Crocodile Trapping ?

[swamp thang 16]

Hi all, this is my first post, so by way of introduction I decided to share some of my past trapping exploits in the tropical rainforest swamp that I visit often enought to call home. Having spent much of my life in sunny Southern California, I relocated a few years back to Africa where I run a catfish hatchery.

 

A couple of minutes down the hill from where I live there is a swamp forest that caught my imagination on my first exploratory visit. Back then I didn't even have a canoe, so my exploration consisted of slogging through undergrowth and mud, working my way to the flowing river which meandered under triple canopy forest. Seeing that river for the first time I knew right away it would be tough going without a boat. Not long after that I commissioned some local woodsmen to carve the first of several wooden dugout canoes, which I christened the U.S.S Atlantis.

 

I heard my first crocodile roar at dusk one day as I sat on the small wooden jetty that I constructed to moor my canoe, watching the floating reflections of fireflies on the water. Not knowing whether that bellow came from a harmless pygmy crocodile, or from a monstrous Nile croc, I knew I would need to trap some of those scaly critters to help me decide whether or not that swamp was a place to avoid. Bought that 1800's-era trapping woodwork book by A.R. Harding, and after some study, decided to try baited bamboo tunnels with a figure-4 spring snare at each opening. Constructing those bamboo huts and setting the traps took some getting used to, but before long I had a dozen or so of those cubby sets spaced at 100 yard intervals down the river's course. Road kill dog and goat meat was my choice of bait, and I soon discovered that the bait worked better if it was rotten and stinky.

 

The tropical rainy season was well under way when I bagged my first croc. The river water had turned muddy chocolate brown, and had spread beyond its dry-season banks to cover much of the surrounding forest floor, as I paddled downstream checking my sets as I went. A seriously bent over spring pole and evidence of an epic struggle told me right away that there was something large and angry at the end of the straining 7x7 snare cable pulled taut under the water. Took me the best part of two hours to finally drag a hissing 8-foot dwarf crocodile into view, and get its jaws tied shut. Trussed him up and paddled him back to the jetty, wondering as I went if he might get the idea of thrashing about to tip us both into the drink.

 

Over the next few years I snagged enough of those dwarf crocs to safely conclude that there are no bulky and cunning Nile crocs in my river forest. My scaly guests all reside in a facility I created in the back-yard, and have all grown considerably in size since the time I first made their acquaintance. I chose to keep them rather than release them because subsistence hunting for food is rampant here,and I wanted to be sure that my specimens, having lost all fear of humans, didn't wind up as croc stew in a less conservation-minded hunter or trapper's cooking pot.

 

Oops there I go, rambling again. If anyone is interested, I'll post some pictures of my reptilian house guests later.

 

Adios fer now.

 

Swamp Thang

Edited January 13, 2011 by swamp thang

[martyn2233 2,701]

nice write mate pictures would be good

[judge2010 196]

we use to get dwarf crocs in the garden when living in africa never bothered the dogs or the poultry though.

[swamp thang 16]

Thanks for the replies, fellas. Hey judge your riverside residence back in Africa sounds like an outdoorsman's dream. Being able watch dwarf crocs sun themselves in the garden is too cool. Back to the present. My computer skills leave much to be desired, so there was a fair bit of wailing and gnashing of teeth as I tried to post these pictures.

 

The dwarf crocs I caught with my spring pole baited cubby sets, but the more silvery colored Nile crocs I bought from a local fisherman back when they were cute little hatchlings. A few years on, and now those once cute and cuddly Nile hatchlings, though still only juveniles, have grown bigger than all the adult dwarf crocs, and from the one incident when I had to chase down an escapee Nile croc, I can confirm that the Nile crocs have lightning reflexes, compared to the more docile dwarf crocs, and are capable of snapping those jaws in a very impressive full-auto rapid-fire mode that I'd never seen before. With what I know now, I would never dream of tangling with an adult Nile croc, and I certainly won't ever take to the water anywhere Niles live.

 

Keep a few bush-buck in a large pen out back as well, but the pictures didn't come out very clear, as they tend to keep a distance even though most of them were born in captivity. To keep the gene pool refreshed, I still buy bushbuck fawns from hunters who would otherwise have fed them to their hunting dogs. Finally I thought there would be no harm in posting a picture or two of Igor The Magnificent, my monkey partner in crime, who checks all ID's at the door, and who likes to show off his inch-long canines whenever he feels he might not be getting his due respect.

 

Assuming I haven't bored y'all to death with these pictures, I'll try later and post pictures of a truly unique hand-made leg snare that pops out of the ground, and is designed with an igenious twisted cable spring mechanism that supplies the spring power needed to snap the snare shut. The sample I have was used to devastating effect on local bush-buck populations, by invading nomadic trappers from the desert north.

Edited January 13, 2011 by swamp thang

[swamp thang 16]

And of course, last but not the least, may I present Igor the Magnificent, a gentlemonkey of great character and distiction, who is the master of all he surveys.

[judge2010 196]

where you based i lived in ghana and south africa

[chimp 299]

you wouldnt want to fall in that pit in a hurry