The 110 Conibear Trap

Most survival manuals make some mention of setting traps to catch animals for food. The recommended traps generally include various types of snares and deadfalls. Snares can be constructed with little more than a length of cordage or wire, and deadfalls can be constructed using all natural materials. While I certainly believe that it is important to be able to construct snares and deadfalls, these traps take time to construct, and may not be as effective as one might hope for in a survival situation.

If you are packing a bug-out bag to aid your survival in some type of emergency, and if you envision yourself trapping small animals for food in this scenario, then consider adding two or three (or more) 110 Conibear traps to your survival gear.

The 110 Conibear is a body-grip trap intended to catch and kill small animals such as mink, muskrat, and weasel. The trap also works well on gray squirrel, rabbits, and ducks. Set in ponds and rivers it can even be used to catch some large fresh-water fish.  Larger Conibear traps (i.e. size 160, 220, & 330) are designed to catch larger animals, but the increase in trap size comes with an increase in trap weight which may be more than you want to carry in your bug-out gear. The 110 Conibear trap is light-weight, weighing around one-half pound each. These traps are also fairly inexpensive, allowing you to add a few traps to your survival gear for just a few rubles.

While every trap must be carefully set if it is to be effective, having a few Conibear traps in your survival gear lets you establish a small ‘survival trap line’ quickly upon reaching your bug-out location, or other area where you plan to spend a few days.