Watch: DIY Dragon Mouse Trap From 1590

Mice and rats can wreak havoc on stored food, as well as stored seed and grain. This is nothing new; mankind has been fighting them off for as long as we’ve been gathering and storing food. And this is some proof of that; an odd old mouse trap reproduced using plans from a 1590 book on traps.

Dubbed the “dragon mouse trap with a great wire,” this is one mean-looking machine.

The man who makes the videos has a perfect testing ground in his barn; like most barns, it has no shortage of rodents.

The first visitor is a huge rate, which dwarfs the good-sized trap. It foils the machine by reaching over the striker rather than going under it. But when a mouse came along, it definitely did the job.

It’s nice to know that in the absence of mass-manufacturing machinery, we can still make mouse traps to protect our supplies.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.