How to Make Large Game Animal Traps
Traps are mechanical devices used to catch wild animals. They have been around for centuries and are so useful that no population has ever been discovered that did not possess some form of animal trapping system. Animal traps can be divided into three main groups: imprisonment traps, which are designed to capture the animal without injuring it; immobilizing traps, which snare the animal but do not kill it (unless it happens to get caught around the neck); and death traps, which are designed to crush, shoot or cut an animal and kill it. For large game, immobilizing traps are often ineffective and many people find death traps too cruel (additionally, in many places they are illegal), making an imprisonment trap the obvious choice for bigger animals. The instructions below will guide you through the construction of a den trap, a type of imprisonment trap that can be used year-round to catch several types of large game.
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Things You'll Need
- Scrap lumber Screen or chicken wire fencing Galvanized nails Hammer Rope Glue (optional)
Instructions
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The Den Box
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Construct a box to serve as the desired animal's shelter. This can be created from just about any material and the size can be adjusted to fit the type of animal you'd like to trap. For a coyote, you'll be constructing a box that is 3 feet by 3 feet. For a wild pig, 4 feet by 4 feet and so on. It will need to be big enough to entice what you'd like to catch. Construct a box from whatever materials you have on hand or can salvage, leaving the roof open and leaving an opening in the "front" to connect to the entrance tunnel.
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Make a solid lid for the den, leaving an opening large enough to reach through. Use whatever materials you have on hand or can come by cheaply. If the den lid is constructed from found sticks, waterproofing with a tarp will greatly increase the attractiveness of the den to wild game. The lid should be larger than the den it covers to seal out light and rain.
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3
Make a cover for the opening in the lid with mesh screen or chicken wire. This will allow you to see inside the den without letting the trapped animal escape. Make a second cover for the den opening from your solid lid material to hide the screen. Remember, the whole point is to be able to look inside and also to reach inside without letting the animal out as you may catch something you'd like to fatten up with kitchen scraps and you'll need a way to feed it.
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Add rope handles to the lid by securing loops of rope with nails. This will make the lid easier to remove.
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Cover the lid with leaves and branches.
Build the Trap
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Construct a tunnel 4 feet in length, high enough for your desired game to pass through and larger than the entryway into the den. Tunnels can be made from any readily available material, such as drain culverts, plywood or hollow logs. The tunnel can be square or round, as long as it is an actual tunnel.
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Arrange the tunnel so the entrance is flush with the opening of the den box. The game animal can move through the tunnel and into the den.
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Find a large log and place it approximately 1 foot in front of the entrance tunnel. Secure the log by stacking stones around it. Use a flat slab of wood to form a bridge from the log to top of the entrance tunnel. This will help animals to feel secure as they cannot be seen from overhead.
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Find a stick, pipe or pole that is longer than the entrance tunnel. Attach a block of wood to the end of the pole large enough to block the entrance of the tunnel, but too large to actually be moved into the den.
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Cover the entire thing with leaves and branches, helping it to blend in as much as possible. Wait a few weeks to give the animals time to move in. Then quietly approach the animal trap and insert the blocking pole. Remove the solid lid from the lid opening and peer inside to see what you've caught.
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Tips & Warnings
Patience is the key to successful trapping. If your camouflage keeps falling off your trap, glue or tie branches and leaves into place. Traps work best when located close to year-round water sources or along existing game trails.
Be careful when opening the trap lid. These types of traps are attractive to animals you may not want to interact with such as snakes and skunks.
