Trapping

The human activity of animal trapping consists of hunting for animals to obtain their furs, which are then used for clothes and other artifacts, or sold / bartered (see fur trade). Trappers often but not exclusively use traps to catch their prey; hence the name of the activity and its practitioners. Hunters may also trap animals for food.

Traps

Today most of the traps used can be easily divided into four types: body gripping traps, snares, leghold traps, and cages. There are also a number of traditional designs.

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Body gripping/crushing traps

The body gripping traps are traps made to quickly kill the animal caught. They are frequently called ?Conibear? traps after one of the most common brand, but even a simple mousetrap is one. The animal must be lured or guided into the correct position before the trap is triggered. The trap is usually built to strike at the back of the neck and snap the spine. The effect should be instant or next to instant death, but if the animal is incorrectly positioned, the trap may not work as intended. There has been quite a lot of research to create traps that cannot ?fail?. Among the proposed constructions are a box in which taking the bait actually triggers the trap and crushes the animal against the bottom of the box. Most (if not all) of these traps rely on blunt trauma so to not destroy the pelt of the animal being taken.

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Snares

Snares are one of the simplest and most effective traps. Made of high quality wire they are cheap to produce and easy to set a large number of. This has made them a large problem, as snares can kill animals years after the trapper has left the area. Snares can be set in a number of different ways. First of all, they can be set ?locking? or ?free running?. A locking snare has a small lock that makes sure the snare can only tighten. They are used to strangle the animal being captured. A free running snare works more or less like the leash for a dog. It keeps the animal in place, but without hurting it. Neither is fail proof however. In some areas spring loaded snares are used, often replacing leg hold traps. These are set on the ground with a trigger, just like the leg hold trap. As a precautionary measure, most modern snares are equipped with "deerstops". These devices make certain deer cannot be caught by the snare.

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Leghold traps

Probably most commonly associated with trapping, the leghold trap is a rather simple mechanical trap. It is made up of two jaws, a spring of some sort, and a trigger in the middle. When the animal steps on the trigger the trap closes around the leg, holding the animal in place. Usually some kind of lure is used to position the animal, or the trap is set on an animal trail. Traditionally, leghold traps had tightly closing ?teeth? to make sure the animal stayed in place. The teeth also made sure the animal could not move the leg in the trap and ruin their fur. However, this resulted in many animals gnawing off legs in order to escape. More modern traps have a gap called an "offset jaw" and work more like a handcuff. They grip above the paw, making sure the animal cannot pull out but does not destroy the leg. This also allows the trapper to release unwanted catches.

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Cage traps

Cage traps are open cages, usually baited, with a trigger that closes the cage around the animal when it is inside. Cage trapping is the most humane form of trapping and is also the only form of trapping allowed in many countries.

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