Trapping pits
by Bosse
(Sweden)
Trapping pit
I am a wilderness hiker from the north part of Sweden. This is no useful wilderness survival tip but nevertheless an interesting fact how people survived in the past.
If you hike the wilderness of the northern Sweden, you probably sooner or later will see a pit, as you can see on the above photo. It is an old trapping pit. These pits were primarily intended for trapping moose or in some mountainous regions also wild reindeer. More then 20 000 of these hunting-pits are known in Sweden. However, trapping pits have been used in many parts of the world
since the Stone Age.
A trapping pit can measure up to 4 x 6 m and be up to several meters deep. The depth made it impossible for the animal to escape once it had fallen in. The pits were camouflaged with branches and leaves.
