Skunk isn't good eating.

I removed the part he objected to from the opening post. Sorry, I wasn't thinking of the antis when I asked. Mine is an honest question.

I trap and “honestly” that’s not even in my equation for survival. Firearms and bullets are. Way too many variables. Trapping is way down my list. I’m not seeing where say even 10 traps is going to help.
You set 20 traps and catch in everyone, now what? Now you have 20 somethings to preserve to try and feed your family. Say it’s 20 snares and you have 10 hogs and 10 deer on the first catch? What now? What do you do with all that meat at one time?
I don’t use snares but from what I think I understand from here, now those 20 need replaced?
In your “scenario” I wouldn’t be an individual trying to survive, factions/groups/neighbors would join forces. Eventually it would be the strongest survive because those that don’t know how to kill and eat will be coming for the food of those that do.
Heck, even with the little scare of Covid and a few of us talking about who would hunt and who would defend. Yes, we had a central location and group where all would live and protect.
One individual/family isn’t making it 5 years in a grid down situation. May not be the “scenario” you want to hear, but it’s the truth. It would eventually boil down to hunt/conquer or be hunted/defend.

In your climate you want the animal captured alive so it doesn't start spoiling in the heat. I honestly don't think the animals population would hold out very long with every one hunting for food. This kind of situation your going to be getting around without a car which would limit the area you could cover. I'd focus more on the fish. Throw nets traps and signs. Your best option in this scenario is have the ability to trade your services of protection to a farmer/rancher for food
A couple dozen closed jaw really strong #3 or #5 size traps will hold anything you will trap.
For hogs and deer I would think a thermal and suppressor would be the most effective

Since this is survival, is OP willing to eat brown rats and flying rats (starlings). If so, add in a few #1 long springs and learn how to build a starling trap. Those will get you something to eat in the springtime and use the guts and organs of both as bait on a fish hook. I always understood "4 and 20 blackbirds" to mean starlings. Good eating.....so I'm told. Never been that hungry myself.

BTW, I wouldn't wait for some future shtf event before I put all this into practice. I'd start today while there is still time to learn and adapt.

Also......what is your plan to cut wood?

BTW, if you are going to be eating starlings, find their roost and camp near that. You can catch them off the roost by hand after dark.

For others who come across this thread later who have the same question, I saw somewhere that a trapper of average skill can have a five percent success rate. If we target raccoons, and the average raccoon has three pounds of meat, and at about a thousand calories per pound, that’d be twenty traps (such as dog proofs) per person minimum. I’d at least double that as your goal (more calories is always better), but not so many that you’re overwhelmed checking traps daily.

I’d like to consider the same kind of numbers for other target animals. I’ll sit down later and think it through.

you'll have to figure in theft of both traps and catches.

I agree with Yes sir...plan on bartering your trapping services for items you'll need.

that being the case, I'd think (figuring in theft) I'd want at LEAST 10-12 dozen # 3 coilsprings. don't forget replacement springs/parts.

A good problem to have, but not an insurmountable one. Since this forum is called "Trapping Only" I'll leave the discussion about how to preserve meat for another forum, but there are plenty of ways from smoking to salting to canning to dehydrating...

But if we assume the trapper with average skill has about a five percent success rate, that's only one deer to go around.




Yes, I don't think snares are a sustainable option long-term. But there are plenty of traps which are. How many reusable traps would you personally have for your own family?




Yes of course, but since this forum is called "Trapping Only," if you want to talk about ways to pull together with other families in a crisis, we could discuss over private messages if you wish.

Correct. Or quickly covered in fire ants. Live traps and footholds are best here. But I wasn't asking about Florida trapping; I asked what would you do where you are, and I'll take it from there.




Yes, I'd mentioned fish in the opening post. How many of each throw net, trap, etc. would you have for your area?




Thank you.

While starlings and rats certainly are on the menu, I just want to know how many you would have for yourself in your area, how many you personally consider adequate for yourself, for the more common target animals such as raccoon or otter.




Since this forum is called "Trapping Only," if you want to know, I could chat with you in private messages about cutting wood.

Thank you.

Do you have any traps now? If not, before you go too much further down this road, I suggest you get yourself a cage trap......catch a coon (easy to do)..........then skin it and eat it. Then do the same with a possum.

That will give you some idea how much of a meal you can get out of one and if is a meal you want to live on. I'm guessing there will be leftovers to string it out a few days.

Yes. Not sure I have enough, hence the question.




I'm guessing you've done that for yourself. When you did, about how many traps would you think you might need just for yourself to live on?

Buy a 1000 ft of snare cable,100 locks, and 100 barrel swivels.. Swivels and locks can be reused. Probably need a couple 1000 ferrules and a good pair or 3 of cable cutters.

Thank you. Only cable snares?

Starting to think this OP has been on this site before under a different name. We had someone else that was asking way off the charts questions.

Negative, that wasn't me. And I searched first before asking, but maybe I didn't search on the right words. If there's another thread which discusses this, please share the link.

Much easier to carry 100 snares than a dozen traps. Of course if it's a SHTF scenario you'll likely have to eat lots of domestic cats and dogs and snares or traps want be as necessary to harvest those.

Oh, I'm not concerned about weight. Not building a BoB here. Just the normal trapping that most people here are doing, on the common animals y'all target.

I'd say at least 2-3 dozen mixed sizes. Your not gonna eat coyotes, fox probably and they are tougher to catch. So coon sized footholds and conibears will take rabbits, squirrels and most of the ordinary edible game. Traps are always working so better imo than relying on hunting. So many other factors though, location is the main one.