How To Make A Gig For Hunting

This article will explain how to make a gig for hunting small animals. A gig is a tool that you can easily make to help you hunt and kill small animals such as fish or frogs or other small game for food, or to eliminate pests. Small animals will be more important in a survival / SHTF situation than large animals such as deer, which will quickly be brought to the edge of extinction.

Here is what you will need to make this simple tool/weapon, a sapling which is about wrist diameter at its base. It will need to be fairly straight and it should maintain a stiff strong diameter (about 1 inch) for at least five feet. Length is important and I actually prefer a 6 to 7 foot long cut sapling. The longer shaft will allow you to maintain a safe distance from dangerous animals, such as venomous snakes and still maintain a grasp on the gig.

You will also need a cutting tool. This can be anything from a knife to a rock with an edge. Obviously a sharp knife is preferred. However, shit happens and you may not have one available. Cordage will also be needed. Again this can be modern string or small diameter rope or DIY cordage made from naturally available materials such as vines, grass, etc.!

Choosing a sapling species is important. Which species you make your gig out of will greatly determine how long it lasts and how stiff the shaft is. Harder and denser species tend to be better for a gig than softer species. Keep in mind a sapling in an open field that gets lots of light will be lighter and less dense than the same species that is growing in the middle of a dense forest.

Now that you have selected you sapling, trim the small branches and knobs off. This can be done at any time but it is easy to trim the branches while it is still standing. Once the gig shaft has been cleared cut the sapling off at the base and remove the top of the sapling where it gets too small.

With your knife and a hammer or rock split the bigger end of the sapling in two. The cut should go about 8 inches. Be careful that the cut stays true and doesn't curve to the outside of the sapling. Each half of the split needs to be about the same size the entire way down.

Next, split each one of those halves in half as well so that you end up with 4 quarters all roughly the same size.

Whittle the bark off of these for quarters aka prongs.

Now you will need two pencil sized pieces of wood, that are about 3 inches long each. Wedge open the splits and force the wood dowels in the splits crossways. This will hold the splits open and separated. Force it down far into the cuts. Do this again with the second dowel but through the other slit so that all four quarters of the sapling are forced apart and not allowed to spring back together.

Sharpen each quarter to a sharp point. Sharper more tapered points work best but they also wear out and break more frequently that broadly tapered points.

Tie the dowels to the shaft with your cordage. (How to make cordage)

The last step is to cut the dowels down so that they are almost flush with the shaft.

Boom, there you have it, a great tool for hunting down your lunch. Snakes, small mammals, fish, crawfish, frogs and many others are now all fair game.