The Wiesel-Wippbrettfalle (weasel seesaw trap).

A very simple but effective trap for stoat and weasel.
It is mostly placed in culverts and plough furrows.

It needs a mesh or similar on the closed side to allow air and light through the trap.
stoats and weasels do not like to enter the trap if the end ist completely closed.
In areas where they are not allowed to catch weasels you can drill a weasel sized hole into the lid to let them escape.

I have found an English language version video of how to make ths trap:




You can also built them out of round plastic pipes:

I like that pipe version. Have not seen that before. This trap also works well on mink

They have added a gauge for the seesaw-slat, fitting for a 110 mm PVC-Pipe:
https://www.pirsch.de/sites/pirsch.de/files/2019-08/Wippbrett-Schablone.pdf
You have to magnify it for printing until the 5 cm meassurement on the gauge is correct.
It is too big for European A4. So you might have to print it an A3 oder on 2 pages A4 and glue it together.

One could scale the gauge for any pipe diameter by enlargiing it until the width fits the pipe.


There is also a large scale version of this trap, called Berners Brett (Berner's board).



It was designed by predator control specialist Thomas Berner.
He wanted a trap that can be installed in existing culverts.
The axis of his seesaw has adjustable screws an both ends for fitting it excactely to the diameter of the culvert.
Than you block one end of the culvert and simply push the board into the other end like shown in the video.

Here some pictures of his desgin:
https://wildundhund.de/berners-bre-t-t-e-i-n-neues-fangsystem/

For longer culverts he uses a plug that is put into the pipe from the same end as the board.
Attached to the plug is a pice of steel cable.
With the cable you can pull out the plug which doubles as a pusher to force the caught animal into the dispatching cage.

Manfred, what is the purpose of the string on the large seesaw mechanism? Also, is he using a door hinge as the seesaw locking mechanism?

The string (cable) is for retrieving the plug, if you use a plug in a long tube (or if you can access only one end of the tube).
He attaches the cable to the seesaw so the animal can not push the plug further into the pipe.

The plug is made of a wooden disk with a stripe of sheet metal nailt around its circumference.


The door hinge is for locking the seesaw in the upper position.

And the axle of the seesaw has two screws (red) to adjust the width for a perfect fit into the pipe.

Found a picture with the optional plug for long pipes.
Sorry for the quality. It was a very small picture in a pdf file.



Source: https://wildundhund.de/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/old_docs/21_08.pdf

Very interesting thread.

Thank you for the information.

The Kofferfalle (suitcase trap) can be scaled to any size.
The trigger in most cases is a seesaw mechanism.

The lower part is dug into the soil down some mm of board.

As it has 3 open sides, it is more likely to catch an adult red fox compared to a box trap.

A video from the 1990s demonstrating traditional branch sings.



The cartoon at the beginning of the video shows a hunter who spends too much time around his trap, trampling the gras and leaving his odor, scaring away the martens.

2:00 Wartebruch: Two crossed branches are a waiting and meeting point sign. Wait here. / Meet me here.
2:06: Warten aufgegeben: The side branches of the Wartebruch are removed, indicating the other hunter was there but gave up waiting.
2:08: Warnbruch: A warning sign, indicating a trap oder damaged raised blind or other danger nearby
2:15: A branch used as a trigger indicator for a box trap.
2:52: Same for a spring trap in a bunker. The string needs to be longer due to the fast movement of the indicator wenn the trap closes.
Both indicators can be checked from afar with binoculars.