Ragnar's Ten Best Traps: And A Few Others That Are Damn Good Too

134 Pages·1985·4.14 MB·English

by  Ragnar Benson

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.
[phone]
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",