Tips for Trapping Small Game and Fishing in the Wilderness

There are several ways you can trap and fish for food in the wilderness. With a little patience, you should be able to get something.

You can use a store bought or home made snare, which is a wire or string loop. It is placed in such a way that an animal has to put its head through it, then the loop tightens. It is important to disguise any human scent you may leave on it. Cover your hands with mud before handling the materials, or use ashes to cover the snare.

You can also build a twitch-up snare. Get two forked sticks and drive one into the ground. The other will be attached to a cord, which holds a sapling bent back, under tension. When an animal runs through this trap, the sapling should be pulled from the catch and the snare tightens.

A spear trap can also be used, but they are dangerous so you should exercise caution when setting or checking it. Attach a spear (or a few) to a branch that is held under tension. An animal will trip a wire that releases the branch, and a spear will penetrate the animal.

This should go without saying, but do not take on extremely dangerous animals such as wolves, big cats, bears, crocodiles, or poisonous snakes unless absolutely necessary. You should also not put yourself in a situation where you block an animal's escape route. Any animal that is still alive in a trap will be angry.

If you decide to fish, worms, minnows, insects, and maggots make good bait. Try to use what the fish you see are already eating.

Lashing sticks together into a basket shape makes a decent trap. You can also place stones in the river, in a u-shape, that will funnel fish into a net. The idea is to create something the fish can swim in to, but not out of.

If you already have a line and fly, but are missing a rod, a branch is a good substitute in a pinch.

Spearfishing can be accomplished with a piece of bamboo (be sure to sharpen the edge). You could also sharpen the end of a sapling or attach a knife to a pole. This will work best in shallow water. If you pierce a fish, pick it up with your free hand rather than lifting the spear out of the water.

Sources:
Come Back Alive; Pelton, Robert Young; Broadway Books, 2000.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Surviving Anything; Sauer, Patrick and Zimmerman, Michael; BookEnds, LLC, 2001.
The Encyclopedia of Survival Techniques; Stilwell, Alexander; The Lyons Press, 2000.