Survival Tips for How to Make Snares & Traps

A working knowledge of the construction and placement of traps and snares sometimes mean the difference between life and death. This might be your sole method of obtaining food if you find yourself in a situation where hunting for wild animals is the only means of survival. Snare and trap techniques are appropriate for such a dire situation, but should not be used in less perilous circumstances. The devices generally kill an animal in a quick and humane manner, but the risk of causing harm and distress is a distinct possibility.

  1. Which Animals to Trap

    • Any wild animal can be trapped, but considerable skill and experience is required to build and position a trap powerful enough to take a large animal. Those without prior experience typically concentrate on trapping small animals like rabbits, gophers and ground squirrels. Small animals are best caught using either a snare or a deadfall trap. The latter drops a heavy weight on the animal when it touches the trigger mechanism.

    Snares

    • Build your snare from wire if at all possible; many animals are capable of chewing through string or vine. If wire is not available, build a sprung-snare trap that is likely to kill the animal immediately. Make a noose with a slip knot in one end of a piece of wire. Tie the other end around a secure anchor. Use small twigs to prop the noose at the animal's head height; a smaller creatures is usually ensnared as it runs through. For a more effective trap, bend a springy sapling; tie the end of the snare wire to the sapling. Hold the sapling in place by notching it loosely into a peg or tree stump. The animal pulls the sapling free of the peg when it is caught, causing the small tree to spring upward. The force of the sapling's tug on the noose usually breaks the animal's neck.

    Dead Fall Trap

    • A deadfall trap is made by propping a large, heavy object -- such as a log or rock -- on a support carefully balanced against another support. Place food at a critical point that joins the spot where the two supports are balanced. The animal knocks the supports apart when it takes the food, triggering the weight to fall. The key to a deadfall trap lies in providing sturdy supports that are easily knocked apart. Cut corresponding notches in two branches. Slot the branches lightly together -- one above the other -- before leaning the weight against them. Tie another branch at a right angle from the supporting branches. Place the food on the end of this branch, directly under the weight.

    Placing Traps

    • Logic suggest that the best place to position a trap is directly outside an animal's home or burrow. This is not necessarily the case. A wild animal is particularly wary of changes to the familiar environment around its home, and might well avoid a trap placed to close to a den. A better approach consists of looking for small trails through thick undergrowth; look for tracks alongside the trail. The more tracks you find, the better the spot for setting the trap. Look for places where the trail bottlenecks.

      Other predators are likely to come across the trapped animal before you do. A well designed trap lifts the trapped prey to a height that cannot be reached by other animals. Place a large number of traps over your hunting area, and check all of them every 24 hours. This maximizes your chances of catching an animal, and minimizes the time an animal spends trapped. Wear gloves when setting a trap; Glove help hide your human scent, which is a deterrant to wild animals.