Trapping

Crafting skill

Trapping is perhaps one of the best ways to get food, trapping basically means setting traps in random locations and waiting for an animal to stumble into them.

Summary of Trapping

Traps are very easy to set up, and can yield huge rewards. One of the most popular types of trap is the trap-fence, a long line of fences and trap pits, designed to force animals (usually herbivores like forest reindeer or elk) into the pits. Trap fences are set up as follows:

==O==O==O== where = is a fence or obstacle and O is a pit

Naturally, there is a lot of individual variation on the precise spacing of the trap pits. The most common trap pit used is the trap pit with sharp stakes, as it often kills whatever animal stumbles into it, which is advisable if something dangerous such as a bear or lynx has been caught. However, if you don't have the time (or don't want to check the traps every few days) it may be more useful to set a plain trap pit as they incapacitate, rather than kill. Since corpses are wiped from the map after a period of time, this will give you a greater margin of time to kill them, and also provides skill gain. You cruel, cruel player.

Traps can be baited with raw or cooked fish or meat. Predators are known to try to steal food from the player, and if food is placed on a trap, they will wander into it.

As of version 3.13, the game uses a much more realistic trapping simulation. The success of a trap is dependent on where and what kind of trap is used. If a trap does not catch anything for a month or so, it is highly unlikely that there are any animals nearby (or that the animals present are interested), and so the best course of action is to move them away or try new bait. Different animals now prefer different types of terrain; for example, bears favour caves. Beginning hunters may want to set simple deadfalls and snare traps, as they catch small game far more efficiently. It is also a good idea to set traps where you see small game; if you see a fox in the area it is probably a good idea to set some fox traps. The Favourable Trap ritual also helps to attract more game to your traps.

My favoured location is a lake amidst a sea of trees. Fences among 8 neighbouring sectors to complete sealing the lake, with maybe 3 trap pits each side, and some more fox traps beside the fence to catch fox. That will ensure 4 medium to big animals during the first month, after that the local animals are exhausted and the rate trickled down to near nothing until the next season. Still, that's enough food for one year.

Trap pit, also, in my experience is better than spiked trap. You will sometimes fall down your own pit, and it will only cause you bruises. Spiked traps can kill you. Second, trap pit will keep preys alive longer. Sometime you notice an animal in your pit but you have pressing business to be elsewhere for days (like a waiting pile of almost fresh meats need to be dried). A day or two in that pit wont be enough to lose you that carcass, something cant be said for spiked. And third, with a trapped animals you can kill them slowly to practice your skills: stand one step away from them if that's bear, or next to them for everything else, and slam your weapon class of choice on that target.
The trapping skill increases the chance that animals will fall into your traps. Having any traps will increase the spawn rate of that type of animal but the animal may evade your traps if your trapping skill is low. You can best train trapping by triggering the trap with 0 or 9 and then [Mtr] to reset the trap.

It is best to have traps of all different types because each one spawns different animals. Bears won't get stuck in loop snares because they are too small and hares won't get caught in bear traps because they are too big.

If you don't want animals eating meat out of your cellar you should put traps all around your cellar. There are 8 types of traps and 8 directions around the cellar.

Choosing bait

Often, this can be intuitive- for instance predators will take bait from one of their prey species, and berry-feeding birds will respond well to berries. However, large predators (bear, wolf, lynx...) are non-responsive to bait once it has been processed (roasting, smoking etc.). Birds reportedly do not eat bread (though this was in an old version and needs retesting). Below are the types of bait known to be consumed by an animal.

• Bear
  • All kinds of Fish
  • All kinds of raw meat
  • Carcasses
  • Berries
• Fox
  • Raw/uncooked meat
  • Bird and other small game carcasses
• Elk
  • Crops including peas, broad beans and peas
  • Lake reed roots
  • Berries
• Forest reindeer
  • Crops including peas, broad beans and peas
  • Lake reed roots
• Game Birds (willow grouse, black grouse, swan, ducks...:
  • Berries
  • Peas, grain and broad beans
• Hare
  • Turnips
  • Lake reed root
• Ravens and birds of prey
  • Raw fish and meat
  • Prepared fish and meat
  • Small game carcasses
• Seal
  • Do not seem to respond to any bait.
• Badger
  • Raw meat
  • Cooked meat
  • Grain and vegetable crops
  • Berries

The information given above is incomplete. To test a new bait, you can try putting different types of food in your traps and when an animal is caught, checking whether the animal ate the bait, or left it in the trap.

For example, if you put a bream in a bear trap and catch a bear, after you kill the bear, the bream will be gone because the bear ate it. So we know that bears like breams (and raw fish in general). If you put a milkweed root in the bear trap, after you kill the bear the milkweed root will still be there, so we know that bears don't eat milkweed roots.

Types of Traps

Below is a list and sublist of available traps in the game. They all have various functions and trap different types of animals based on size and diet.

• Trap pits - A large pit dug into the ground using a shovel. They generally trap larger prey, such as Lynx/Bears/Elk and even humans. They also do not hurt the prey when they are trapped.
• Spiked trap pits - Similar to the trap pit, however, this one has sharp spikes at the bottom to wound/injure/kill your prey.
• Light Lever Trap - Made from one stone, two branches and one slender trunk, mainly used for small birds and squirrels.
• Small Deadfall Trap - Made using a stone, two slender trunks, tying material and two branches. This trap is used to capture smaller furry animals, like badgers, gluttons, and foxes.
• Big Deadfall Trap - Made using eight slender trunks, ten stones, and one cord, this trap is designed for wolves and similarly sized animals.
• Heavy Deadfall Bear Trap - Made with three slender trunks, three tree trunks, and a cord, this trap is designed for bears, trapping them and usually breaking bones.
• "Käpälälauta"-fox trap - A trap made from a board designed to trap Foxes. Decent trading item as well. Useless without bait.
• Loop Snare - A simple sling made of cord or rope, set for catching hare and some birds.

Rituals

• Favourableness of the Trap - Makes animals more likely to go into your trap.
• Hunter's Request to Catch a Fox - Spawns a fox somewhere nearby.
• Oath of Iron - Makes an iron weapon stronger.
• Sacrifice For a Newly Killed Animal - Increases standing with the spirits.
• Setting Snares for Hares - Increasing luck at hare trapping.

URW Game Encyclopedia description

The official URW in-game encyclopedia (accessed by the F1 key) describes the trapping skill thusly:

Trapping is a skill that not only covers your ability to construct various traps, but also determines your success in setting said traps. Tracking is a useful skill that most trappers also learn, but it can only tell you whether or not there is any animal activity at that site. Actually catching the animal depends on your trapping skill.

Even the most perfect trap may fail to catch anything if set by an inexperienced trapper, for they will have overlooked important points such as clearing all traces of human scent from both the bait and the surrounding area. Badly set or badly made traps may even scare off certain animals, though an improperly set trap more commonly results in premature triggering or the trap not managing to catch the target animal, causing light or no injury at all.

The more complex the trap is, the higher skill will be needed to make a decent trap. With luck, clever trap placement, and by using simple traps (like loop snares and trap-pits) even the least experienced of trappers can expect a catch from time to time. A master trapper can draw in hungry predators from far away, lured into a perfectly concealed trap complemented by irresistible, seemingly harmless bait.

The official URW in-game encyclopedia (accessed by the F1 key) describes passive hunting thusly:

At its best, passive hunting is very effective and safe. While a hunter himself is sleeping at the comfort of his home, the traps wait for animals to come. In the morning the hunter goes to check all of his traps, and if he is lucky, he can get a lot of game in couple of hours. Of course he then has to spend time fixing and re-setting the traps, but it is nice and safe work compared to active hunting. Typically a hunter has a so-called trap-path, which is a regular route he can walk and check in the time of a one day. Along the trap-path there are different kinds of traps for different animals, and maybe a whole trap-fence. Smaller traps can be used in a more short-term manner, for example when travelling long distances, or when exploring new hunting-grounds.

See also

• Fishing
• Foraging
• Hunting
• Agriculture