Deadfalls

Anybody caught anything with one yet? I just set one up in the yard. I’m not expecting to catch anything, but who knows?:wink:
Right now it has a peace of ham as bait, but I’ll replace that later today with something planty. I don’t want any cats getting maimed in my backyard :wink:

i’ve caught a fair bit of rodents. mainly pack rats and grasshopper mice. little stuff. i heard somewhere that rabbits don’t like to eat under anything, whether its true or not i don’t know but i have never caught a rabbit in a deadfall, though i have tried. i live in the desert so rodents don’t bother me. in a city though… i ate a fried rat in bangkok a few years ago, ecchhh.

i finally built a working paiute deadfall in my backyard, (yay!) but can’t leave it up, too much cat traffic. if you built one big enough for, say, a rabbit, what would you bait it with?

I heard that foods not common to the area work well and/or bait growing out of reach. Ever try peanut or hazelnut butter?

just about any animal on the planet will eat peanut butter. ive never seen one turn it down.
ive had pretty good success with the paiute and advanced paiute (i dont know if its actually called advanced, thats just the name ive heard it called by. it is only one stick broken in half), as well the figure four. i spend a good part of the year out in the woods, its always nice to see something in your trap.
a good way to improve your trapping abilities is to verse up on animal food habits. find out what they eat during the different seasons. get to know those plants and they will tell you about your prey.

You can get anything from a mouse to a bear with a deadfall… it’s all a matter of size. for small game, nothing beats peanut butter rubbed onto the trigger stick… seems EVERY animal loves the stuff and the smell spreads far to attract them… for bears, use a log with lots of very sharp limbs pointing out and use the bloody fur from a small animal (after you get it with a little deadfall) tied to the trigger. For deer use a log also, but bait with an ear of fresh corn, or a small cloth sack of berries (crush to release juice/smell)