Unique leg snare

[MikaelMazz]

I was watching Going Tribal( I think you guys over in Britan call it Tribe) . It was the epesode when the host went to Africa to live in the jungle with a forest people. They set a unique foot snare that was not described very well. I was interested in learning how to set it so I got some paper and drew the sticks where they were shown and then figured out how it worked.
Here is a picture to help with my description.

It is made of 3 sticks. It is made to be set in front of an animal den. First pound a peg (A) into the small bank. Make it about 1 inch off the ground. Then get a forked stick (for stability) (B) and lay it on the ground so the forked end is against the bank and the non forked end is just under the peg (A). Now get a small peg(C) about 3/4 of an inch long and wrapp/tie string/wire at 1/4 inch below the top of the peg(C). BE SURE TO TIE THE WIRE/STRING WITH BOTH ENDS FACEING TOWARD THE FORHED STICK. Leave enough wire/string to make a snare at one end and enough to tie to a flexable sapling on the other end.
Lift up the forked stick(B) pull down and place the small peg(C) with a snare on the end, as shown in the picture. Then cover the forked stick with smaller sticks and stuff that will make it fit in. Then laye the snare down on top of the smaller sticks.
When the plat form is steped on it drops and releases the small peg(C) which jerks up and tightens the snare around the animals leg.
Here is a picture of one I made. The wire is not paleo but its what I hade avaliable.

In my trap I hade no second bank so I made one with a stick in the groung and a wood shaving. It is not put infront of a den and the cover of the platform is quickly put on.

I hope the the picture and words are good enough for every one to understand. Tell me what you think of the trap and I would like to see pictures of this trap if you set it.

 

[Buckshot]

Very interesting Mike
I think that in the UK this trap is not legal to use for several reasons. So I don't think you'll have many pictures from here!

It's good to have in the knowledge bank though - thanks

Mark

 

[Porcupine]

i asume that when weight gets on the "pressure plate" the small stick flips out pulling the "whatever" up.

i have no personal experience with trapping in reality but we did goof around a lot (biggest catch was my mother in law ) my thoughts on this.


you need to make a spring or counterweight for this all to work,this tends to be heavy,cumbersome or failing at the wrong moment normaly.

i also expect the "whatever" to be caught by one of its legs,even aside of potential suffering, this means it might gnaw a leg of if you aint very near your trap.




all in all i think it is indeed good to know how this could be done but normaly i would choose another type of trap. with the amount of work for the spring and trigger in this case a deadfall would be an option i think.

 

[BOD]

It looks quite similar in principle to this trap used by the people of Borneo except that the two downward forked uprights are standing in for the riverbank. Presumably the Africans would use 2 forked sticks also if there was no bank handy.

The trap above was made by a novice trying to learn native ways. This one below was made by the master. Quite paleo.

Thanks for working it out and doing the diagrams. It would never have occured to me to use the bank. All I can do is copy not innovate