Author: Paul

I was brought up in a family where respect for the outdoors and personal independence were strong values. Early life experience on the small farms of my extended family, in home vegetable gardens and canning and freezing of family grown produce made having a large pantry a commonplace. A career in the nuclear industry and positions in emergency response within that field inculcated a philosophy of preparedness. My personal experience of multi-day power outages only reinforced the possibility of infrastructure breakdown. A growing awareness of possible threats to the electrical grid from pandemic, economic breakdown, cyber-attack, solar storms and EMP attack lead to an interest in the preparedness field with regards to society and the individual family. I continue to research and learn in the prepping field and look forward to assembling additional books in the near future to complement my first, "Survival Fish Harvesting.". I may be contacted at pstevens2@gmail.com

Bird Clap Net

If you check the “Bird Traps” category you will find a post about the “Clap Trap.” It is an ingenious idea that has been around for a long time.  In my post I reference it being used in a study of sandhill cranes, in Florida. I didn’t mention it in the post but the researchers invited a well known bird trapper from India to come and demonstrate the construction and use of the clap trap.

Bird Clap Net

I was recently on the Vintage Traps and Collectibles website and found two very interesting vintage photographs; one shows a “Clap Net” and the other has a newspaper clipping and a separate advertisement of the “Kings Lightning Trap” which looks like it might have been a spring loaded take on the clap trap. The image and advertisement are from a New Zealand newspaper

Below is the photo of the Clap Net.

The Clap Net was a one person managed net that would locate on the opposite side of a tree from the drivers

When the person on the opposite side of a tree created a commotion, many birds wound up flying into the net which was then closed and lowered to the ground to harvest the birds.

What made it possible for one person to manage the clap net was the belt and pouches which supported it. Take a look at the enlargement.

Supporting the weight of the net and poles on the operators waist allowed him to control it.

Powered Clap Net?

The King’s Lightning Trap appears to be from around 1919. It  is very interesting because it used a spring and trigger to cast a net over the birds it targeted. It appears to be patterned after the clap trap. It is hard to make out details from the image, but when I first learned about the clap trap I almost immediately thought about how it might be powered.

From the caption in the newspaper article:

“SEVEN HUNDRED AND NINETY-SEVEN CAPTIVES MADE IN ELEVEN HOURS: KINGS “LIGHTNING” BIRD-TRAP

The enormous bird-trap here illustrated is made of iron and steel, is 24 feet long, weighs 50lb. and covers an area of 192 feet.  Bait is spread on the ground between the open jaws of the trap, and when sufficient birds have been attracted to this the operator pulls a cord, releases the springs, and causes the nets to spread over the birds and bait.   So effective has this snare proved to be that as many as seven hundred and ninety-seven birds have been caught in it in New Zealand between seven o’clock in the morning  and six o’clock at night.”

For additional details on both of these traps, head on over to the Vintage Traps and Collectibles website. While you are there, take a look at their wide selection of photos and examples of various traps. Some very good stuff is on hand and I am sure what you see will generate numerous ideas. They also have some great books on sale.

Fish Traps and Fish Dams on the Caney Fork

I was doing some research in the process of gathering material to update my book “Survival Fish Harvesting,” which is currently available on Amazon and I found a reference to fish traps found on the Caney Fork of the Cumberland River in 1769. Actually they found a series of traps or fish dams and presumed that they had been placed there by the natives. This incident is described in the book “The Caney Fork of the Cumberland” uploaded on a website maintained by Daniel Hanston who graciously gave me permission to use the info and image from his site.

The Need for Multiple Traps

What is of particular interest to me is that the book describes how there were a series of traps, reinforcing the concept that it’s not enough to have one trap, one source of vegetables, one source of fruit, water, energy or whatever. A harvester has a range of planned sources of anything that is essential to them.  Bestselling author Robert Allen wrote the book “Multiple Streams of Income” promoting the concept of not putting all of your income eggs in one basket.  This is the same idea.

Early deeds that describe the land along the Caney Fork of the Cumberland describe at least nine different locations, typically in shallows, where the traps were constructed. They were of a unique design as well. Check the image below.

One of a series of fish traps found on the Caney Fork of the Cumberland in 1769.

The gently angled slats in the center allowed the current to push fish up out of the water. The water current was strong enough to do that because the rock dikes diverted a higher level of flow towards the slats. Here is the description from the book:

“Loose rock dams were built out from each bank of the river to a wood structure supporting poles or slats at an angle of about 30 degrees, spaced about 2” apart.  Even though the rock dams were not water tight, the level of the river was raised so that the velocity of the water through the slats was quite rapid.  Small fish passed through but the large ones were caught on the slats and due to the water pressure could not get away.  As Jim Baker of Campaign used to say, “It was just a matter of walking out to the trap and picking up a mess of fish for supper.”

As the book states, these traps “…were fragile and easily washed out. ” I don’t see the slats surviving spring runoff. O the other hand, it wouldn’t have been too hard to reproduce the center portion. The rock dikes weren’t going to move.

Harvesting Bullheads

I wanted to let you know about a website devoted to catching bullheads. Many fishermen look down on bullheads, referring to them as “mudcats” and disdaining them as bottom feeders. The website I am going to point you to will dispel that notion.

Check out a few quotes from the “About” page of Bullhead Fishing 

“While conservation and common sense limits to harvest are important, bullheads breed at such a rate that they are one of the most sustainable fish species for harvest in America.  In many instances they are under harvested in many small bodies of water leading to stunted growth.  So sensible harvest can actually be helpful to many populations”

“Due to how prolific the bullhead is, access is available to almost anyone that will extend a bit of effort.  Unlike many forms of fishing that can be extremely expensive, bullhead fishing can be done by anyone at any income level.  Gear is minimal and in general while they can be helpful boats are simply not required”

“To encourage the use of bullhead in sustainable food production systems.  While the bullhead is highly unlikely to be farmed on commercial scale, its toughness, ease of breeding, food value, growth rate and willingness to eat just about anything makes it  great species for hobby and small scale aquaculture and aquaponics.”

Now all three of those quotes strike me as hitting pretty close to what I would call Survival Harvesting principles.

Just for your interest, the Bullhead Fishing website was created and is run by Jack Spirko, the voice and owner of “The Survival Podcast.” Jack has been running his podcast since 2008. It is pretty much the most successful podcast in this field. I’ve got a lot of respect for Jack and his site has a ton of info you would probably be interested in. Look him up and give him a try.

 

Trapping Squirrels

Squirrels are common and a relatively easily trapped mammal.

Almost no matter where you are in a survival situation, you probably have access to small game of some type. Squirrels are among the most common and widely distributed species of mammals in the world. They are members of a family of rodents that includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots (including woodchucks), flying squirrels, and prairie dogs amongst other rodents. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa, and were introduced by humans to Australia.
Squirrels can be caught several different ways.

Squirrel Pole

You have probably seen the “squirrel pole” many times since it is featured in so many survival manuals. Below is an illustration from the “US Army Survival Manual.”

Squirrels are used to pushing their way through tight cover so this pole snare set will not put them off.

You can see from the above image that there is nothing complicated about this setup. Snare wire is typically 20-gauge in either brass or stainless steel. The legality of using snares, the material used and the gauge of snare wire required varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. If you intend to try snaring methods out, check your local requirements.

Rat Traps for Squirrels

It is also a simple matter to catch squirrels in a rat trap, particularly the smaller red squirrels. Find a location with a population of squirrels. Nail the rat trap to the trunk of a tree, high enough that it cannot be reached by dogs. Smear peanut butter onto the bait trigger. Use multiple traps.

For the larger varieties of squirrel, like the grey, some modifications may be necessary. Take a look at the image below. You can see the common mouse trap, made by Victor, and the less frequently seen rat trap.

The rat trap is obvious by it’s larger size. Notice the enhancements possible to improve it’s killing power.

Notice the two brace ends of the trap springs? One way to increase the power of the trap is to pry these ends up and wedge something underneath them, thereby tightening the coil. This imparts additional power to the kill bar when it snaps shut.

Additionally, a small piece of wood or a wooden dowel can be screwed to the trap at the indicated spot in the image. This helps ensure a killing blow by helping the kill bar deliver greater trauma to the neck.

Rat traps are discussed in greater detail in the Kindle book “More Than Just a Rat Trap” by Blake Alma. He discusses camouflage methods, how to remove the human and manufacturing scent from the trap by burying it, adding teeth to the trap and using the rat trap on different target species. The book is under $5.00, so it’s tough to go wrong.

Squirrel Snares and Bait Station

While looking for squirrel trapping info online I ran across an article discussing squirrel snaring at http://www.thehuntinglife.com/.

The article suggested setting a pole up between two trees and mounting a bait station in the center. Multiple snares were set up at the ends  of the pole closest to the tree, so the squirrels had to pass by the snares twice. The baiting station was constructed from a 4″ grey plastic pipe with a couple of wooden half plugs screwed onto either end.

                   The bait station forces the squirrels to run a gauntlet of snares for food

Check Your Local Trapping Regulations

I have tried to keep this as simple as possible. Of course, there are any number of snares or deadfalls that could be made to trap squirrels, but the three methods I have shown here take the capture methods right to the squirrels habitat; the trees it lives in. This helps make any of these methods more effective.

Observation is important to success in any trapping or hunting effort. The traps need to go where the squirrels are.  Pre-baiting will make all of these traps more effective. The pole snare put in place with wires attached but no loops, and kernels of corn spread strategically around will help the local squirrels become accustomed to the object. Same suggestion goes for the baiting station. And a few days of peanut butter served up on the trigger of a rat trap that hasn’t been set will likely ensure a higher level of success.

As always I am not advising you to try any of these methods of catching squirrels without checking exactly what your local laws allow. I am presenting methods of acquiring food that you may need in a survival situation. I don’t believe any court would charge you with a penalty if you were in a survival situation and used these techniques to feed yourself. But I’m no lawyer. Before trying any of this in a non-survival circumstance, do your due diligence and understand your local trapping and small game regulations.

Nothing like fresh food cooked over an open fire

Bird Trapping with the Clap Trap

Harvesting birds with traps has been practiced since well before recorded history. There are multiple reasons why birds have been targeted.

  1. They are easy to kill, relatively speaking. Simply because birds must be light enough to fly, their bone structure tends to be delicate. Consequently it doesn’t require great force to kill or cripple a bird.
  2. Many birds are migratory, and/or flock together for much of the year. There are opportunities to grab multiple individuals in one location.
  3. Bird feeding locations tend to be easily visible and you can count on  birds returning there to feed repeatedly so trap locations can be scouted out.
  4. Birds don’t tend to be the sharpest tools in the shed. It can be far more difficult to trap mammals than birds. “Bird Brain” is not a compliment.

The trap I am going to write about in this post is the Clap Trap. It is quite simple to construct and is suitable for use on larger birds as long as you use stronger material. It lies flat on the ground and requires little metal or wood so it is not conspicuous. It can be operated by one person, but probably will be most successfully used with two people. If there is only one person available, you will have to make a slight accommodation for that.

First up let me give a tip of the hat to the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. They produced a report called “Techniques Employed to Capture Whooping Cranes in Central Florida” for presentation at the 2008 North American Crane Workshop Proceedings.

Whooping Cranes were being reintroduced to Central Florida. This necessitated periodic trapping to band, attach transmitters, check the health of and more or less monitor the birds. The report mentions that they used six different methods of crane capture. The clap trap was responsible for 42% of their captures.

This six page document, with complete instructions on building and use is available here.

Below is an example of how the trap looks after operation and also some lower resolution images of the trap construction.

 

Clap trap used to live trap cranes

As you can see the materials used for construction are quite simple. The netting they used in their efforts was multifilament nylon gill netting with a string diameter of 0.55 mm. They also used two 15 metre long braided nylon ropes, threaded through the top and bottom of the net sections. In addition, to form the trap they used four 1.2 m long, 1.3 cm diameter ( 1/2″) dowels. In the illustration above the dowels are in pairs, standing vertically. The white pieces of rope stand out from the gill net by virtue of their greater diameter. The two diagrams below show the arrangement of the pieces.

The component parts of the Clap Trap bird trap.

As you can see in the photograph, and as indicated in the drawing, the trap must be operated by an observer, who must maintain tension on the trigger wires to keep the top edges of the trap closed. If the trigger person was near a solid object ( a sapling, sturdy stake in the ground etc.) then a couple of quick turns could secure the trigger wires and the observer could leave cover to collect the bird. Otherwise, a second person is necessary.

The rope placement and trigger wire attachment points are obvious in this drawing.

The trap works on tension and geometry and is simple to replicate in different sizes. Several stakes are required to be driven into the ground to hold the bottom ropes and dowels in place, but everything is explained in the report. I encourage you to download it.

The authors report, when speaking of the clap trap design “One of its most appealing features was its ability to safely catch multiple cranes at once. The traps were fairly easy to build and inexpensive (each under $40)…”

They further note, “Though productive, the clap trap was not perfect. Traps
were time consuming to set up, and if we did not take great care to set them up properly, the traps would not trigger correctly.”

The traps proved to be their most successful method of capturing birds. “We triggered the clap trap a total of 17 times. Six of those 17 times we caught 1 bird, 5 we caught 2 birds, and 4 we caught 3 birds. On 2 attempts we caught nothing. Of the 17 attempts made, we caught birds on 15, resulting in an
88% capture probability. ”

I have several thoughts on this trap. First, it seems as if it could be made with expedient materials. If you had a volleyball net or a tennis net or protective netting for a fruit tree or possibly even lightweight wire mesh, I think you could construct one of these. The authors note that they did colour the net and rope to camouflage it. I expect that leaf litter or other vegetative material  could be used.

I also wonder about the ability to put two of these traps in a line, both connected to the same trigger wire. The opportunity to capture multiple birds is one of the very attractive features of this arrangement. The speed with which the trigger wires are pulled must be fast enough to trap the birds. Perhaps a spring mechanism and release would improve over a simple tug from a trigger person.

I hope you have found this post on the Clap Trap informative. Keep your eye out for more in the near future.

 

 

Stone Fish Traps or Weirs

Stone fish traps are among the most ancient of structural harvesting techniques. The fact that the oldest known manmade structure on the planet is a fish trap should tell you something about their ability to provide protein.

A series of hand laid stone barriers and ponds have been dated back to a period of 40,000 years ago. The traps stretch across a bend of the Barwon River near Brewarrina in New South Wales and were in use until 1968. A concrete weir was put in place to create a reservoir of water for the local area, which was prone to drought. It did prevent drought but it also put an end to the travel of fish upstream, and that stopped the regular catching of fish in the traps.

The stone fish traps of Brewarrina, New South Wales are reported to be 40,000 years old

Finally, in 2012 a fish ladder was installed that allowed the weir to be bypassed by spawning fish, and once again the traps are in use, allowing locals to harvest perch, Murray cod, black bream and other species.

Traps are  frequently repeated. River weirs or traps require shallow water. If a shallow stretch of river occurs, you might as well make the best of it. See the image below.

Maximizing production from a stretch of shallow water on a river requires multiple trap locations

This image from the Darling River in New South Wales provides a different example of multiple trap placement.

Multiple stone fish traps designed to maximize catch from this shallow stretch of the Darling river

In the image above, fish enter from the upstream side and are funnelled down into the narrow catchment area to the left or downstream end of the trap.

Stone fish traps come in different types and styles. Those found on rivers or shallow areas in lakes typically serve the purpose of funnelling fish into smaller and smaller areas where they can be grabbed, netted or speared.

After funnelling fish into a smaller area, they are easier to spear.

One of the most unique stone fish traps of the world is to be found in Penghu County, Taiwan.

By padai – photo, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1367715

Designed to take advantage of the daily changing tides, with this trap it is easy to see how fish coming ashore with the rising tide are funnelled into the catch area and can be much more easily be harvested as the water recedes. It is only necessary to visit the stone trap at specific times of the day to take advantage of it’s working.

The stones form a broad walkway over a meter wide and can handle the daily tide change and even heavy seas.

It is not uncommon for a narrow strait to separate two sections of land. When the tides flow into and out of the strait, depending on the rise or fall of the land, simple weirs can provide traps to catch ocean creatures.

Two simple lines of stones effectively cut fish off from the deep water as the tide rolls out.

It is not hard to extract principles of operation from these examples. Using moving water to assist in concentrating fish numbers into smaller areas or to strand them completely makes it far easier to harvest them. All that is required is access to shallow stretches of water or tidal flats and portable stones.

Of course, fish traps can be made in multiple ways. In future posts I will cover both older and contemporary techniques of fish trap manufacture. Check back again for more info. Fish Harvesting

Where Do My Survival Harvesting Techniques Come From

This site is dedicated to what I call “Survival Harvesting.” That is, harvesting methods that you can use in disaster or emergency situations, or during good times, to maximize your self-sufficiency and independence. If you have achieved a larger degree of self-sufficiency in the areas of your specific needs, then you are far more resilient, no matter what happens.

Most of us face a “survival” situation at different times during our lives. Losing a job to an economic downturn is a survival situation. If you go looking for a definition of the word “survival” on Google, you will get “the state or fact of continuing to live or exist, typically in spite of an accident, ordeal, or difficult circumstances.” Well, losing a job is a pretty good example of “difficult circumstances.”

There are also the more commonly accepted conditions that most of us automatically think of as requiring these particular skills. Weather disasters, societal disruptions, being stranded in the wilderness, etc. All of these circumstances require us to have or be able to acquire food, water, shelter and energy when our normal access is interrupted.

Neighbourhood flooding
Urgent needs: water, food, shelter and energy

Historic Survival Skills

Well, there have been times in the past, and particular circumstances, when  people had to manage without integrated national and regional distribution systems. People for whom a grid down emergency would have had no impact. Of course I am talking about people from an earlier time, different societies, or people with different requirements for access than you and I normally have.

Think of societies hundreds of years ago. Despite having some access to technology, they had no electricity, no fast transport, and not much access to plentiful energy sources. Yet in 1600, London England had a population of 200,000 people. Beijing, in China, had a population of between 700,000 and 1 million people. These cities existed in highly structured and hierarchal societies, where the lords and masters scooped up the bulk of the countrysides production. The serfs and peasants frequently had to make do with the leftovers. But they survived. They developed methods of using the bounty of the surrounding countryside. They used plants and animals that were ignored by the higher strata of society. And they had to be as efficient as possible or they and their families would starve.

I have been researching and collecting old methods and processes and examining them for their utility for you and I. Some of these methods would be familiar to our grandparents or great grandparents. Some are familiar to todays homesteaders. I am looking for the best of the best of these skills and techniques.

Net fishing in ancient China
Net fishing has existed as long as cordage has been around.

Aboriginal Survival Skills

Outside of historical methods from Europe and Asia, there have been a wide spread of native or aboriginal methods of survival harvesting practiced. Each bit of knowledge and each skill was honed and improved to suit a particular area, flora and fauna.

Some highly developed societies depended on early forms of “food forest” management. Hunting and gathering continued to be used, but large population depended on organized systems of harvesting. The peoples who were already here had wrested knowledge from the landscape through life and death struggles to survive over the previous 15,000 years or more. This has been another source of inspiration for me and a target of my research.

Aboriginals developed and used specific techniques at allow them to harvest the bounty of the land.

The Development of Bushcraft

In the sixteen and seventeen hundreds, large sections of Europe were still forested. Many of the people who headed west to the New World were well used to trapping and fishing to supplement their food supply. Farmers, rural folk and everything from gamekeepers to poachers wound up crossing the ocean to land on the shores of what is now Canada and the United States. Rat traps are referred to in European literature as early as the 1170’s. The new settlers did not ignore or forget the skills and knowledge they already had.

The movement of Europeans into Australia, South Africa and North and South America resulted in creative minds resurrecting traditional skills or inventing  new ones that used the materials at hand to provide for human requirements. Bushcraft is synonymous with the techniques the Europeans learned and borrowed from the aboriginals, converted from existing knowledge they brought from home to new lands,  and  developed on their own.

Much of this knowledge started appearing in books about trappers and mountain men in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Authors like W. Hamilton Gibson, A. R. Harding, and Ernest Thompson Seton helped popularize this knowledge. The rapid rise of camping as a recreational activity resulted in a growing demand for books on the topic of outdoor living, trapping and survival .

Developing Nation Survival Harvesting Techniques

Then there are different methods of harvesting being practiced right now by people in what are called “developing nations.” Typically these techniques are low dollar cost, inclusive of more current knowledge and sometimes incorporating more recent technological innovations. Think “rocket stove” and “rocket mass heater” for good examples from the energy sector. Starting in the sixties and seventies there was a huge push by the Peace Core, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation and others to provide solutions to the then current problems around shelter, food, water and energy supply. My research has taken me through hundreds of publications by these organizations and I am sifting through the material and preparing articles using some of the best of these resources.

Current Technology Survival Techniques

Today, with our improved technology and the many advances in current knowledge, there are improved opportunities to do more with less. Water supplies have become much less problematical with the latest water filter technology. The possibilities for storing electrical energy continue to expand. The latest lightweight gear expands what is possible in terms of travel and in terms of how much you can travel with.

So there you have it. My harvesting Techniques come from:

  1. Historical skills, tools and methods.
  2. Aboriginal skills tools and methods.
  3. A collection of techniques grouped loosely under the term “Bushcraft”
  4. Low cost tools and methods developed for use in Developing Nations starting in the sixties.
  5. Methods based on the latest knowledge, materials and hardware.

Please check out the various posts grouped together in the categories for your specific interests.

 

 

The Harvesting Mentality

This image of two apple trees standing alone in a field is very close to the scene I saw that helped coalesce in my mind the concept of survival harvesting.

I was sitting on my front deck, watching a small red squirrel struggling with an apple it had picked up off my lawn. The apple came from a scraggly looking  loner in the verge of bush separating our property from our neighbours. This apple tree had not been pruned, cared for or sprayed in decades. Yet here it was, still reliably providing fruit each year for at least one grateful fruit lover.

I started thinking of all the abandoned orchards I have seen over the years. And all of the apples that hit the ground every year and then lie there and rot, even with the deer, squirrels and other animals that come to feed on them. Like the tree on the edge of my property, whose apples I had carelessly been pushing aside, into the scrub growing along the fence line.

Why didn’t I do a little pruning on that tree? In fact, why didn’t I pick up a young tree of a different variety,in the fall when nurseries had their sales on and plant it in the front yard. Placing it not to far from the old one would  work to improve pollination and personal apple choices. Then I thought of my Uncle Bill, who had a tree onto which he had grafted 5 or 6 different varieties of apples. Clearly there were possibilities available to me with just a little effort.

My thinking was further stimulated while listening to an episode of “The Survival Podcast” by Jack Spirko in which he talked about supplementing your groceries with active fishing. I live in the water rich environment of the Northumberland Hills, of Northumberland County in Ontario, Canada. I am a ten minute car ride away from rivers and lakes that have a plentiful supply of fish for those willing to take the time to catch them. Thinking of fish as a resource to be harvested as opposed to simply a means of enjoying an outdoor sport was a bit of a mental shift for me. It lead me to write and publish “Survival Fish Harvesting.”

Even as I was writing the book, thoughts of tackling different topics in the same manner were chasing themselves around in my head. We had just been through a very dry summer, and had to truck in water for our garden, as our well level shrank and shrank.What could we do to ensure we didn’t run out in the future?

Doing the book research and adding a section on edible seaweed got me thinking of the collection of edible wild plant index cards I created during my teens. A little careful looking around our two acre lot reaquainted me with numerous varieties of plants familiar to foragers.

There is nothing wrong with collecting knowledge, skills and gear to help ensure your individual survival. It is a potentially useful or even life saving effort. But along with that effort, what if you incorporated the harvesting concept? What if you focused on efficient collection of what you needed to survive, as well as actions to improve the potential harvest, when harvest time comes around? That is the direction I would like to explore with this site and any future books. I invite you to come along and share your thoughts and ideas with me.