Include a Light Weight Trapping Kit in Your Bug-Out-Bag

Any survival situation that lasts more than a couple of weeks is going to make it necessary for you to collect food.  Foraging for wild plants is one possibility, but it is hard to get enough protein and fat from plants alone.  You will need meat.  One of the most efficient ways to obtain meat in the wilds is by trapping.  Trapping is great because your traps will be hunting 24 hours a day, in multiple locations.  While your traps are hunting for you, you will be free to take care of other business like wood gathering, plant foraging, shelter improvements, and etc.

So, the simple solution to making meat in the wild would be to just throw a half dozen double-spring, number 2 steel traps into your bug-out-bag, right?  Wrong!  One number 2 steel trap weighs over a pound.  Six of them weigh almost seven pounds, and they are bulky.  Not the kind of thing that you need in your pack when every ounce counts. 

You could bring the weight down to around two pounds by carrying half-a-dozen rat traps, but you would be seriously limiting the size of animals that you could trap.  Anything larger than a squirrel will probably just shake off a rat trap; or worse, run off with it.

The most weight efficient way to trap animals is to (1) learn how to build improvised traps, and then (2) put together a light-weight kit that will make it easier to build these traps.  Don’t get me wrong.  You can build improvised traps using only native materials; but man, it can take a lot of time consuming work to build a trap this way.  If you’ve ever twisted up enough yucca cordage to build just one good snare trap, you know what I’m talking about.  And after you’ve built your trap you still have to find something to bait the trap with.  It’s much easier to carry along a few light-weight items that will enable you to build and bait some better quality traps in a shorter amount of time.

My trapping kit, including carrying bag, weighs just a shade over 13 ounces.  Depending on the kind and size of traps you build, it has enough materials for from ten to thirty traps; and it also includes enough bait to bait each trap several times. Here’s a closer look at what goes into my trapping kit.

First there’s the bag itself.  The bag is about nine inches by fourteen inches and is made out of heavy cotton with a cotton twill strap to tie the bag closed.

Inside the bag I have two different kinds of light cordage wrapped around wooden cradles.

The larger cradle holds about sixty feet of nylon twine.  This twine can be used to hold down spring poles or hold counter weights for snare traps.  Note that this twine is a kind of golden yellow in color.  Since most animals don’t have very well developed color vision, this golden yellow actually looks gray to them making it less visible than either black or white twine.  A little dirt or mud rubbed on the twine gives it a mottled appearance which makes it even less visible.  The toggle trigger snare pictured below is built using both yellow nylon twine for the trigger and picture hanging wire for the snare loop.

The small cradle holds about twenty feet of waxed Dacron (artificial sinew).  Although it is small cordage, it is very strong.  It’s great for things like tying off toggle triggers on Paiute dead-fall traps, hanging sight lures, and making small snare loops.  The toggle trigger scissor trap pictured below is built using both waxed dacron and yellow nylon twine.

I carry a small roll, about twenty feet, of light gauge steel wire that is perfect for making leaning log squirrel snares.  Since each of these snares uses about two feet of wire, you can make quite a few snares with twenty feet.

I have a roll of picture hanging wire in the bag that is my favorite for making the actual snare loop on snare traps.  It’s stiff enough to hold open well and it slides closed quick and smooth on spring pole snares.

One of the disadvantages of all natural traps is coming up with bait for them.  You can, of course, set snares in animal pathways and hope that an animal runs into them, but your chances of success increase dramatically if you have a bait that draws animals into your trap.  I keep an old baby food jar in my trapping kit that is full of my special trapping lure; peanut butter and sardines.  Just put them in the jar, stir them together, and twist the lid on tight.  The older it gets, the funkier it smells; and the funkier it smells, the better it works. Smear a little of this on your bait stick and hardly any animal will be able to resist it.

Some animals don’t have as keen a sense of smell as others.  These sight hunters often need a visual lure to draw them to a trap.  I keep a plastic bag with twelve or fifteen turkey feather fluffs in my kit.  If you hang one of these on a piece of string over your trap, every puff of breeze will cause it to swing and twirl.  This will often catch an animal’s eye and draw them in to investigate.

As with any other survival skill, building successful traps takes practice.  You need to learn not only “how” to build traps, but “where” to build them.  Do a little research on how to build different kinds of traps, how to descent them, and where to locate them; then head to the woods with your trapping kit and practice.  Be sure to know the law and use common sense.  The actual trapping of animals, game or fur bearing, can be outright illegal or regulated by any number of laws that vary from state to state and sometimes from county to county.  On the common sense side of things, don’t set a trap and leave it where you might catch someone’s pet.  It’s best to just set the traps and see if they work by tripping them yourself.  You can test your bait and your ability to find good trapping locations by smearing a little bait on a twig and sticking it in the ground at a site that you think would be good for a trap.  Come back the next day and check your bait stick.  If it’s missing, or if it has been gnawed on, you will know that you picked a good location.

Build a Live Trap

Live traps, or box traps as they are sometimes called, are one of the easiest traps to build in your shop or garage.  They can be used to catch and relocate nuisance animals, or they can be used to catch food. 

The construction of box traps requires minimal tools.  A tape measure, a square, a pencil, a saw, a hammer, a drill with a few bits, and a sheet of sand paper are all you need.  The building materials needed are an 8 foot long piece of 1” x 10” lumber (actual dimensions are ¾” x 9 ½ “), an 18” by 2 foot piece of ¼ inch hardware cloth, a few nails, 4 small screw-eyes, and some string.

We’ll start out by building the box and door first, and when that’s done we’ll build the trigger and set the trap.  Incidentally, the dimensions I’m using here will build a medium size box trap; good for squirrels, rabbits, possums, small coons, feral cats, and (unfortunately) skunks.   So let’s cut out the pieces for the box and the door from our ¾” lumber.

You will need to cut the following:

2 pieces   24” x 7” for top and bottom

1 piece     8 ½” x 8 ½” for the back

2 pieces   4” x 8 ½” for the back sides

2 pieces   6” x 8 ½” for the front sides

1 piece     7” x 8 ½” for the door

2 pieces   ¾” x ½” x 7” for the inner door guides

2 pieces   ¾” x ½” x 8 ½” for the outer door guides

You will also need to cut two strips of hardware cloth 8 ½” high by 22” long for the sides.

Now we’ll assemble the box:

First, nail the back piece to the top and bottom.  The top of the back piece should be flush with the top of the top piece and the bottom of the back should be flush with the bottom of the bottom piece.  The back piece should stick out ¾” on each side of the top piece and the bottom piece.  That sounds a little confusing, but if you’ll look at the picture below you’ll see what I mean.

Now we’re going to nail our hardware cloth onto the sides of the box.  I have found that short roofing nails are good for this job but you can use carpet tacks, small u nails, or even heavy staples.  Just make sure that the hardware cloth is secure enough to hold a trapped animal.  The hardware cloth should butt up against the back and be flush with the top of the top and the bottom of the bottom.  Again, confusing but look at the picture.

Next step is to nail on the back side pieces.  Easy enough.

The front side pieces are next, but before you nail them on, take your sand paper and sand the insides of them smooth for th first couple of inches.  This is to reduce friction so that the door will fall quickly and completely into place.   

When you’ve finished sanding, nail the front side pieces on so that 1 ¾” of them (the sanded part) extends out in front of the top and bottom pieces.

Now it’s time to nail on the door guides.  Before nailing we want sand the edges of the guides where the door will be sliding along them.  Smooth guides mean a faster and cleaner drop of the door.  

When the guides are smoothed out we’ll first nail on the short, inner guides.  You want to position these so that they are flush with the edge of the top and bottom pieces.  I used some old paneling nails to attach the guides.

Next we’ll do the outer guides.  You want to place the outer guides so that the distance between them and the inner guides is about an 1/8 inch wider than the thickness of your door.

With the guides all nailed in place it’s time to sand the edges of the door smooth.  Round the edges and corners a little to help keep them from binding when the door drops.

Slide the door down between the guides and check to see that everything fits and slides easily. 

If everything checks out, it’s time to build the trigger. The way this trigger works is pretty simple.  The actual trigger sticks down into the inside of the box.  The trigger is attached to the back end of a rocker arm that is supported by an upright on top of the box.  The front of the rocker arm is attached to the top of the door.  When the trap is set, the trigger stick is down in the box and the rocker arm holds the door up.  When an animal enters the trap and hits the trigger stick it releases the rocker arm and the door drops closed.

So the first thing that we need to do is drill two holes in the top of the box.  The first hole will be 8 inches from the back of the box and is 1 inch in diameter.  This is the hole that the trigger will fit down into.  The second hole is 16 inches from the back of the box and is ¾ inch in diameter.  We will use this hole to mount the upright that supports the rocker arm.  So let’s drill holes.

Once the holes are drilled we’ll make the trigger stick.  The trigger stick is made of a ¾” x ¾” piece of wood cut 9 inches long.   Round off the edges and give the stick a light sanding so that it will slide easily. Cut a notch in the stick that is ¼” deep with the bottom of the notch 2 inches from the top of the stick and then screw a small screw-eye into the top. 

The trigger stick should fit easily into the 1 inch hole and the notch should catch on the underside of the board.  When the notch is engaged, the trigger stick should not touch the bottom of the trap.

Now for the upright that will support the rocker arm.  Cut a piece of your ¾” lumber that is one foot long and  1¾” wide.

On one end cut  away wood on each side to leave a ¾” wide by ¾” long tab in the middle.  Use a knife or wood rasp to round off this tab so that it forms a peg that will fit easily into the ¾” hole in the top of the trap.

On the other end of the upright we are going to cut a slot that is  ¾” wide and 3 inches long.  The easiest way to do this is to use your drill and ¾” bit and drill a hole three inches down from the top, then use a saw to cut down to each side of the hole.

When you’re finished with the upright it should look like this.

The rocker arm is just a ¾” x ½” stick that is cut to 20 inches long.

Lay the rocker arm down so that one of the ¾” sides is facing up at you and drill a 3/16” hole in the center of it (10 inches from each end).  When this is done, drill a 3/16” hole through the slotted end of the upright.  The hole should be one inch from the top of the upright.  When the rocker arm sits in the slot of the upright it should look like this.

You should now be able to mount the upright into the hole on the top of the box, line up the rocker arm, and stick a nail through the holes in the upright and rocker arm.  The rocker arm should pivot freely.

We’re almost done.  All that remains is to screw a small screw-eye about ½” from each end of the rocker arm and another screw-eye into the top of the door.  Tie a piece of string from the trigger stick to the back end of the rocker arm so that there is about 5 inches between them.  Lastly, tie the front of the rocker to the top of the door so that there is, again, about 5 inches between them.  When you are finished, the set-up should look like this.

One little thing that I like to do instead of tying the string to the door is to make a little wire hook on the end of the string that hooks to the door.  This makes it easier to disassemble the trap for transportation or storage.

Well there’s you live trap.  To set it just place your bait in the back.  I like to use a slice of apple with some peanut butter smeared on it or a sardine, but just about anything will do.  Sometimes it helps to put a small piece of bait out in front of the trap.  If the critter gets a taste, they are less reluctant to go on into the trap for more.  Set the trigger and wait.  When the animal goes into the trap they will hit the trigger stick while trying to get to the bait.  The trigger goes up, the door goes down, and, boom, you’ve got him.  Once you’ve set the trap be sure to check it every day so that you don’t leave an animal confined for too long.

Happy hunting.

Taurus PT709 Slim – Review

In the past I always wore a little Iver Johnson in 32 S&W when we’d go trot lining.  Why, you ask, would I wear a sidearm to go trot lining?  The answer is Gar.  We fish for catfish, but we often get a gar on the line.  Because of their mouth full of razor sharp teeth, you can’t just grab them and unhook them.  You have to kill them, and thence the sidearm.   Well, last spring my friend was running the boat, and I was pulling up lines, and lo and behold I pulled up a five and a half foot alligator gar.  I let the line go very fast.  I pulled out my revolver, pulled the line back up and shot the gar to little effect.  In fact I fired five rounds into its head and it didn’t seem to notice.  It took my friend’s .357 magnum to put the thing down, so I decided it was time for a little fire power upgrade.  The pistol I ended up buying was a little Taurus PT709 slim which compared nicely in size to my little .32, but fires the much more powerful 9mm parabellum.

   

So, the problem was that we didn’t go fishing anymore that spring or summer and I never fired the gun.  When I finally got around to taking the Taurus down to my range, I was unpleasantly surprised to find that it jammed about ever third round.  Bummer.  I’ve had a Taurus PT92 for years and it has never missed a lick, even with the cheapest ammo.

The good news is that Taurus has one of the best warranties in the gun business.  I shipped it off to the factory with a letter of explanation and they repaired it for free and returned it within three weeks.  No warranty card, no writing in for a repair order, nothing.  They also sent me an e-mail saying that they had received the gun, called me to confirm my shipping address, sent another e-mail saying it was being repaired, and a third e-mail saying that it was being shipped back.  They stand behind their products no matter how old they are or where you buy them.  I had a friend that bought a Taurus with a broken firing pin at a garage sale.  He mailed it in, and they put in a new pin for free and mailed it back to him.  So, anyway, I got the gun back, and it hasn’t jammed since.

Now for the technical stuff.  The PT709 Slim is 6 1/8’ long, 4 ½” tall, and, including the slightly protruding safety lever, 1” wide.  It is chambered for the 9mm parabellum.  When fully loaded with 7 in the magazine and 1 in the chamber, mine weighs one pound and 6.4 ounces.  The lower frame is a nice heavy polymer and the slid is steel.

The name “Slim” is well earned.  The profile is very slim.  

The only protrusions are the manual safety lever, which sticks out less than an eighth of an inch, 

and the slide release which sticks out even less.

The magazine release is located near the front of the grip and has a very low profile.  This keeps the release from snagging on anything, but it is a little awkward to curl your thumb around and press it down.  Maybe my thumb is just too short.

In addition to the manual safety there is also a trigger safety to prevent discharge unless your finger is actually pulling the trigger.

There is a chambered round indicator on the back of the bolt.  This indicator sticks up about a sixteenth of an inch and is easily felt with the thumb to determine if you have a round chambered.

The PT709 feels good in the hand.  Due to its small size you can only wrap two fingers around the grip, but it does not feel awkward and the gun stays under good control with this grip.

The grip is nicely textured and a small depression at the top of the grip provides a place for your thumb to rest.  

The grip is situated in such a way that slid pinch is virtually impossible when the firearm cycles.

The slide itself is deeply knurled in order to facilitate racking it back, but it still takes a good grip and a firm pull to operate.

The sights have a low profile and the familiar three white dots to help with target acquisition.  A very nice feature is that the rear sight is fully adjustable for both elevation and windage. 

The Pt709 is striker fired so there is no external hammer.  The trigger pull is around five or six pounds.  Because it is striker fired, the first trigger pull is long.  The first time I shot this gun I thought it was never going to fire, but the trigger finally broke, fairly crisply, and the gun discharged.  You don’t have to let off all the way on the trigger for subsequent shots so the long travel is only on the first shot.  It takes a little getting used to, but you fall into the rhythm pretty fast.

Recoil is not nearly as bad as you would expect for a 9mm that barely weighs a pound.  Smaller individuals should not be afraid that the recoil will be too much to handle.

Accuracy is very good considering that the PT709 only has a two inch barrel.  I shot this 7 shot group off-hand from 30 feet.  The bull is 2 ½”, and I’m not a great shot, so I’m happy with the way it shoots.

The slide locks back when you fire the last round making mag changes quick and easy.  Just hit the mag release button to drop your empty mag, shove in a fresh one, and thumb down the slide release.  You’re back in business

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The PT709 field strips for cleaning using the same system that Glock has made famous.

First remove the magazine, take the safety off, and clear the round in the chamber.

Then pull the slide back just slightly and pull down on the little tabs located on each side of the frame just below the chamber.  This will release the slide.

Now pull the trigger (you did make sure that there wasn’t a round in the chamber, right?), and move the slide forward and off of the frame.

Push the slide spring forward and up to remove it.

And lift the barrel out of the slide.

The PT709 lists for a little over $400 US, but you should be able to find one for $350 or less.  They now come with a hard case and two magazines, but at the time I bought mine from DICK’s they apparently did not.  Very unfortunate because the mags are expensive.

So there’s the Taurus PT 709 Slim.  If you’re looking for a small 9mm, I don’t think you’ll go wrong with this one.