Making Deadfalls !

[pitdog]

I place trap making fairly low on my skill prorities however I do enjoy playing around with them every now and again and while out today decided to practice !

I headed off the trail to find a good spot,

By pitdog2010 at 2010-11-03

Today I decided to make a simple deadfall using a couple of nails out of my kit bag.
This deadfall works best when a game trail passes between two trees, in fact you only really need one tree as you can attach the other end to a stake you have driven in !
Here is the tied off end:

By pitdog2010 at 2010-11-03

From there we get to the business part, you can fiddle with the stick placement to make it as sensitive as you want( I drove the nails in with the spine of my Booshway.)

By pitdog2010 at 2010-11-03

And from the trigger we go up to the weight,

By pitdog2010 at 2010-11-03

Here is a full shot but it's still pretty hard to make out,

By pitdog2010 at 2010-11-03

Now here is a word of warning: I was in the process of making a sharpened stick that I was going to fasten on to the weight log for added effect when Maisy went and triggered the trap ! Lucky for Maisy she pulled the paracord with her teeth rather than pushing through the fall area, thus the log dropped in front of her !
If you are practicing traps such as these and have a dog make sure it is tied up away from the trap area !!!!

Maisy wouldn't stand still for any pics today but Snicker posed for this one !

By pitdog2010 at 2010-11-03

 

[Mentor]

Yikes! I'm glad Maisy was OK. 'Watch out for your dog when you're playing in the woods' is sound advice. I always take Ruby with me when I'm clearing or maintaining trails, and she has, on occasion, wandered far to close to a follow-through swing for my comfort.

All the best,

- Mike

 

[BoxerBill]

Excellent! BoxerBill

 

[tonym]

It's always fun practicing traps Pit. Great job! I am glad Maisy is ok!

 

[John G]

If you are practicing traps such as these and have a dog make sure it is tied up away from the trap area

There's an Irish guy on Youtube (Bluedogbushcraft) who makes a point to instruct on pet safety while in the outdoors. When the saw or axe comes out, he ties up his dog. :thumbup:

His is the first channel I've seen do this. Others are merely shooing their dogs away, which always bothers me a bit.

 

[sicily02]

Great job pitdog, glad to hear Maisy did not get hit.

Bryan

 

[pict]

I have a Paiute dead fall propping up a large brick up on my back wall right now. I"ve been having rat problems in the yard. Trapping here is illegal so I don't get to play with armed and dangerous traps often. Pest control is allowed so I'm good from a legal standpoint. I am learning that bait attracts ants. I had it baited with peanut butter and the ants stripped it clean in about 1.5 hours!

I think enough scent was left on the bait stick to interest a rat. I also have five dogs and my terrier has a habit of inspecting the trap even up on the wall where the other dogs can't get at it. She has set it off once already and I think she learned her lesson.

 

[s7brad]

Cool post. I've only fiddled with fig 4s and twitch up type traps, gonna have to look into more experimenting. I had a rat problem too, managed to snare one but store bought traps and my dog worked better accounting for about 7 more. Finally got the male and haven't noticed any sign of em since.

 

[fixer]

my previous dog would get all bent out of shape when i was rappelling and would try to follow me down the hill. had to tie her up or secure her in the cab of the truck.

haven't been able to get the current dawg out in the woods yet.