Ever seen the Deadfall Traps shown in survival books? To me they seemed very ineffective, both in dispatching the target animal and the chance of animals actually be attracted to the trap. Many of the survival books also advertised them for catching rodents and other extremely small game that would be very difficult to provide for even one person. Then, I tried it. In 5 minutes of whittling and a half hour of waiting, I had myself an effective trap for the various pests around my house . This opened up my perspective, and now I am contemplating the use of deadfall traps to catch squirrels (in survival situations of course, because it is sadly illegal), a animal of enough size to sustain a person.
I will elaborate on the construction of deadfall traps later with more images, but the basic idea of a two-stick deadfall (like the one I constructed) is a prop stick that a bait stick is balanced on in between a rock. When an animal moves the baitstick, usually attracted by peanut butter or an apple on the stick, it dislodges the other end of the stick that balances the rock and prop stick. The deadfall should be created in a high-use area by the target animal. Now, I was very successful in my attempt, but if in your case you cannot understand my explanation or attract a target animal, you will not be sccessful, so attempt to create the trap by deciphering my explanation and the picture.
I obtained the design for this trap through a post by Ken Youngquist on survivaltek.com about this two-stick deadfall trap.
Check out my other pages on catching snapping turtles, skinning snakes, pocket survival kits, shark fishing, and more!
