The official opinion of Survivalist 101 on trapping animals is that it is a horrible way to hunt animals. We believe that if you are living in a non-survival situation, when it comes to hunting, trapping is cheating and unusually cruel to the animal that you are trying to harvest. If this bothers you, remember, it’s just our opinion, so chill.
However, in a survival situation, trapping, when done correctly, is the most efficient way to gather calories while expending the fewest. Of all of the other food gathering methods, trapping makes the most sense because it allows you to perform other needed survival activities like building, gathering, foraging and more while you are securing protein calories.
Here’s the rub. There is no way to become a “good trapper” without practicing. If you buy traps with the mind-set that, if need be, you’ll learn how to trap in a survival situation, you better have a lot of food stored. Trapping is an art and a skill and cannot be learned overnight. Trapping animals, in their environment, is akin to trying to navigate a new city without a map. It will simply take time and many failures.
If you are prepping for a long term bug out, or to shelter in place, trapping must be a strong consideration for a viable food supply stream. We suggest that you first buy a COMPREHENSIVE book on trapping. You can begin by reading our Trapping 101 tutorial. However, you should have an off-line, in-depth reference manual for honing your skill.
Once you are familiar with the type of trapping you will perform, you can purchase your traps, the waxes and dyes and store them as part of your regular preps. We highly suggest that you make yourself completely familiar with the trapping process before purchasing traps. Here are the trapping books that we recommend: