Apache Foot Trap !

pitdog

pitdog

Joined
Apr 13, 2007
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I never see this one mentioned too much so figured I'd give it a go today !

This trap is designed to hold a noose onto a deers(or other hoofed animal)leg till the animal has struggled enough to pull the noose tight.

First job was to make the hoof hold part, this consists of two rings, one approx 6-8" and the inner ring approx 2-3" with sharpened sticks running through both !

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By pitdog2010 at 2011-05-25

Now to dig a hole and set the trap on the top of it...

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By pitdog2010 at 2011-05-25

Next job is to set up the snare over the trap. The other end can be to a fixed anchor point or as I did here to a spring mechanism.

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By pitdog2010 at 2011-05-25

My simple trigger.

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By pitdog2010 at 2011-05-25

A shot of the whole trap although it's hard to make out.

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By pitdog2010 at 2011-05-25

All that's left is to cover the trap with ground litter.

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By pitdog2010 at 2011-05-25

My plan was to film me setting it off but I forgot to take my gorilla pod and although I did try filming with one hand it came out too poor to show !!!

What happens is the deer steps into the trap engaging the hoof hold section. As it raises it's leg the hoof hold is attached with the noose on the leg above the hold.At that point the noose may or may not have tightened, it doesn't matter though because the noose cannot fall off so it's just a matter of time as the deer attempts to escape befoer it does become tight.

Now the trap worked but not as well as I wanted due to the Cedar roots I used being a little too flexible. As I continued my hike I saw these dried vines and realised that they would have been much better to use...

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By pitdog2010 at 2011-05-25

These formed a nice solid circle, I guess you could also use thin branches and lash a few together with para-cord.

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By pitdog2010 at 2011-05-25

Not wanting to waste this hoop I made Blair witch type decoration and left it up to scare other hikers, LOL !

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By pitdog2010 at 2011-05-25

Off topic but this park has the biggest Miners Lettuce I've ever seen, not sure why it is larger here ?!!

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By pitdog2010 at 2011-05-25
 
Neat trap demo Pitdog. I think I saw RonHood do a similar one, but I might have the reference wrong. Looks great, but I suspect a dear would be able to even rip/snap a single strand of paracord given the power they have. I've heard talk of them breaking single strand paracord snares in the past (although experimenting on snaring deer would be highly controversial, it was army guys and they never let ethics get in the way of training :D).

Also nice shot of the Miner's lettuce. I suspect it is big because its in a shaded area. Shade growing plants always taking on larger morphotypes than sun-grown ones. At least that is an old foragers trick to harvest herbs in the shade because its much faster to fill your basket that way. As always, great posts. This one was really informative!
 
kgd said:
Neat trap demo Pitdog. I think I saw RonHood do a similar one, but I might have the reference wrong. Looks great, but I suspect a dear would be able to even rip/snap a single strand of paracord given the power they have. I've heard talk of them breaking single strand paracord snares in the past (although experimenting on snaring deer would be highly controversial, it was army guys and they never let ethics get in the way of training :D).

Also nice shot of the Miner's lettuce. I suspect it is big because its in a shaded area. Shade growing plants always taking on larger morphotypes than sun-grown ones. At least that is an old foragers trick to harvest herbs in the shade because its much faster to fill your basket that way. As always, great posts. This one was really informative!
Click to expand...

Have ya ever seen a Vancouver island deer, I doubt they could even snap jute they are so small !:D

I always carry some brass snare wire in my main kit, that would probably be better than the para-cord !
 
Great pics and post, pitdog. I really like the trap set up.
That pic of the miners lettuce was huge. Neat find.

Bryan
 
very cool trap, I think if someone would have asked me to snare a deer I would have tried catch it around the neck. Damn those Indians were smart.
 
Nice work man.....I saw that trap in one of my books.....Was wanting to build one sometime. Great pics.
 
Great stuff Pit! I'm sure Maisy knows enough by now to steer clear of you and your traps. :D
 
i believe our indians were probably the furtherest advanced of any stone age cultures. we learned many cures & other plant uses from these various tribes. a terrible shame we did'nt treat them better. looks like spring has finally gotten north pit.---dennis
 
DennisStrickland said:
i believe our indians were probably the furtherest advanced of any stone age cultures. we learned many cures & other plant uses from these various tribes. a terrible shame we did'nt treat them better. looks like spring has finally gotten north pit.---dennis
Click to expand...

Cool trap. I'm among the Cree and Dene' Indians daily. The Dene' have had and still have much more difficulty assimilating into main stream culture here. I believe that it is now the consensus that some Dene' migrated, (fought their way down), to the southern U.S. area within the last few hundred years.
http://www.applet-magic.com/navajo.htm
 
I'm late catching up with this post.... and I can't see the pictures (just a '403 Forbidden' notice).

I've experimented with this type of trap. Instead of making the 'spike wheel' I got a plastic container lid and drew a, say, 3 or 4 inch circle in the middle. Right in the centre of this circle I cut a hole maybe an inch in diameter. I then used a knife to make some radial cuts from the centre hole to the circle. I might have made eight or ten cuts. These cuts created the 'spikes'.

I set some traps using these plastic spike wheels with a nylon cord noose set above them. I didn't catch anything, although animals did disturb them. I dislike using locking snare knots (although I'd definitely use them in survival conditions if necessary).... and I think that this lack of a lock knot may have allowed the noose to be kicked off by the animal I would have trapped otherwise. (I was experimenting on land where some livestock or dogs could have been roaming. I didn't like the idea of having a lock knot tightening hard on an animal I might have wanted to release).

I recall an older guy telling me that he had used, or had known of someone using, plastic dinner plates for a similar purpose.

Normally I'd prefer a simple rope snare set in a 'neck catching' position to catch most things. But the Apache foot trap style of device is great because it can be hidden to a greater degree. It isn't as obvious as a standard snare to passers-by.

Thanks for all your posts. I particularly enjoy the trap and snare threads. Best wishes from New Zealand.... Coote.
 
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