Figure 4 deadfall ?

Thanks for the diagram, Doc.

Now the question is, if I'm up a dirt road at the open space preserve near my house, will they get p.o.'d at me if they find me practicing how to make either a paiute deadfall or a figure 4?

I'm guessing I'd run afoul of some hunting laws somewhere, even though I'd have no intention of leaving the thing up.

I sure am starting to get the itch to buy a few acres of my own woods.
 
Check with the owner of the preserve, most likely the DNR but as long as there are no problems chopping dead wood then you should be fine. Just do not leave them set, if you walk away and leave the trap set that could land you a fine. Dont cut live trees to make them either as that is most likely illegal. As always, make sure to get permission from the proper resources, dont rely on what you hear on the net. Good luck practicing.
 
bulgron said:
Thanks for the diagram, Doc.

Now the question is, if I'm up a dirt road at the open space preserve near my house, will they get p.o.'d at me if they find me practicing how to make either a paiute deadfall or a figure 4?

I'm guessing I'd run afoul of some hunting laws somewhere, even though I'd have no intention of leaving the thing up.

I sure am starting to get the itch to buy a few acres of my own woods.
Click to expand...

Why is this even a consideration? You can set it up in your front yard, back yard, balcony, living room if all you're doing is practising making it.

Doc
 
Being the sort of guy who likes to fiddle around with a knife, I quickly carved a figure four trigger tonight from a willow shoot. This was a shoot that I cut a few weeks ago....now it is almost dry.

Compared to the last few triggers which I've carved from tougher wood, this willow trigger was easy to make. It sliced like butter even with the big heavy knife I was using.

So perhaps if you've had difficulties making figure four triggers from harder wood you could try something softer. Maybe you could even use green (freshly cut) wood.

I just set up the willow trigger on my kitchen table and made a deadfall using a big recipe book. Works beautifully.

Willow is lovely stuff to whittle. And green wood is generally easier to carve than seasoned wood. When I make bows I like to rough them out from green wood...this makes the process quicker and easier. I then do the final shaping and tuning when the wood is seasoned (I never apply a serious 'bend' to a green bow...it might stay bent).

I know I harp on about mice.... but if you test your deadfalls on your own property.... and make them 'mice sized' ....you are unlikely to seriously upset anybody. It isn't the same as setting up a full-sized trap in the woods, but it is better than nothing... or being nabbed by the law. And mice can be eaten (not that I've ever eaten one).

Deadfalls and mechanical traps - even primitive ones - have their uses and are fun to use....but I have to say if I were serious about catching something, and I had good cordage, I would generally choose a plain snare. They are easily carried and you can set several of them in the time it takes to set up one deadfall. Can't snare mice easily though.....

Please keep us informed of your progress. Best wishes.... Coote.
 
There is a lot of value to using stuff laying around the house to practice skills. People laugh at this stuff but I learned a lot of skills in my back yard under controlled conditions. Here are a couple things I did with traps:
Here is a Fig 4 that I used a cooler as the deadfall. The cooler is lite and the weight does not distribute well so it helps learning to get it set up:
fig4cooler.jpg


Here is a modified fig 4 where I used sort of a reverse spring pole:

fig4spring.jpg


2 stick with cooler deadfall. This was very difficult to get the weight to balance but it made real world logs a lot easier to set up:

2stickcooler.jpg


Here is a lifting snare that I used a dumbell for the counterbalance:

lifting.jpg


Here is a Ojibwa bird trap with a hammer as a counterweight:

ojibwahammer.jpg
 
Here is an example of how I cut my notches:

pencil.jpg


Here is a 2 stick I set up in the woods:

2stick.jpg


Here is a fig 4 set up in the woods:

fig4.jpg


And finally here is a shelter practice session in my back yard:

poncho.jpg


I also do spark based firemaking in my BBQ pit, whittle utensils.... You can do a lot of training around the house.
 
Great looking traps and snares coyotesniper69. Thanks for all the pics.

KR
 
Interesting stuff, thanks. So the horizonatal arm on the 4 is the bait stick and release arm? I'm still trying to grasp the whole concept, I'm slow on this one.
 
Yes...the horizontal stick - the one parallel with the ground - is the bait stick. It helps to split the end of this stick. The bait is firmly jammed into the split so that the animal has to really work at the stick to get the bait.

The bait stick has a notch in it which hooks against the upright support stick. When the critter pushes the bait stick, the notch 'unhooks' from the support stick. This allows the angled stick to move and the weight to fall.

Good pictures thanks Coyotesniper. I haven't come across the two-stick deadfall before. From the picture I cant work out how the bait stick is fastened to the support stick. How does it work?

Thanks in advance... Coote.
 
Thanks for the compliments.

The 2 stick deadfall is just a stick cut in half. You can either tie a trip string to one half or you can set a trigger stick like I did. To add a trigger stick just cut a notch in both pieces of wood after its been cut in half. These grooves should be a little smaller than the diameter of the trigger stick making the sticks a little wobbly when assembled. The weight of the deadfall holds them in place but when the trigger stick is pushed it causes the stick to seperate.
Hope that helps a little. Like I said I have trouble explaining traps in words. They are real easy to teach in person though.
 
DOC-CANADA said:
Why is this even a consideration? You can set it up in your front yard, back yard, balcony, living room if all you're doing is practising making it.
Click to expand...

I live in a place where there isn't a lot of wood laying around. It's all mostly asphalt and concrete and finely manicured lawns. I literally have only two trees on my property. They produce not very much wood, and what they do produce is too weak (thin) to play around with traps.

So the thing to do is go for a walk in the open space preserve near my house and collect wood. But why bring it home if I can just practice right there in the preserve?

Not everyone has the benefit of living on a wooded lot, or even near trees that they're allowed to harvest wood from (see the recent thread on trespassing).
 
When you gather wood and bring it home it affords more oppurtunites to train. You are more likely to practice a skill if you dont have to drive somwhere to do it.
Most of the above photos were taken in base housing on an Air Force base. I cant go chopping on anything in my yard but I can bring some wood back and practice skills and even get my family involved with it. There personal favorite is the BBQ pit fires. :-)
 
coyotesniper69 said:
When you gather wood and bring it home it affords more oppurtunites to train. You are more likely to practice a skill if you dont have to drive somwhere to do it.
Most of the above photos were taken in base housing on an Air Force base. I cant go chopping on anything in my yard but I can bring some wood back and practice skills and even get my family involved with it. There personal favorite is the BBQ pit fires. :-)
Click to expand...

I see your point, but I've very hesitant to go into the open space and haul wood out of there. They have ordinances against harvesting, and while I wouldn't be taking that much, I'm sure I'd still be violating the letter of the law.

I'm planning some trips to BLM lands, hopefully before the end of the year, and I can probably bring home all I want from there. But it's a couple hour drive to the nearest such location and so not a trivial trip for me to take, what with the job and a family and all. Therefore, the trips can't happen on a whim. :/

It's funny, but I never noticed before just how little wood there is in the place where I live. There's bushes and small trees galore, but just not that much wood laying around.
 
Ah.... I see how that 2-stick trigger works. Thanks for going to all that trouble Coyotesniper.

That looks like a nice simple trigger for bigger animals.

I guess you'd have to be careful to make sure that the animal was in exactly the right spot when the trap gets triggered. With mice under an eight inch wide plank this isn't a problem, but with a coon under an eight inch log it might be. The log would have to land on the skull or the forward part of the body to do the job. It wouldn't be nice to crush just a back leg or something. I suppose the thing to do is build a decent barrier around the back of the trap to ensure that there is only one way in, and that the spacing is just right for the job.
 
bulgron said:
I live in a place where there isn't a lot of wood laying around. It's all mostly asphalt and concrete and finely manicured lawns. I literally have only two trees on my property. They produce not very much wood, and what they do produce is too weak (thin) to play around with traps.

So the thing to do is go for a walk in the open space preserve near my house and collect wood. But why bring it home if I can just practice right there in the preserve? I was all set to jump on my keyboard when I read this, but as I scrolled down, I saw that c.sniper beat me to it. You don't have to go and cut trees down to get what you need. Dead branches on the ground (if they're not rotten) or on the tree will work just fine, and if you live in a place where taking a few dead branches are a problem, I humbly suggest that you have bigger problems than taking a bit of wood.)

Not everyone has the benefit of living on a wooded lot, and that includes me. I've set up Pict's Arapuca bird trap on the balcony of my apartment. Caught the bird, let him go, lesson learned and I didn't even have to put my shoes on :rolleyes: or even near trees that they're allowed to harvest wood from (see the recent thread on trespassing).
Click to expand...

I know sometimes it seems that we have to strap on the CU-7, grab the water bottle and the PSK so we can go and practice skills, but that just ain't the case. I've made Figure 4 deadfalls out of pencils. A bit small maybe, but the learning is there. I won't even mention the number of hand drill coals I've made in my living room. :o I'm sure if you look around a bit, you'll find all kinds of things you can use. For that matter, you can even go to the lumber yard and pick up some cheap wood, if it comes to that. The main thing is you get out and do it. If we can help you, well, that's what the forum is for.

Doc
 
Thanks Coote, Doc, Coyotesniper, Bulgron, others ....this is something I'm trying to grasp in my head first. I have plenty of land and materials to experiment with but want to get it right first. I think I finally understand it to where I can go making triggers. Thanks for your information. Don
 
This may be a little late now but work has prevented me from getting it done any sooner: I hope this helps people understand the physics of the trap. Its an animated GIF so give it time to load:
fig4.gif
 
Dang Coyotesniper.... if a picture is worth a thousand words, then a slideshow like yours is worth many thousands of words.

Good on you mate. This should give folks a very good idea of what to expect with a figure four trigger. You have certainly made a major contribution to the preservation of primitive technology.

I'm going away for a few days very early tomorrow. I look forward to seeing what has been added to this thread when I get back next week.

Best wishes to all..... Coote, Nelson, New Zealand.
 
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