Introduction: How to Make a Snare Trap

Next time you get lost camping, want to impress your friends, or get chosen for the Hunger Games, knowing how to make a snare trap can be a great way to impress or survive. There are a few different methods to catching small game outlined here to help you survive another Great Depression, the zombie apocalypse, or just get you out of the camper.

Step 1: Material

Choose a sturdy noose material, preferably wire. To build a noose, the most effective material to use is wire. You can use anything as long as it's flexible and not too thin or brittle. It must quickly and easily tighten. There are a number of wire types you can choose from:

~Craft wire

~Headphone wire

~Stripped wires from cars

~An uncoiled spring

Step 2: String

If you don't have wire, use string or cord. Make sure it's strong enough to hold a small (5-8 lbs; 2.5-3.5 kg) animal. If it snaps under your own strength, it probably won't work. The following items are suitable for a snare trap if you don't have or can't find wire near you.

~Shoelaces

~Dental floss

~Fishing line

Step 3: Building

If you don't even have string or chord, consider the tools nature gave you.That means stringy tree bark and plant fibers. It's going to be more work, but if primitive cultures did it, so can you.

~Milkweed

~Dogbane

~Cattail

Step 4: Tips

Scout out the area. A snare can be used day or night, rain or shine, and in any climate. All you need to make sure of is that animals pass by more than once in a blue moon. Placing random snares with no eye for signs of small game is a waste of time.

~Look for signs of game in droppings, shelters, tracks, scratches, and signs of feeding.

~A significant source of water and food for the area is a safe bet as well.

Step 5: More Tips

Pick your "engine." Now that you've found the general area you want to build your snare in, look above you. What sort of trees do you have to work with? The tree will be the beef of your machinery.

~Find a sapling (a young tree) that is strong enough yet bendy. Keep in mind, it must be able to hold the game high in the air until you find it.

~If no saplings are around, look for a large tree limb and decent-sized rock. This is an alternate method that uses the same idea but doesn't require a bendable, well-placed sapling.

Step 6: Have Fun!!!