Baiting Wild Pigs

[spamgoose]

They seem quite rare but I lucked out in finding a herd of wild pigs in an area. I was curious whether trapping them was possible (though their senses seem terrible... I managed to kill one by walking up behind it not sneaking at all). I figure that something like the big deadfall or even the bear deadfall would do it but I can't find anything on what bait (if any) they would go for. I put out a big deadfall with meat (pigs are omnivorous after all), but no luck with that.

I've managed to trap a couple just with pits... but for future reference has anyone ever baited a pig into a trap, and if so, what kind?

[Atwood]

I had excellent luck with trapping a herd of wild sows once (as described here: http://z3.invisionfree.com/UrW_forum/index.php?showtopic=8130), and in my case, interestingly enough, it appears the successful bait was a captured wild sow from their herd.

I had a trap fence already set up with all pit traps and the sows happened to show up a few tiles away from it, so I chased them toward the fence and ended up trapping one in a pit. The others all took off, leaving their pal behind, and I corralled her on the inside of my trap fence (opposite side from the sow herd) and left. A few hours later, the sows returned and every single one of them ended up stuck in my trap pits, apparently in their efforts to reach the corralled sow. None of the pits were baited as I recall. That was the only time pigs showed up anywhere near one of my traps, so I haven't got any information on trapping them beyond that - I've never bothered making traps specifically for pigs because they're easy enough to hunt down, seeming to tire quickly and have pretty weak senses, as you mention.

If you do happen to trap another wild sow, it might be worth your while to keep her alive in a little fence and place deadfalls or pit traps around the outside in case the others try to come back to her. I suspect this might work with reindeer herds as well if you caught one of the bigger ones that they tend to follow, but I've never had the situation arise myself to test it out. I've tried it with wolf packs (leaving the wolf in the trap, obviously, since fences don't hold them), but that didn't turn out very well for my character. It seems wolves are clever enough not to all blunder into the traps and instead hang around their injured fellow waiting for *you* to come back...

[PALU]

I haven't baited wild boar, but I'd try the standard baits, such as berries, turnips, and roots (and you can multi bait). While they're omnivores, I'm not sure if they are in UrW, but you can put a cut of meat on the bait pile as well, for good measure.

[spamgoose]

Wow that's a heck of a pig story Atwood. It makes a lot of sense though... that regrouping behaviour in pigs and reindeer is something that can be taken advantage of when hunting, but it never occurred to me that it could be used for trapping as well.

I think, when I get a chance, I'll combine both of your strategies and see the results. Trap and fence in a pig or two, and pile up some random stuff for them to eat. Then see if any of it gets eaten. Is it reasonable to assume that if animals will eat something that it will also bait a trap? I've frequently had foxes, ermines, etc. eat from rotten piles of things on my raft that I'd been saving for baiting, so I figured it'd work.

Thanks guys

[PALU]

Well, if they eat something they'll eat it, but my experience with spoiled goods is that the "pull" effect of the bait very rarely exceeds the "push" effect of the trap (I don't know if that can be completely negated by trap mastery). Trapped animals very rarely seem to eat spoiled stuff in the traps.

[spamgoose]

Well, if they eat something they'll eat it, but my experience with spoiled goods is that the "pull" effect of the bait very rarely exceeds the "push" effect of the trap (I don't know if that can be completely negated by trap mastery). Trapped animals very rarely seem to eat spoiled stuff in the traps.

It's a good point. Foxes always (I think) eat whatever spoiled thing I left in the trap. As a sort of experiment I left a pile of rotten (uncooked) meat and fish on a shore where I've seen foxes and ermines. Over a week or so it was all eaten and I frequently found them sitting on or around the pile. I also had lever traps and fox traps in the area also with spoiled meat and caught them way less frequently, so you're probably right about the "push" effect.

On the other hand, I catch about equal hares and birds in loop traps I set up in a cluster with berries (usually along a small fence.. superstition), even though the hares seem to have no interest in the berries (never eat them) but the birds do. There it seems the pull almost doesn't matter.

Perhaps, if I fence in a pig, I'll set a few kinds of traps in the fenced area with various baits and see what happens.

[PALU]

Try turnips or roots for hares...
If you have a line of snares hares will have to enter one of the traps to get past, and it seems the trap fence effect applies only to animals of a size that does not fit the traps.