I've known about the Promontory peg for some time now... and a few years ago I caught a rat using this trigger. But I had always found it to be a bit frustrating to set. It either seemed to be unstable... or not sensitive enough for small rodents. Also, I've had great success with the figure four trigger and I have found that it can be set to be very sensitive while supporting a heavy weight. So up until recently I hadn't given much thought to the Promontory peg.
The presence of rats and mice in my back yard got me thinking about traps again. I'd caught a few in store-bought traps, yet the rats in particular seemed to be avoiding the traps.... no matter what I baited them with.
Anyway, my thoughts returned to the Promontory Peg. I could be wrong, but I understand that the name given to this trigger mechanism comes from the place where some old peg artifacts were found. A challenge was issued to see if anyone could figure out what the function of these artifacts was.... and a gentleman called George Michaud announced that they were a deadfall trigger. George sometimes contributes to forums on the internet going by the name 'Bad Hand'.
I made some trigger sticks, and this is what I found worked for me:
- The shorter the 'thick' base part of the lower peg, the more stable the trigger is.
- The longer the tapered upper portion of the lower peg, the more leverage the critter has to set off the trigger.... and thus a small animal is more likely to be able to fire the trigger. But the peg can't be so tall that the animal can't reach the bait.
- The bait stick should face the back of the deadfall (i.e. it should be on the 'inside').
- The bottom of the peg might be best cut at an angle to match the angle at the top of the thicker portion of the bait peg (see diagram).
- The angle of the upper support stick can be critical (see diagram).
- Having a deadfall weight sitting firmly on the ground at the lower end without sliding or wobbling is very important to the stability of the whole trap. On soft ground it may be best to drive pegs in against the weight to stop it moving.
Here are some drawings which I hope help to convey my ideas:
Yesterday I made a Promontory peg set to act as a trigger under a concrete paving tile:
This little deadfall was set up on our patio just outside the lounge ranchslider. About two hours after dark we were watching a video and we heard a 'clunk'. We went outside to find this:
The rat seemed to be just a common bush rat... one of the nicer ones. I have seen a big brown rat in the yard, but it has either moved away, or is just too cunning to get caught. I'd actually set this trap for mice as I've found that they could be getting through the galvanised ventilator flashing to live behind our walls and I want to kill a few before I block the holes. Tonight maybe.
Lizzy the Dog wanted to make sure the rat wasn't coming back:
I like the Promontory peg trigger for its simplicity. And to a rat or a human it may look less like part of a trap compared to the relatively complicated figure four arrangement. Now that I understand it better and can set it to have reasonable stability and sensitivity I intend to use it more often for rodents.
Best wishes from NZ... Coote.
The presence of rats and mice in my back yard got me thinking about traps again. I'd caught a few in store-bought traps, yet the rats in particular seemed to be avoiding the traps.... no matter what I baited them with.
Anyway, my thoughts returned to the Promontory Peg. I could be wrong, but I understand that the name given to this trigger mechanism comes from the place where some old peg artifacts were found. A challenge was issued to see if anyone could figure out what the function of these artifacts was.... and a gentleman called George Michaud announced that they were a deadfall trigger. George sometimes contributes to forums on the internet going by the name 'Bad Hand'.
I made some trigger sticks, and this is what I found worked for me:
- The shorter the 'thick' base part of the lower peg, the more stable the trigger is.
- The longer the tapered upper portion of the lower peg, the more leverage the critter has to set off the trigger.... and thus a small animal is more likely to be able to fire the trigger. But the peg can't be so tall that the animal can't reach the bait.
- The bait stick should face the back of the deadfall (i.e. it should be on the 'inside').
- The bottom of the peg might be best cut at an angle to match the angle at the top of the thicker portion of the bait peg (see diagram).
- The angle of the upper support stick can be critical (see diagram).
- Having a deadfall weight sitting firmly on the ground at the lower end without sliding or wobbling is very important to the stability of the whole trap. On soft ground it may be best to drive pegs in against the weight to stop it moving.
Here are some drawings which I hope help to convey my ideas:
Yesterday I made a Promontory peg set to act as a trigger under a concrete paving tile:
This little deadfall was set up on our patio just outside the lounge ranchslider. About two hours after dark we were watching a video and we heard a 'clunk'. We went outside to find this:
The rat seemed to be just a common bush rat... one of the nicer ones. I have seen a big brown rat in the yard, but it has either moved away, or is just too cunning to get caught. I'd actually set this trap for mice as I've found that they could be getting through the galvanised ventilator flashing to live behind our walls and I want to kill a few before I block the holes. Tonight maybe.
Lizzy the Dog wanted to make sure the rat wasn't coming back:
I like the Promontory peg trigger for its simplicity. And to a rat or a human it may look less like part of a trap compared to the relatively complicated figure four arrangement. Now that I understand it better and can set it to have reasonable stability and sensitivity I intend to use it more often for rodents.
Best wishes from NZ... Coote.
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