Knowledge Regurgitation and Lack of Experience Surrounding the Ojibwa Bird Snare

Throughout my eternally ongoing research and training in survival and bushcraft I have observed many trends within the online community and I feel that this particular trend is worth mentioning.  

The trend I speak of is people constantly regurgitating information they find, without testing it, practising it, or otherwise experiencing it.  This makes it especially difficult for people like me, who rely on the internet and experience as their teachers.  The sheer volume of duplicate images of traps is staggering, and yet no one seems to have experience with it.  Even if there were someone who wrote about, or made a video about it, it would be next to impossible to find in the mess of copies that exists.  

Lets be specific, and use an example here.  I'm sure your all familiar with the Ojibwa Bird Snare.  If not, it looks like this:

This is one of the stock pictures that are spread throughout the web.

Many people have built this trap, often quite crudely.  They demonstrate how it WOULD trigger IF a bird did land on it.  I have yet to see anyone catch anything with it yet however.  I have only seen people play with their cutting tools in the bush, then throw the words IF and WOULD around a lot.  

This is great if you just want to know how to build a trap, but that's not what I want.  I want to know the subtle nuances of the trap, I want to know how best to make it, so I maximize efficiency both in construction and in critters caught.  In short, I want to be able to make it, and catch dinner with it.

Unfortunatly for me, the knowledge I seek is difficult to convey in words over a computer.  It needs to be acquired through dirt time.  I have no problem with this.  I spent countless hours perfecting the construction of a figure four deadfall.  I learned what angles are best, which size stick works best where, and how to set it sensitive enough to catch a mosquito if need be.  I also used it successfully to catch squirrels, multiple times.  Because of this, I feel confident that I could feed myself with the figure four deadfall.

So you can only learn what you want through experience you say.  Then what's your problem?  Why not just learn how to use the trap?

Well, I'll tell you why.  Because its a long process with more failures than successes.  It's also possible to take short cuts throughout the process, by simply reading tips from people who know how to use the trap already.  They definitely can't teach everything, but they can steer you in the right direction for sure. They can post pictures of how to properly make a trap, and explain why they do what they do.  They can then show it work, preferably on video.  

I have been able to find articles in the manner I describe above, on some traps, but never on the Ojibwa Bird Snare.  I have not even been able to find a picture or story of someone catching something with it.  Eventually I did find a little bit of information about the trap, here.  From what I read, the species that the Ojibwa Bird Snare was meant for (passenger pigeon) has gone extinct.  This explains why the trap is not used as successfully as expected.  It does not however, explain the complete lack of documentation of its use, or the ineptness that it tends to be demonstrated with.  

So Ben, what are you going to do about this you ask.  

Well, I'm going to do two things.  I am going to gradually gain experience with the Ojibwa Bird Snare probably fine tuning it to target a different species, such as Mourning Doves, Grackles, or Sparrows.  I am also going to write about what I learn on here, in an attempt to end the chain of redundancy that has been created around this trap.  

In regards to what this post was originally about, before I went off on a trapping tangent, I have a couple ideas.  The first is to start just trying things, and learning the hard way.  I figure that will teach me what I need to know, and maybe others will benefit as well.  

My second thought is that we, the survival and bushcraft community, need to get serious.  We need to stop half assing it in our youtube videos, and our blog posts. We need to realize that if were going to teach something, we should know it inside and out.  We need to stop acting like little boy scouts with dull SAK's, and do things like we mean it.  No more incomplete trap posts, no more barely thatched debris huts, just no more.  Treat the skills you have with respect, and practice them like your life depended on it.  After all, it might.