Owning the kills initiative: October challenge

[RescueRiley]

Awesome work Md......Those are some fat ones....well done.

 

[Md 25v]

Thanks, the smaller one was fed to a large , 6.5 ft, black rat snake in our nature center at the park. The second one was skinned out, and the tail kept for tying flies.


P.S. Since I have already had a couple people email me to ask, I'll just answer publicly- I have a trapper's license, and permission to trap on the private land these are set on. My state doesn't permit snares but there is nothing on the books about deadfalls. I have asked several of the DNR "higher ups" and was only given the answer that "I don't know if its legal but it doesn't appear to be illegal". I would not suggest anyone bait and leave their traps where it is not legal to do so.

 

[RescueRiley]

I tried to make up for some lost time today... I'l be woring the rest of the week and will be going to a family reunion over the weekend. so here;s my set up for tues, Weds, thurs, Fri, ....All the deadalls today where carved with my new khukuri recieved from bkduckworth, Thanks again buddy
#1

#2

#3

#4

 

[Moosez45]

I keep getting harassed by hotel staff when I try to whip some up, I may have some free time friday, in which I wanna go check this hill out nearby, so, I'll either have some friday or catch up this weekend when I get home. Sorry guys. Moose

 

[Ferrousknight]

[youtube]2dWA0d3ZI-I[/youtube]

I'm in! This is my first ever figure 4, and I know the bait stick is a little short. This one was quite sensitive as far as I can tell. I'm not pushing nearly as hard as the video makes it look. In fact, I'm not even touching it until the little downward motion. The wood is some spicebush harvested from a shady spot and is nice to work with.

I better start doubling, tripling, and quadrupling up days because I'm gone for a full 2 weeks out of the remaining month!

EDIT: here's a second one made out of bamboo skewers with a cutting board for a weight.

EDIT2: In the interest of keeping all the pictures together, here's today's efforts:

This one had a steep learning curve. I could not get it to trigger, so I started changing all sorts of stuff until I figured out what worked. Also, I had been placing them under the weight instead of at the very edge. The only pic that was with proper placement is out of focus, naturally. I will also say that having a small saw is wonderful for these. I tried a few without and it's a pain in the butt.

#3

#4

#5

#6 Here, I finally started elongating the part where the weight rests so the rest of the figure-4 would not be under it.

#7 Made from some seasoned tulip poplar wood by batonning.

#8

#9 Back to the nice spicebush sticks.

#10 A trimming from an ornamental pear tree. The wood is not nearly as rigid as the spicebush- you can see the load bearing part flexing.

 

[mcjhrobinson]

VICTORY IS MINE!!!!!!!!!

so i studied a bit more and made 2 fig 4s tonight which catches me up!!

i used skabs pic to work on the vertical to bait stick connection and got it to work great. i managed to snap a few pics and nearly saw offmy thumb...awesome night!

1st try of the night:

2nd try of the night:

tools are Koyote Bushcraft-Leuku and a Bacho folding saw

this is one failed try from yesterday....

 

[skab8541]

Heres a quick one done in the garage. heavist weight I have used yet. Got to say makes it alot harder to get it set knowing you might smash your hand

 

[Md 25v]

To EVERYONE in this challenge: You guys are doing an incredible job! I'm really impressed to see how this thread is going. Props to John for coming up with this great idea.
P.S.- I'll do another six tomorrow to finish out the week. I couldn't check my traps today so I didn't set them. I can check them on Sat so I will set them tomorrow and see if we get any over the weekend.

 

[Moosez45]

No doubt, great work guys. RR, you're onto something here. Moose

 

[John G]

Agreed. Thanks to Riley for setting this up. (forgot to mention when we met, my grandma on my dad's side was a Riley )

Here's mine from today. Fastest one so far, I made it in about 15 minutes. I tried making a second one with a very HEAVY log, but the upright snapped. The good news is I didn't crush my hand. The bad news is I did cut my finger. Oh well. It was a great day to be in the woods.

 

[RescueRiley]

Awesome Stuff guys. We are cooking with gas now... It's great to see this thread start to pick up some momentum....Great Job everyone.

 

[skab8541]

Here is todays try, I'm after the elusive black cat! I know the bait will work its her favorite! Hopefully by morning I'll post my first catch!

 

[Ferrousknight]

Here is todays try, I'm after the elusive black cat! I know the bait will work its her favorite! Hopefully by morning I'll post my first catch!

If it works, that is going to be one pissed off cat. I recommend full body armor and face mask when removing the catch.

 

[Moosez45]

Good luck, you've inspired me to try to catch Jewels, my daughters cat. Thanks, my cat's gonna hate you. Moose

 

[CoyotePhysics]

Here are my latest figure 4's. They are definitely getting easier. Sorry that my pics look so similar and boring.

#5

#6

#7

Today the 119 wanted to come out and play. Here it is with its handiwork.

Keep up the good work.

 

[skab8541]

Well the bait worked, and the trap did its part, but i will have to add some weight as she threw the thing off, and ran up stairs! I will have change up my bait now as she is educated! Im thinking a little tuna will work well.

 

[John G]

Here's Friday's attempt.

 

[Cliff Nieporte]

I finally had some time to work on this again.
One thing I found out was that if the parts stay together by themselves,the trap won't work too well:

But if you take off more material it makes them easier to trip:

Cliff

 

[Cliff Nieporte]

This one might be good for something small,like a mouse,or maybe some ants:

The trigger is pretty light:

And the diagonal stick won't hold much weight:

This is FUN:thumbup:

Cliff

 

[John G]

On Saturday I went with a more advanced model. The trigger is longer, and debris was used to funnel the target animal under the deadfall.

Cellphone pics are a little blown out, but you get the idea.