Graves’ Bushcraft Books: 08. Snares & Traps
The ability to pick up a couple of dead sticks from the ground, and with a sharp knife and a little know-how produce a practical and workable release for a snare or trap is a valuable exercise in improvisation and inventiveness. As far as is known this the first time a collection of improvised releases and with this snares and traps has ever been published. Some of these are potential man-killers, developed by soldiers in jungle warfare to protect themselves. The knowledge of these possible man-killers must be treated with as much respect as a loaded firearm.
They are included because they could be lifesavers for man stranded in hostile country.
The snares and traps shown are far more humane than the vicious steel-jawed devices which clamp onto a wild creature’s leg, inflicting severe pain, creating panic in the captured animal, and hold it prisoner until it finally dies from pain, hunger or exhaustion.
Conservationists may condemn releasing the knowledge of how to make the mechanics for these snares and traps, implying that this will inevitably mean the destruction of local wild life.
This is not correct, in practice the opposite is the truth.
None of the traps are killers. The wild animal is caught alive and unharmed. Most people, after examining the captive, feel that it is too interesting to destroy (unless it is itself a destroyer), and will release it unharmed. More often than not the snares and deadfall, which are humane killers, will be used to capture the “pest” creatures, dogs and cats which have gone wild and are the biggest killers of local bird life, rabbits, foxes, and other “vermin” animals. These are the “scavengers” which are the real destroyers upsetting the balance of nature in a locality.
A grand piece lad. Thank you.