Traps and Snares 1 Next

THE REASON FOR PLACING TRAPS AND SNARES FIRST IS: TRAPPING REQUIRES LESS SKILL AND LEAVES YOU FREE TO SPEND TIME FORAGING FOR OTHER FOOD. IT IS EASIER TO TRAP MOST SMALL PREY THAN TO HUNT THEM.
However, because each animal has different habits, A WIDE VARIETY OF TYPES OF TRAPS ARE ESSENTIAL. THE MORE YOU SET, THE MORE CHANCES YOU HAVE OF SUCCESS. ALL TRAPS ARE INEFFECTIVE UNLESS THEY ARE SITED CORRECTLY & BAITED PROPERLY!

SNARES ARE THE SIMPLEST OF TRAPS AND SHOULD BE PART OF ANY SURVIVAL KIT: Snares, traps, nylon gill-nets and set line will work for you day & night. Get them in operation as soon as possible.

REGULAR CHECKING IS ESSENTIAL. WATCH FOR: The animal itself, don't get excited when you see it; very often it is not certain what you are & will remain still. Make every movement very slowly & make first shot count

1) TRAILS: Usually beaten down through heavy usage, if recently used these trails are excellent for setting snares.

2) FEEDING GROUNDS: Water holes and salt licks are good locations for hunting in the early morning or evening. Trails leading to such places may give excellent site for setting snares, trap.

3) DENS: Holes & food stores give good spot for setting up snare. REMEMBER that the best place to capture an animal is the one where he goes to look for his food. There place snares etc.

4) RACKS: May provide a wealth of information such as type, size, age, sex of animal, direction taken, the age of the tracks and whether the animal was frightened.

4b) TRACKS INDICATE HABITS: Tracks made by animals on the ground when read correctly show the pattern of the animal's habits. This calls for continuous and careful observations. It is IMPORTANT to recognize the fact that animals are as much creatures of habit as human beings. A particular animal will follow the same track to and from water day after day. It will hunt in the same area continually & only leave the area when driven out by fire, flood, drought and even then only temporarily.

5) DROPPING: The best indication of what animal has passed; will sometimes reveal favourite roosting spots of birds.

5b) BAIT DROPPING! : DEER, CARIBOU, RABBIT BEST SNARE: = SHIT! Just spread a lot of the animals shit around a circle about 200 feet in diameter. It attracts them crazy!May sound crazy but it worked for Native Americans since the dawn of time!

BAITS: There are 4 different divisions of animal feeding patterns.
Tree feeding animals/ earth digging & feeding animals / flesh eating animals/ grazing animals.

Baits for tree feeding = fruits.
For earth digging = roots, insects.
Flesh eaters = flesh.
Bait for Grazing = herbage, (Grass).

TEST BAITING AND INVENTORY OF AREA: Thus test baiting you area will show you what animals are in the localities and what bait they will take.

To test an area select a site which is on a light dusty clean soil that will clearly show all tracks about 3 to 4 yards square. Drive 10 to 12 short stakes each about a foot long into the ground and about 3 to 5 feet apart. Make a sketch map of the position of the stakes and notes of the bait each carried. THIS WORK MUST BE DONE IN THE AFTERNOON. When you have all the baits fastened to the pegs, brush the ground clean.

The following morning you MUST visit the area and on the soft dust you will see the tracks of all the creatures that visited the area during the night.And what bait they took also will give you a good idea of your hunting ground, if plentiful or not. If you then make your traps and bait them with the correct baits, they will be effective for you.

TRACKS, BAITS AND LURES: Trapping calls not only for a knowledge of the mechanics and construction of a particular trap or snare but also for an intelligent knowledge of the habits of the animal to be caught.

This knowledge can be gained by observation of its movements and its feeding habits and by its tracks. We know that all animals with cloven hooves are grazing but did you know that all animals which leave the track of a thumb or even 2 thumbs are all tree climbing animals.
And the animals which burrow show the track of their digging claws quite clearly & the animals which leave pad like tracks are carnivorous (flesh-eaters.)

LURES & SCENT: THE USE OF LURE IS UNDOUBTEDLY THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY TO KILL HUMAN SCENT.

Urine of species of animal you want to trap is an excellent scent killer. And urine of female of the species taken when she is "on heat" or in season is an INFALLIBLE LURE FOR MALES OF THAT SPECIES. The urine should be taken from the bladder of a newly killed female and bottled up for future use.

3 EXCELLENT LURES: Another fairly good lure is oil of Aniseed and oil of Rhodium. A very light touch of one of these lures on the bait is all that is required. Both will attract most bush animals.

SALT is also very effective lure in areas away from the coast but salt in itself is not a scent killer.

NOISE LURES: Are often highly effective. These may take the form of special whistles or may be in the form of squeaking or friction instruments. Noise lures are not commonly used in conjunction with traps and snares.

FOOD LURES: ARE ALWAYS HIGHLY EFFECTIVE, small particles of food are scattered lightly around the area of the traps or snares and the animal scenting this food finds it plentiful in the area and scavenges round looking for more till finally he finds the bait in the trap & is caught!

Obviously some of the man scent will be on the food lure particles and although the animal may be suspicious at first finding that no harm comes to him his suspicions will decrease. An excellent use for food lure particles is to scatter thinly along an animal trail, and then fairly thickly on either side of simple noose snare.

BANGING AWAY YOUR MEAL: A point of interest is that most tree living animals will descend a tree if the base of the tree is consistently beaten with a heavy instrument such as the back of an axe or heavy club. Nocturnal animals will descend a tree in broad daylight but the blows MUST be continued and fairly heavy. It is probable that the animal feels the shock through the tree and obeying an impulse to quit before the tree falls, leaves its hinging place. This is an excellent method of getting night feeding animals into daylight for time or meal time.

TYPES OF TRAP: Trap mechanisms make use of following principles: Mangle / Strangle / Dangle / Tangle.

The dead-fall mangles. The snare strangles. Springy saplings can make a trap more efficient and take the game up in the air - it dangles. The higher the sapling the more effectively it lifts the animal. A net tangles. Some traps combine 2 or more of these principles.

RULES FOR TRAPS: When setting traps, follow these basic rules:
1) Avoid disturbing the environment; Don't tread on the game trail. Do all your preparations off the trail and don't leave any sign that you have been there.
2) HIDE SCENT: When constructing or handling traps don't leave your scent on them.

Handle as little as possible and wear gloves if you can. Do not make trap from pine-wood and set it in a wood of hazel. Each tree gives off its own smell- and the animal you are trying to trap have a very high sense of smell, many times sharper than yours. Although they fear fire they are familiar with the smell of smoke and exposing a snare to the smoke from a camp fire will mask any human scent

SCENT HIDING: TO HUNT SUCCESSFULLY YOU MUST MAKE YOUR SMELL DISAPPEAR SPECIALLY IF YOU WANT TO INSTALL SNARES OR TRAPS. One reaches that goal by rubbing his shoes with cedar branches or wild animal grease or oil or by watering his snare since water as fire removes scent.

You MUST also put grease or cedar branches on your gloves and NEVER HANDLE YOUR SNARES WITH BARE HANDS. Even if your hands are well covered by gloves it is good to rub your hand with cedar. If no cedars around find in the area where the snare is going to be installed some aromatic plants which you rub your gloves with. Once an animal has been caught with your trap or snares ALWAYS boil those with hot water before using them again.

TIPS TO REMOVE YOUR SCENT:
1) Spruce needle or cedar crushed into your hands and gloves will also be use to be rubbed on your snares or traps and all its components so as to remove your scent.
2) Cedar has this double advantage to remove men scent and to attract the animal.
3) Dragging a dead bird or spoil meat will help a lot to remove your scent.
4) Also the water or FIRE removes your scent.

LEAVES REMOVE SCENT: Leaves crushed have a strong perfume. If you crush them in your hands before, during and after you have masked your trap, you will leave the scent of the leaves on the trap and this will so much stronger than you main scent that it will drown the latter. Of course your scent will remain all around the area and the animal will be suspicious.

FIRE REMOVE SCENT: Fire is a good destroyer of man scent and if you scorch the trap or snare by making a torch of dry grass or dead leaves you will cleanse it to the animal's nose and will be less suspicious.

HIDING YOUR SCENT!: Human scent can be smelled and discovered by animals up to 5 miles around your presence, so don't make it worst by having perfume or washing with scented soap or after-shave.

WOMEN AND MEN SCENT: Women's scent is stronger than men especially if she is menstruating. BE CAREFUL this attracts bear and other flesh eating animals who smell blood way off.

ADDED TIPS FOR HUNTING:

CAMOUFLAGE: Hide freshly cut ends of wood with mud. Cover any snare on the ground to blend in as naturally as possible with its surroundings.

MAKE TRAPS STRONG:An ensnared animal is fighting for its life. It exerts a lot of energy in an attempt to escape. Any weakness in the traps will be exposed.

TRAPS AND TRAPPING: IT IS EASIER TO TRAP MOST SMALL PREY THAN TO HUNT THEM. Even if you spot a small animal it offers very little target & can easily take cover. Nevertheless be ready to take advantage of sitting prey if you get the chance.

There are many elabourate traps with complicated mechanisms. They take time to build & demand physical effort. The survivor needs simple traps that are easy to REMEMBER & easy to construct.

ESSENTIAL TO VARY TYPES: However, because each animal has different habits, a wide variety of types of traps are ESSENTIAL.

THE MORE YOU SET, THE MORE CHANCES YOU HAVE OF SUCCESS. If one type fails, an alternative can be set. It is a matter of trial and error.

The survivor's own preservation MUST take precedence over humanitarian principles and unfortunately some of the easiest traps can cause considerable suffering to the animal. A trap which could bring quick death to the species for which it is intended, perhaps by strangulation, may catch another animal by a limb and leave it suffering for hours.

REGULAR CHECKING IS ESSENTIAL. Leaving a trap line unchecked will prolong an animal's pain and increase the risk that your catch may be poached by an animal predator. Or that the prey will have managed painfully to struggle free- animals are known to bite off limb or inflict other self-mutilation to get away from a trap.

Avoid to come too close of your trap while checking them. Just MAKE SURE that they have not been disturbed and if possible do not leave any hints of your passage like spitting etc. and don't bring your dogs along they leave a strong scent.

BEST WAYS TO AVOID TRAPPING ERRORS: A great deal of error can be eliminated by studying the animals and their habits.

CHOICE OF BAITS AND SITES IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: If one does not work, try another. BE PATIENT. Give traps time. Animal will be very suspicious at first but with time will come to accept them and that is when they will run into them.

Even when on the move, a few simple traps, quickly set up overnight may be productive. And if you are making a more permanent camp you will be able to set up well planned lines of traps.

THE MORE YOU SET, THE MORE CHANCES YOU HAVE OF SUCCESS. Establish as large a trap line as you can manage in your area. Inspect it at first and last light. Collect the game and reset the traps. Repair any traps as necessary and move those that are repeatedly unfruitful.

TO BE EFFECTIVE A TRAP MUST BE VERY SENSITIVE, so it may be fired accidentally. You will probably have several empty traps for every success but this does not mean that you are doing things wrong. You MUST accept a proportion of failures. They are no cause for disappointment.

If a trap has not fired, but the bait has gone, it is an indication either that the bait was not sufficiently securely fixed or that the trigger mechanism is too tight. Check both when you reset the trap.

By doing the rounds regularly you effectively patrol an area. Noting the many signs of activity or change which help to build up knowledge of your surroundings. At the same time you can forage for plants and other food or note what is available for later collection. Baiting a trap will attract the game.

In a survival condition food may be scarce but if you know there are animals to trap a little used as bait may be bring large rewards.

PRECAUTIONS TO TAKE WHEN CHECKING TRAPS: To eliminate the human scent if you have forgotten to prepare your traps or snares, then strongly rub them with crushed spruce needles, this natural scent will remove suspicion. Also REMEMBER to use gloves soaked in blood or coated with bee wax when handling your traps so as to remove your human scent keep this special pair of gloves just for the traps handling.

Avoid to spit or urinate near your traps. NEVER put #huile de charbon# on your traps, animals will shy away at all time.

Many trappers hide their traps for 1 to 2 months under a manure pile before using them, they say it removes the human scent.

Don't bring your dogs while visiting your traps, animals will smell their tracks for days and stay away from your traps.

WATER REMOVES ALL SCENTS: When possible throw water on your traps and around since WATER REMOVES ALL SCENT. Before setting your traps try them out first to see if they work well yet be careful. NEVER handle traps or snares with bare hands, use gloves.

PREPARING YOUR TRAP: Don't use shiny new trap, let them boil in water in which you have put different Evergreen branches. After having it made to boil for 1/2 or 3/4 of an hour they will become covered with a paint like substances then remove the traps from the water & hang them to dry by the sun. This substance will dry up and harden and will stop it from rusting and also will destroy the scent of iron /rust.

Another method to darken the traps by letting boil for many hours bark of oak, maple, birch till the solution becomes black. Place the trap ring between the jaws and deep the whole thing in the solution that you let boil for another hour. Then throw in the solution a chunk of bee wax / #paraffin# and let it melt then draw your trap one after the other so that they are covered with a small coat of wax. Then let them hang under the trees far from the house of camps till they dry.

WHERE TO & NOT TO TRAP: Find the game trails or runs that lead from an animal home to where it feeds or waters. Look for any natural bottleneck along the route where it will have to pass through a particular position- a deadwood fall or a place where the track goes under an obstruction will be ideal places to set a trap.

Do not place a trap close to an animal's lair. That is where it sits and listens and sniffs the air. If at all suspicious it will either stay put or use a less obvious route. Don't place a trap close to its watering place either. There too, the animal is on its toes and alert, more likely to notice anything unusual.

If you lay traps down the side of natural pastures the animal will not go near them but use other routes. However, when alarmed they panic and will take the shortest route to cover. That is when the crudest and most obvious of traps will be successful. Rabbits are easily caught by causing them to panic.

TRAP CONSTRUCTION: The simpler traps and snares are made of string or wire. It will be easier to keep a loop open in the air if you use wire and the wire in your survival tin is ideal. Even the most sophisticated need nothing more than a knife to make them out of available wood. The choice of materials is important. Use strong, springy wood. Do not use dead wood or wood found on the ground. Hazel takes a lot of beating: it is easy to carve & retains its spring and strength.

TOGGLE & BAIT RELEASE SNARE: A bait bar is wedged between an upright and the lower part of a toggle, the upper part pressing against a retaining bar. The principle is like the platform snare with the bait bar replacing the platform. Movement of the bait bar releases the toggle which flies upward under tension from a sapling above, carrying snare with it. Taut line from bent sapling to end of toggle pulls against cross-bar. Bait bar keeps toggle in position.

TOGGLE TRIP RELEASE DEAD-FALL TRAP: This uses the same kind of mechanism as the toggle releases snare though this time the release bar keeping the toggle in position presses one end of the toggle upwards. A line from the toggle passes over a tree limb to support a bundle of logs or other heavy weight above the trail.

From the release bar a trip line (usually a vine) runs above the ground beneath the suspended weight to a firm securing point. Run the trip line under a forked stick (A) so that it will pull the trigger bar sideways when operated.

TOGGLE & BAIT RELEASE DEAD-FALL TRAP: A rock or a group of logs lashed together is supported by a prop which is balanced over a fixed forked stick. The other end of the prop is clear of the ground and held down by a short line attached to a toggle which is wrapped around the upright stick.
The toggle is kept in place by a bait stick wedged between it and the dead fall weight. Dislodging the bait stick brings the whole lot down. The forked stick is driven into the ground first.

DEAD-FALL TRAPS: These traps all work on the principle that when the bait is taken a weight fall on the prey. All are good for pigs, foxes and badgers. Larger versions can be used for bigger animals such as bears.

These look complicated but once learned areeasily remembered and very effective. It can be made to any size. A horizontal bait bar is balanced at right angles to an upright with a locking bar, which supports a weight, positioned over the bait, pivoted on the sharpened tip of the upright. Bait bar notched on top to engage locking arm, square cut on side to fit upright. Locking arm sharpened at lower end to release quickly, notched at centre to pivot on upright.

WARNING! WARNING!:

The large versions of these dead-fall traps can be extremely dangerous for humans as well as for the prey for which they are intended. The toggle release & dead-fall traps have trip wires and are easily set off accidentally. Even in a survival situation ensure that every one knows exactly where they are.

In survival practice keep people away from them & NEVER leave such a trap set up at the end of an exercise. You cannot set a large dead-fall trap on your own. Keep the mechanism to the side of the trail, well away from the dropping weight, or setting it will be too risky. BALANCE IS CRITICAL. You are unlikely to get it right first time.

BALANCE LOG: A forked stick, its ends sharpened to dislodge rapidly and one fork suitably baited, supports one end of a cross-bar. The other end of which rests on a fixed support, held there by the weight of the heavy logs or rock which rest on the bar. When the bait is taken the whole trap collapses. Angle bait beneath the trap.

SQUARED-FACE RELEASE TRAP: Similar to the balance log trap but using a notched upright as the support the lower face of the notch squared off. Fit cross bar against the squared off lower face of the bar supporting the weight.

DEAD-FALL TRAP: The weight of a log or other weight suspended over the game trail pulls the line carrying it against a retaining bar held by short pegs secured in a tree trunk. The line continues as tripwire beneath the weight. MAKE SURE that the line is long enough and tripwire anchor weak enough to allow weight to reach the ground. Set the pegs slightly downward but keep them short so that the bar disengages easily.

DOUBLE-ENDED FIGURE 4 SNARE: A bait is set at right angles across an upright, the faces cut square and a shorter trigger lodged between them to maintain their position. The trigger is linked to a springy sapling and the same line carries snares. When the bait bar is dislodged the trigger is released. Four snares will effectively cover both directions on a game trail, or use in clearings to snare small carnivores.

SPEAR TRAPS:

WARNING! These traps are particularly good for killing pigs and deer, but they are EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND CAN BE LETHAL TO HUMANS.
ALWAYS STAND BEHIND THE SPEAR WHEN SETTING and ensure that the location and the danger is known to everyone. Mark with signs to attract human attention. Except in survival situation NEVER leave spear traps set & unsupervised.

DEAD-FALL SPEAR TRAP: This uses the same mechanism as the dead fall trap but uses rocks to add weight & arms the trap with sharpened sticks. It delivers a stabbing as well as a stunning blow.

SPRING SPEAR TRAP: A VERY DANGEROUS TRAP which will kill the game. Effective against wild pig. A springy shaft fitted with a spear attached, is held taut above the trail.

A slip ring made from bound creeper or smooth material (not rough twine which could catch against toggle) attached to a trip wire acts as a release mechanism. A toggle (a) and short line (to a fixed upright) hold the spear shaft in tension. A further rod through ring is tensed between the near side of the spear shaft and the far face of the upright securing all until tripped.

PIG SPEAR TRAP: Similar to the spring spear trap but operating horizontally, this trap has the unarmed end of the springy shaft secured & lashed between four uprights. At the business end, the toggle (anchored by a short line) retains the springy shaft, so long as the toggle is held against the horizontal bar by a ring. The ring is on the end of a trip wire, anchored to a post on the other side of the trail.

MAKE SURE that the spear is lashed very firmly to the springy shaft or it my be knocked sideways on impact instead of plunging into the animal's body. Spear shaft is set a height level with the body of the animal it is designed to kill, or angled to spring to that height. Tension exerted on the springy shaft requires the uprights holding it to be very firmly set in the ground & the lashing to be strong & secure.

REMEMBER:
Because spear traps are so Dangerous, MAKE SURE the cord and knots are strong enough to stand the tension.
NEVER approach these traps except from Behind the spear. Take no risk where these traps are concerned.

BAITED SPRING SPEAR TRAP: Taking the suspended bait dislodges a retaining ring to release the trigger bar, allowing the spear to fly upwards. The ring holds the upper end of the trigger bar against an upright post, so that it retains the spear shaft. The lower end of the trigger is restrained by a cord. To increase the traps' efficiency use several spear points on the bar.

PERCH SPEAR TRAP: This is a good trap for Monkeys(?!). It is similar in action to the baited spring spear trap, but uses a perch instead of a bait as the trigger mechanism. If the securing ring is around the trunk of a tree rather than a post. MAKE SURE that it is on a smooth area and can move easily.

BOW TRAP:

WARNING!!! NEVER leave this unattended where people could walk into it. It is a potential man killer. Rambo!

A simple bow made of suitable wood (see weapon) is held taut and angled to shoot slightly upwards by upright posts and a toggle switch with an arrow fitted. The trigger bar is held in place by a toggle attached to a trip wire, which MUST be routed round to the point of aim. Keep the first stretch of wire close to the mechanism for there is no point in it being tripped by an animal approaching from behind the bow.

This trap is suitable for large and dangerous animals and can work with animals coming head on to the arrow or approaching from the trip wire side. (The quarry passes across the arrow as it fires.) The arrow may also strike larger animals passing in front of the bow first.

(A) Notch arrow for bowstring and for trigger bar. Angle trigger bar tip to fit arrow notch, cut side to fit cross-bar. Set toggle between bottom of trigger bar and a fixed post. (B)

ALTERNATIVE TRIGGER MECHANISM: Cut a square face on an upright and a square notch on the side of a forked stick to engage it. Notch the upper face of the stick to hold the bowstring. Attach trip wire to other prong of fork.

SALT TRAP: Salt is a necessary element of man and wildlife alike. So necessary in fact that it has been seen that a deer and a cougar will share the same salt lick in their enforced truce of salt starvation. Taking this knowledge into practice, one can install his salt trap easily to capture any wild life like wolves, bear, deer, etc. All you have to do is to put those cow salt blocks on a lets say a 3 miles triangle in the summer months. And when the fall hunting season comes along just go where you put them & replaced them by new ones, the game will go there and you will then be ready to hit them.

WOLF HUNT: Should wolves become to much a bother, then the Eskimo will spread some fresh blood upon the blade of his knife and stick the knife handle in the snow letting the blade in full view. Hiding behind the igloo door he sees the wolf coming up guided by his nose. The wolf licks the blade and by so doing cuts itself now excited by the smell and taste the wolf gets more exasperated and looses all cautions licking and cutting itself crazy and after a while he becomes too weak and dies from having fed himself on its own blood.

FOX SNARES: One of the best trap is the one that you have installed in on old empty tree trunk or stump and have covered with rotten wood.

IT IS ALWAYS READY AND ONE OF THE BEST AMBUSH FOR FOXES AND ALIKE.

Another method according to an old Indian is to simply attach a bird to a small stone and with the help of invisible wires. Then you place this bait at water level about 1 foot from shore placing also your trap facing your bait near the water edge and slightly hidden in the sand or grass. Take also the precaution to water many a time your snares and baits to remove your scent.

In Winter you can tend your trap in the snow around some fresh carcass or in well-beaten fox track path. Your trap MUST be covered with a thin layer of paper and a fine powder of snow on top of it. Secure your trap with a good stone or to a tree.

BACON BAIT: This is the BEST BAIT FOR ALL CARNIVOROUS ANIMALS SMALL OR BIG.
From mink to bear to wolves etc. Just fry it and try it next time, but BEWARE it does attracts them from miles around so be prepared to fight, kill or get the hell out of the way, they want that Bacon!

SNARE METHODS: Whatever species one can capture with a snare beside the rabbit or hare there is also the fox, coyote, wolf, lynx or bobcat etc. However beavers, muskrat etc. can not be taken in the following snares due to their physical shape being largely different. But the following methods are proven techniques used with success over many years.

With one own experience one can invent other variations which will adapt itself to the terrain or species. On a path where you would find a lynx you will very often find that the lynx follows the hare own path in the hope of a good meal.

So you will install in an "X" shape 2 trees about 4 to 6 inches which will meet or cross at about 30 inches off the ground. Install your first snare with a 9 inches diameter under the "X" at 16 inches off the ground, then a second snare of the same diameter on top of the "X" in case the lynx would jump over the "X".

ANOTHER METHOD: Is to install a snare with a bait. Over an uprooted tree or on a big low branch at about 7 feet off the ground you will put an or rabbit or any good bait for the lynx. Put your snare about 8 inches above the trunk with a 9 inches diameter, if need be add a branch in order to sustain it. For the lynx you need galvanised steel cable 3/32th of an inch, or 7X7 aviation cable & 36 inches long are ideal.

Note that the method shown here can be used for any animals named above and the only change being the size of the cable used as snare and the height where you will put the snare which will vary according to the species you are hunting.

If you hunt foxes and that you know that there are also coyotes then use the size for the coyote, otherwise the snare will not resist the coyote. For a fox use a steel galvanised cable 1/16th of inch or 7X7 aviation type and 36 in. long. For the coyote use 3/32th inch. 7X7 aviation & 48 inches long. For the wolf use a 1/8th in. 7X7 aviation of 48 in. long is best. Once you want to hunt these animals it would be much better if you can, to prospect your area in the summer, where you plan to put your snares.

So as to better spot the ideal location for them and to give them a lot of time to get used to your installations. Among the various places visited by these animals there are also trails of bigger games. Look for a spot where the trail is blocked by a dead tree which forces the big games to jump over it but which would at the same time leave enough free space to permit the lynx, fox etc. to go under it. Reduce to about 14 inches the width of this passage under the tree by using vertical branches as a kind of barrier. When the time comes for your snares to be put in place you will have the perfect spot for them.

OTHER METHODS: Among other places to hunt, there are the beavers dams which the lynx, fox etc. use as means of bridges & to go hunting. There you will plant strongly a strong stick about 3 to 4 inches in diameter which will be used to hold your snare. REMEMBER to use a dry stick if you don't want the beavers to cut it off.

Fox, lynx etc. frequently use small streams and rivers to move during the winter when the ice is frozen. Look for the spots where it becomes narrower and restricted by #aulnes#. Using those branches to reduce this passage so as to leave only 2 openings since they usually travel in pairs.

Another method is to use a "corridor." In the forest look for a place used by them but which at the same time is particularly full of all kind of natural obstacles. Once you have found one of those "corridor", trace a path about 15 inches wide and 100 feet long which you will clear of all branches, leaves and grass blades.In the centre you will dig a hole into which you will bury the bait which would have been covered slightly with earth and leaves.You will then install a snare on both sides of the bait at about 12 feet of the snare.

BRION STYLE: Similar to the one above consist in building a coral about 30 feet in diameter while leaving 4 to 6 openings into which you have installed your snares. The interior of the coral will have been completely cleared off and the bait placed in its centre will consist of any parts of any game either big or even domestic ones. Close to the bait, on a stump or stick you will have smeared a few drops of animal urine.

REMEMBER NEVER put any urine or drogue on or near the snares at the exception of the "corridor" or coral.