The Double Box Snare
Category:
SNARES OR MOOSE TRAPS.
This is another embodiment of the same principle which has already
been described, viz.--the knotted string. By many it
is considered an improvement on the box snare just mentioned, owing
to the possibility of its taking two victims at the same time. It
may be set for rabbits, mink, or muskrat, and will be found very
efficient.
It consists of a box about eight inches square, one foot in length,
and open at both ends. In the centre of the top board a hole of the
diameter of a lead pencil should be bored, and a smaller aperture
also made in the middle of each end near the edge as seen in the
accompanying engraving. The spring is next required. This should
consist of an elastic switch or small pole, three or more feet
in length. It should be inserted in a slanting auger hole, made
through the middle of one of the side boards near the bottom at
the angle shown at (a). Should the switch fit loosely it may be
easily tightened by a small wedge driven in beside it. The bait
stick (b) should be about four inches in length, and large enough
to fit easily into the hole in the centre of the top board. Next
procure a stout bit of cord about eight inches in length. Tie one
end to the tip of the switch and provide the other with a large
double knot. A second knot should then be made, about an inch and
a half above the first. A piece of sucker wire is the next necessity.
Its length should be about five feet, and its centre should be tied
over the uppermost knot in the string. If the bait is now in readiness,
the trap may be set. Bend down the switch until the end knot will pass
through the hole in the centre of the board. When it appears in the
inside of the box, it should then be secured by the insertion of the
top of the bait stick, as shown at (b). This insertion need be only
very slight, a sixteenth of an inch being all that is sufficient
to prevent the knot from slipping back. The spring is thus held
in the position seen in the drawing, and the loose ends of the
sucker wire should then be passed downward through the small holes
and arranged in nooses at both openings of the box. Our trap is
now set, and the unlucky creature which attempts to move that bait
from either approach, will bring its career to an untimely end.
The bait stick may be so delicately adjusted as to need only the
slightest touch to dislodge it. Such a fine setting is to be guarded
against, however, being as likely to be sprung by a mouse as by
a larger animal. The setting is easily regulated, being entirely
dependent upon the slight or firm insertion of the bait stick.
Among all the modi operandi in the construction of traps, there
is scarcely one more simple than the principle embodied in this
variety, and there is none more effective.
The box snare already described may be set by the same method,
and indeed the principle may be applied to almost any trap, from
the simplest snare described on page (52) to the largest dead-fall.
* * * * *
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The Old-fashioned SpringlePrevious:
The Box Snare
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