RAGNAR-S TENSEST TRAPS RAGNAR-S TENBEST TRAPS And AFew h~~, Others ....... . ~.~ That. ." Are Damn Good. ·0 Too Ragnar Benson PALADIN PRESS BOULDER, COLORADO Also by Ragnar Benson Acquiring New 10 Bull's-Eye: Crossbows Do-It-Yourself Medicine Eating Cheap Hardcore Poaching Live Off the Land in the City and Country Mantrapping Modern Survival Retreat Modern Weapons Caching The Most Dangerous Game: Advanced Mantrapping Techniques Ragnar's Action Encyclopedia, Volumes 1 and 2 Ragnar's Guide 10 the Underground Economy Survival Poaching Survivalist's Medicine Chest The Survival Retreat: A Total Plan for Retreat Defense Switchblade: The Ace of Blades Ragnar s Ten Best Traps_' And a Few Others that Are Damn Good, Too by Ragnar Benson Copyright © 19R5 hy Raenar Ren""n ISBN 0-87364-328-3 Printed in the United States of America Published by Paladin Press, a division of Paladin Enterprises, Inc., P.O. Box 1307, Boulder, Colorado 80306, USA. (303) 443-7250 Direct inquiries and/or orders to the above address. PALADIN, PALADIN PRESS, and the "horse head" design are trademarks belonging to Paladin Enterprises and registered in United Slates Patent and Trademark Office. All rights reserved. Except for use in a review, no portion of Ihi" hook mlly he reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the publisher. Neither the author nor the publisher assumes any responsibility for the use or misuse of information contained in Ihis book. Visit our Web site at www.paladin-press.com Contents Introduction PART ONE: THE TEN BEST 1. Bait 9 2. Drain Tile Set 13 3. Floating Duck Snare 19 4. "Board-Against-a-Chicken-House" Set 25 5. Den Trap 3] 6. Live-Mouse Set 39 7. Chinese-Chopper Trap 45 8. Rock Weir Fish Trap 51 9. "Havahart" Traps 5 7 10. CampfireSet 65 11. Riffle Fish Set 71 PART TWO; A PEW OTHERS THAT ARE DAMN GOOD 12. Dirt-Hole Set 79 13. Snake Trap 87 14. Chicken-Wire Fish Trap 95 15. Large-Bait Sets 103 16. Deer Snares 111 17. Quail Recall Pens II'! 18. What to Avoid: Great Flops 123 Introduction Running a trap line is incredibly hard work. Y ~t for a lot of farm kids like myself raised in rural America during the Thirties and Forties, it was the only winter source of hard dollars. My brothers and I had a line that eventually ended up being over ten miles long. It took at least one of us from right after we got done feeding the sows and filling the hay bunker in the morning till well after dark to look at every set. But if Dad had more work for us to do on the farm, we skipped some of the sets. Dad was reasonable about our trapping, though. The fif teen or so dollars we made a week had an almost unbeliev able impact on our total family well-being. At first light, I would saddle up. Everybody has a differ ent system. I carried a short three-quarter length Hudson Bay axe, a wading pole, and a four-peck pack basket. Instead of taking off my hip boots when I ran the line through the woods, I just left them on and turned them down. That way I didn't have to carry around the extra weight of my leather boots. It's a tough way to make a few bllrk<:, hilt w~ didn't know of anything better in those days. One particular day, I had been checking the trap line in and out of the creek and through the swamp and the woods since first light. After ten hours of foot-freezing trudging .. "h • P"'~ w"'"" . . folk<l with "'t>. • <oupl< of '""n" .n~.n o..,..um. I fin,II).'\ >l0L 0••, d «l b",,' to the hQU", It ",,",1<1 be ,0m~I"<lv <lOfk in ten min"",!, It ~' .. the tom. of >Ioorl-fu, critt.,,_ Fo" skunk. ,m' ",~'ote didn', ..I I wo,'h • d,.,", De"" .nd musk,n, dl" O~. bul lh. ,. .I money-maker< ",ere mink I h.an·t. "p to th,! time. 01'" I'<lSOn.lIy ,ought one of tho .Io';v, b'own eritt.", My bro'h" h.>o.I Alt"""'" I <1<1in",ly kn." how. I h,d n<"'or been lucky enoulft '0 .,il • mLn~ In on, of my v"'"Y ""'n «IS '0 Poopk in roOO rh~'Uc" co"diloOn ">«I hard phy';col lobo, d<vel"" , kind of ' ..." .. ,"",no wind. u.te ,n the <1,)' w,lh tho .nd Ln ..g hl. they " ,u,lIy pick up 'h. p""e r" .,1.e >n, .,I h" myself m'ny U"'es: lumberj,eh in W• • hi"~tO" k,d, ..... ,kin. luy in ,h. w"hm.o ,,,.;n IlIrnni. Om", ",,.npm in Wyom,"~. and Khod<,lon; "n potrol On Ih. um !>eLi RIo'", A, I h ..d «l home. 1 piCked "P Ibe p""e. <uttinl ,<"'" • ,hallow little ''''k th>! led P",' th, n'>.-Ih "."U",