now. They say the squirrels are immune to the venom, but getting rid of them got rid of the rattlers.
 
You must have Easterns, because the Merriam/Rio crossbreed I have here are pests and the easiest birds I have ever hunted. Picture as evidence.View attachment 13143

I had a large colony of ground squirrel here when I first moved in. Got rid of the destructive little POS. Air rifle was fun for a while. Also the rattlers are few and far between now. They say the squirrels are immune to the venom, but getting rid of them got rid of the rattlers.
During winter we'll see hundreds of turkeys on the road going in to town. Sometimes we have to stop and wait for them to get off the road.
We also have problems with ground squirrels. This summer I shot and trapped probably 200 of the little bastards. Right now because of the heat they're hibernating. So far this summer I haven't seen a single rattlesnake around the house. Normally I kill 10 - 12 rattlers each year, just around the house. We see a lot of them on the road to town.
 
People that lived here before told me rattlers were a year round problem. But they had wild oats growing 5 ft from the house.
I keep clearing back to the pasture fences. No more smaller rodent problems inside, no more food supply for the rattlers. Pasture that had the squirrel colony, they haven’t come back to.
I have seen 1 rattler in 2 years compared to the 5 I got the first year. But it was a big one, close to 4ft.
 
I have enough issues with vermin, I do not need to add rattlers to the mix.

BTW, we got, so far, 0.12 inches of rain today. We are just over 10 inches for this month alone.
 
I have enough issues with vermin, I do not need to add rattlers to the mix.

BTW, we got, so far, 0.12 inches of rain today. We are just over 10 inches for this month alone.
So far for July we've got .02" of rain. Since April we've got almost 1" of rain. We usually never get any rain during August, September and most of October.
 
I wish I had known beaver was good eating when I was slaying them regularly a number of years ago. They had a hutch right by a levee, and every time I drove by they would be out sunning themselves on the hutch. I could shoot them out the window of the truck with a 22. I've killed a bunch hiding in culverts too. Now I don't see the beavers, just their handiwork. Their hutches are deep in the swamp where no man treads.
I like the backstrap when the water is cold but not too excited about the rest of the meat. How do you cook it? I got tired of trapping them and put a radio by the culvert (except this year, lake too low). They hate country music more than I hate cleaning the culvert! If I had a good recipe, I'd turn off the music and play the sounds of running water on that speaker (they cant resist that) and set some traps again!
 
I like the backstrap when the water is cold but not too excited about the rest of the meat. How do you cook it? I got tired of trapping them and put a radio by the culvert (except this year, lake too low). They hate country music more than I hate cleaning the culvert! If I had a good recipe, I'd turn off the music and play the sounds of running water on that speaker (they cant resist that) and set some traps again!
When prepping beaver be sure to remove all fat and glands and soak overnight in salt water. Besides the backstrap and tenderloin there's a lot of meat on the hams. Much of the meat will be chunks and strips and can be ground. I like using these chunks in chilli. The meat can be slow cooked and shredded and mixed with BBQ sauce and used like shredded pork. The bones can be used to make soup.
 
I like the backstrap when the water is cold but not too excited about the rest of the meat. How do you cook it? I got tired of trapping them and put a radio by the culvert (except this year, lake too low). They hate country music more than I hate cleaning the culvert! If I had a good recipe, I'd turn off the music and play the sounds of running water on that speaker (they cant resist that) and set some traps again!
Country music would chase me away too. At least that crap that passes as country music today.
 
I'm making some mink, marten and ermine boxes for my grandson. Also going to make some muskrat floats. I've got quite a few already but the boy wants his own sets with his first initial burned in to the wood. Its a little early for trapping most critters but around late September or early October I'll head up in to the high country and start trapping coyotes and fox.
 
The closest river to me has mainly trout. The big river over the mountain has everything from bluegill to salmon, steelhead and sturgeon. Probably my main choice to trap would be for catfish, bluegill and crappie.

What's legal in your state and see if you need a license. A wire catfish trap isn't hard to make. You can even make them out of pvc pipe or plastic buckets.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top