The Double Box Snare

Categories: 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, on 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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