Paiute Deadfall Trap with a plastic tote and my cat

I’ve been going to Primitive Skills Meetups for about a year now. I have a blast there, as it allows me to get away from the city for a while. I’ve learned how to make my own mead, make spoons with fire, forage for wild foods. All kinds of stuff.

This month, we are going to be doing a session on traps and snares. I am a presenter!

Like I said, I love this group!

I am going to be showing a few styles of traps and snares that I have either fiddled with, thought would be useful, or want to learn. Another presenter is going to do the traditional Figure 4 Deadfall, so I will demonstrate an alternate – an Asian Inverted Figure 4 dead-fall. I think this alternate is much easier to set and also easier to carve. I will also show a squirrel snare set, penny locks for traditional snares, and also a paiute deadfall.

So anyway, I needed to dust off some of my trap setting skills. The last time I had set any traps, it was to my (now) Father-in-Law’s amusement as I was catching my kittens at the time. He hadn’t seen anything like it and was having a blast watching me. It was a while ago. I was using a figure-4 made from some scrap wood from when I made my bedframe and a plastic tote.

I took an evening off from cleaning and packing and moving, and this time, I am trying the paiute dead fall using more of the same scrap wood from my bed frame that I’ve kept for 3 years now and moved from Florida to Illinois. (I am such a pack-rat – hence all the cleaning & packing & moving)

Brother (my cat) is such a good sport. He quickly wised up to the fact that indulging on his beloved kitty treats made a big blue tote try to fall over him. I never did get an unassisted clean capture of my feline friend, but, the above video has a few humorous spots anyhow.

Poor Brother!

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