Homemade Traps And Snares.pdf

Contents

Introduction

1 - Box traps

sliding wire release

string loop release

pivoting wire release

2 - Mouse trap variants

falling cage trap

enlarged snap trap

spinning bird trap

3 - Snares

basic snare

lifting snares

baited whip snares

bird foot snare

4 - restricted exit traps

baited tin trap

pig trap

5 - stakes, drags and earth anchors

stakes

drags

earth anchor

6 - miscellaneous tricks

predator calls

Introduction

This page aims to deal with easily made animal traps that are simple to make out of readily available materials. All

photos and pictures are original to this page and all traps and methods work well. Most likely some of these traps

will be illegal in your area and proper research should be done regarding the laws before you attempt to fabricate

your own trap.

~~ Lowry

1 - Box Traps

Box traps are a relatively easy design that are easy to set up and if triggered are nearly 100% reliable. These traps

can be made to any size for any animal that will take bait. The disadvantage is that some wild animals are very

hesitant to walk into a cage, also box traps need to be heavily constructed therefor can be quite expensive.

Parts Needed for the basic box and

locking rod -

NOTE - these parts will make a fox sized

trap, upsize or downsize for other game.

4 - pieces 1"x2" welded steel mesh cut to

120 x 55cm

2 - pieces 1"x2" welded steel mesh cut to

55 x 55cm

10 - lengths 3 x 25mm angle steel cut to

55cm

2 - lengths 3 x 25mm angle steel cut to

52.5cm

4 - lengths 3 x 25mm angle steel cut to

120cm

2 - 25" pieces of 8mm steel rod

1 - 20" piece of 8mm steel rod

2 - hinges

tie wire

To construct the basic cage, first you must decide how strong the cage will have to be. If you intent to catch

anything larger than a cat i would suggest using a full frame of angle steel. The above diagram uses square tube steel

to only reinforce the opening and the swinging door.

Start by tieing the box together, this is easily done by using nylon cable ties join the 4 large pieces of steel mesh

together then tie on one end, again with cable ties, it should be rigid enough to hold its shape enough to fabricate the

rest of the trap.

Now take 2 pieces of 14" square tube steel and 2 13" pieces. weld (or bracket) these tubes together to form a perfect

square. do the same with the other pieces of square tube, so you have two identical squares. One is welded to the

inside of the opening to the cage and the other is used to reinforce the edge of the door by welding the mesh to one

side of the square.

The door can now be hinged to the opening with small hinges available at any hardware store.

All thats left to do is make a locking rod that will slide down and lock the box when the trap is triggered. Look at the

diagram above, The two "guide rods" hold the "locking rod" in position, when the trap is triggered the locking rod

slides down the guide rods and locks to door shut behind the animal.

Finish the basic box by tieing the wire mesh (or welding it) together with tie wire making sure there are no gaps and

it is strongly constructed as wild animals go crazy when trapped..

Triggers

Theres a large variety of triggers for these traps, they all do pretty much the same thing and are mostly variations on

the same few types.

Sliding wire release - This design is used on

many of the commercially available box traps,

theres good reason for this as it is one of the

best, this design works best for the smaller

traps as the heavy gauge wire needed for the

larger ones is hard to bend without the right

machines. Also the heavy doors of the large

traps decrease sensitivity with this design.

Look at the diagram to the right. The black

lines are heavy gauge steel rod suspended to

the top of the cage with wire loops, a square of

the same wire is welded to the top of the door

as shown to catch around the bait rod.

The trap is triggered when the animal takes the

bait, which slides the wire back releasing the

door.

string loop release - This trigger is simple to make and very sens

It is also very easy to make work with any sized trap. A major pro

is actually setting it, in its basic form it takes two people, one to g

the wire through the hole and the other to loop the string over the

protruding wire.

Look at the diagram to the left, To set the trap a string is tied to th

door, the string then runs over the centre back of the trap and a loo

the string is placed over the bit of protruding wire, as the bait pole

pulled, the hinge bends sliding the wire out of the hole letting go o

wire.

pivoting wire release - This is the trigger i used on my box trap,

made with 6mm rod sliding/pivoting around nuts welded to the

frame. This trigger gives great sensitivity compared to the "sliding

wire release" due to the added leverage. This design works great for

larger heavier traps, or traps using springs on the door.

Things to consider

- Smell is the major problem for every trapper, while this isnt so important for catching your neighbours cat, it is

very important if you intend to target wild game. To avoid unnatural smell dont use solvents, glue or paint. If you

would like to colour the trap which can yeild better results there are metal stains available or although somewhat

expensive powdercoating the trap. Keep the trap away from oil and petrol in the back of your ute and where gloves

when handling the trap and bait in its later stages.

- sensitivity, how sensitive a trap is relies on many factors although the major contributer is leverage, if your trap

doesnt seem sensitive enough experiment with leverage, examples of this are moving the pin down further on the

"string loop release" trap, or instead of using the strait pull wire in the "sliding wire release" experiment with using a

pivoting wire that uses leverage to pull the wire across the top back instead of forward.

- baiting the trap will be much easier if you add a rear sliding door the the trap, also note the direction of the hook on

the bait rod, If i had a second go i would bend it back the other way to prevent animals from sliding the bait off the

rod.

2 - Mouse Trap Variants

The mouse snap trap is a prime example of leverage used to sensitise a trap that has to hold back a large amount of

force, The trap gains this sensitivity by using a long locking pin with all the force being held at the back where it

hinges onto the floor plate, furthur leverage is gained by using a long bait plate.

Using this basic design, it can be mobified to produce many other traps for all sorts of game.

Falling cage trap -

In this trap a mesh cage, hinged at one end is suspended by a string which passes over a fixed steel rod, down

through the mesh and looped around the locking pin. When the trap is triggered by pressure on the bait plate, it

releases the locking pin which flies up and the string loop slides off the pin letting the cage fall over the target

animal.

Sensitivity can be altered with this trap quite easily. This can be done by sliding the loop up and down the locking

pin, the closer the loop is to the hinge the more sensitive it will be. If that technique isnt feasable the other option is

to fix the string to the cage at different places this will work in the opposite fashion, the further from the hinge

joining the cage to floor plate the string is tied, the more sensitive.

Enlarged snap trap -

Another effective trap is nothing more than an over sized mouse snap trap. But instead of killing the animal wire

mesh is strung between the loop to trap and hold the animal.

The wire is 8 gauge fencing wire that is bent into a circle (circle is vital). The back half of the circle is pinned down

to a large flat board with the excess ends of wire bent in such a way as to put tension on the loop as its brought back.

This is locked back by a strait piece of 8 gauge fencing wire, and the trigger is made in the shape of a standard

mouse trap. Fine wire mesh is than tied around the loop to trap and hold the cat.

Below shows the method used to bend the high tensile fencing wire, first it is bent into a circle and where it touches

itself is pined to the floor plate with "U" nails, the excess wire overhang is than bent forward with pliars, this now is

twisted back around to face the other way and pinned down with "U" nails.

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