Building traps

[Skean Dhude]

I was at a car boot sale a few years ago and came across a set of old bear type traps that had been retired and kept as decoration. They still worked but are illegal to use. I bought two of them to see if I could fix them up and they both worked after a simple clean. I wish I had bought them all now but such is life.

The modern traps are meant to be humane. The emphasis on a quick dispatch or the loss of the animal rather than a trapped and injured animal. After an event our priorities will undoubtably shift so these traps will be used rather than risk an escape.

Obviously we would all like to catch our prey, kill it instantly whilst being humane. What are the best traps for that sort of thing? Remember we will be looking at rabbits, squirrels, moles and birds mainly. Where I am there are few other animals we could eat.