Bruce ‘Buckshot’ Hemming sent me his book “Buckshot’s Complete Survival Trapping Guide” for review and I must say, I’m glad he did.
Bruce has over 34 years of trapping experience and is one of the most knowledgable trappers alive today.
It is obvious by the down to earth tone of book that Buckshot lives what he writes and loves how he lives and that he wants to help others learn the skills that took him over three decades and thousands of dollars to acquire.
I have a number of books dedicated to trapping using snares, conibear and leg hold traps, however these are more trapping for profit in nature, while “Buckshot’s Complete Survival Trapping Guide” was written to give you the skills needed to put meat on the table after an economic collapse or other disaster.
Chapters include:
- Welcome to Trapping – You are going to Love it
- Equipment
- Making Your Equipment The Best
- Dry Land Trapping
- Water Trapping
- Snaring
- Survival Trapping
- Survival Fishing and Other Tips
Buckshot supplements his first hand accounts of trapping everything from rabbit to bobcat with detailed instructions and photos that show exactly how he has done it and how you can too. All in a down to earth yet authoritative way.
I liked the fact that he tells you exactly what type and how many traps you should stock for an end of the world as we know it scenario. Buckshot suggests a minimum of 10 – dozen small game snares, 6 – dozen medium game snares, 4 – dozen camlock snares and 1 dozen #110, four #220 and two #330 conibears, along with a setting tool for the conibears and six #1 – 3/4 modified 4-coil traps.
He even suggests ways of finding used traps that you can buy cheaply saving a bundle of money that can then be spent on other survival gear.
Surprisingly, there are a lot good used traps around if you know where to look or are just lucky, as I was a few months ago when I bought four Havahart live traps at a local flea market for $20!
I was impressed with the cleverness of some of the sets Buckshot details in the book. For example, the mink tunnel set using an old stove-pipe and #110 conibear and the bucket set for raccoons using a five gallon plastic bucket and #220 conibear.
While “Buckshot’s Complete Survival Trapping Guide” is an impressive reference, I would have liked to have seen chapters on the construction of homemade box traps and more fish trapping methods - but overall this is one of the best and most practical survival trapping guides available.
Recommended.
{ 5 comments }
I have never been a hunter so do you have a preferred guide to dressing, butchering, and cooking game………small to large……..?
Tom,
A good one is Basic Butchering of Livestock & Game.
I’ve seen some Havahart facsimilies at the local Harbor Freight, but have no idea as to their construction. Priced to more though – rat sized units about $15, house cat sized around $20, iirc.
I have Buckshots earlier book, this one sounds good too. Thanks for the review.
Buckshot has a survival show that you can download for free. I listen on an IPOD while doing stuff around the homestead. The link is http://www.blogtalkradio.com/buckshot59. Check it out and learn what he’s been studying for 30+ years. He is a hoot too.
MOFreedom
Can’t go wrong with Buckshot!
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