The Bent Stick Trap

     The art of trapping goes back far into antiquity. For some cultures it was a main staple for food. The earliest writings describing animal trapping is from the Dao De Jing. It was written in the 4th century BC.
     For those of you who have taken my Basic Bushcraft Course I introduce the art of primitive trapping. We show you both the figure four trap and what we have called the "modified figure four" trap.

     It has been my experience that the bushcraft standard for traps (ie the figure four) is far to wobbly, rickety, and basically difficult to put up without the use of at least three hands. That is why we teach the modified or the Bent Stick Trap. This trap can be held complete with just the index finger and thumb. That leaves your other hand to work the deadfall.

     I was introduced to this trap during my two year residential programme with Wilderness Awareness School near Seattle. One of my instructors had learned this trap from an old trapper from Wisconsin. It didn't have a name so instead of calling this the "old trapper trap" I call this the Bent Stick Trap.

     The major advantages that this trap has is stability and ease of use. You can hold this trap intact with just one hand. That allows you a free hand to maneuver into a position to lean on the trap.

     When you place this trap it is beneficial to stay off the animal trail that you are trapping. If you walk on the trail or spend any amount of time in one place putting up the trap your scent will have more time to stay in the area. By approaching your trapping site from a perpendicular route to the direction of the trail you can stay off the path while setting your trap.

     In the Bushcraft course series I only teach one snare and one trap. The reason for this is that I have been successful using them to catch real animals. I have tried many times with the normal figure four trap with minimal luck.
     While living in Canada Anna and I lived in a strawbale house. As one could imagine we had a mouse and shrew problem. The commercial traps were not working. It was the Bent Stick Trap that worked again and again. We eventually got a couple of kittens which quickly put me out of a trapping job.

     Basically the advantages to the Bent Stick Trap is as follows:

          1. Omnidirectional
              This trap will work with animals approaching from any direction. The Figure Four trap is mainly unidirectional.

          2. Easy to make
              The three pieces to this trap are easy to make and conceptualise. They fit together well and are not nearly as tricky to carve as other traps.

          3. Stability
              This trap will not fall down if a little breeze comes along. Too many of my Figure Four Traps fell down if you looked at them funny. Sure you could fault my trap making ability as second rate but the fact remains - this Bent Stick Trap is solid.

           4. Modification
               This trap is easily modified for horizontal use. It can be used as alarm traps around camp. It can be set up for innumerable options in Bushcraft and Ranger operations.


     The Bent Stick Trap is the perfect trap to start with. It is simple to learn and fun to carve. Go out into the woods, take twenty minutes to make a trap and set it up on an animal trail. See what happens. You can always put a wooden block next to the deadfall in order to make a non lethal trap.
     Always research your primitive trapping laws in your state or province before trying these for food.

More information can be found at www.ipna.ie.