Trapping pit

Trapping pits are deep pits dug into the ground, or built from stone, in order to trap animals. European rock drawings and cave paintings reveal that the elk and moose have been hunted since the stone age using trapping pits. In Northern Scandinavia one can still find remains of trapping pits used for hunting elk, reindeer, wolves and bears. These pits, which can measure up to 4 by 7 metres (13 ft × 23 ft) in plan and be up to several metres deep, were camouflaged with branches and leaves. They had steep sides lined with planks, making it impossible for the animal to escape once it had fallen in. When the animal had fallen into the pit, it would be killed, either bled to death by sharpened sticks pointed upwards from the bottom of the pit, or in the case of pits without these sticks, dispatched by hunters waiting nearby. Some traps had a small rope allowing rodents and amphibians to escape.