How do you setup traps for larger game (pigs, bears)?

[grinning_serpent]

Youtube is kind of a crapshoot and the wiki doesn't seem to have all the information I'm looking for, and a forum search didn't return any obvious guides or how-to's. I've learned that bears can climb 3 blocks high when one invited itself into my hut one day, and it seems like pigs can *reach* up to 3 blocks high when angry, because I've been hit while lurking at the top of a 3-high pit (pig was at the bottom and jumping up), but can't actually climb that high. That would suggest a 4-high pit is necessary for safety, but a spear certainly can't reach that far.

I've seen that bears can't fit into 1-block gaps, but I don't know how far their reach is.

Ideally, I can dig an appropriate pit early in the game and wait for mobs to passively trap themselves by walking in, or maybe by baiting them in via jumping across the pit and then they'll be hanging out there and I can deal with them at my leisure. Throwing spears takes a *lot* of spears if there's more than one or two mobs in the pit, so ideally we're trying to setup something where I can just poke the mobs to death from safety.

Is fire an option? I've come across dead animals after burning a prairie out of my way, so clearly fire can and will kill animals, but I'm not aware of any way of setting a fire in a pit from a distance. Would be it possible to place a log or logs in the pit and rely on burning dry grass around the lip of the pit to ignite the logs? I've seen fire travel up (such as an open flame igniting a wood/log roof that isn't sufficiently far away), but haven't yet seen it travel down.

[Dilan Rona]

Easiest is actually pit traps. 3x3, 4 blocks deep. Just make sure to mark it on the map for the persistent wolves and bears hot on that fuzzy tail of yours when running away. Server I am on, I actually had to dig an animal run couple hundred blocks long from large pit traps to where I had large animal enclosures. That animal run caught more wildlife than any of my pit traps ever did, and was so effective I wasn't able to breed any of my own animals, and eventually closed it down for good.

[Michael Gates]

Most animals need a 2-block-deep pit to hold them; bears and most goats and deer require a 4-block-deep pit. This change is why soil is now usually 4 blocks deep, btw.

If you 're annoying wolves, pigs, or goats to get them to chase you, you'll want 3x5 pits; they'll usually just run around a 3x3 and then you have to play a few verses of "Pop Goes the Weasel." Very bothersome.

[Vratislav]

Everything was said right about the mechanics. I usually dig pit traps in early game, so I minimize.

For pigs or wolfs, I go only 2 deep 2x3 hole, with 3 blocks perependicular to the assumed animal direction. Also I build a pillar 3 blocks high aside to locate the trap from distance. It is not difficult to lure pigs and volves into 2x3 wide hole on 1-2 attempts, if there is more wolves, then wider hole (like Dilan's 3x5) is better of course. Sometimes, I just build 2-3 small holes in the area with wolves, ant just let them fall there, it usually happens in several days (at least it worked till about 1.20, maybe it changed, as I did not this particular thing recently). - I also usually make 2 deep 2x3 holes nearby my field, that chatches hare or pigs lured by vegetables. If I catch baby goats, then I use fence to fix them there. 

Bears of course require 4 deep hole (I do usually 4x4x4), and I make 1-wide entrance to have possibility to escape if I fall there too. 

[Dilan Rona]

6 minutes ago, Vratislav said:

1-wide entrance to have possibility to escape if I fall there too.

i used ladders. 2 blocks above the ground. but your idea is faster to escape

[grinning_serpent]

4 hours ago, Dilan Rona said:

Easiest is actually pit traps. 3x3, 4 blocks deep. Just make sure to mark it on the map for the persistent wolves and bears hot on that fuzzy tail of yours when running away. Server I am on, I actually had to dig an animal run couple hundred blocks long from large pit traps to where I had large animal enclosures. That animal run caught more wildlife than any of my pit traps ever did, and was so effective I wasn't able to breed any of my own animals, and eventually closed it down for good.

Yeah, but how do you actually kill them once they're stuck? Spears have a ~2.5 block reach, right?

I'm mostly looking for something that will passively "catch" animals as they wander around. One world had a deep pit spawn naturally that ended up having several pigs, raccoons, and a couple of deer running around in it constantly. I wasn't able to properly weaponize it and it was difficult to layer in more dirt (mostly by placing it on the side of the pit and letting it fall down) without giving the critters an escape route.

I'm looking for something that will passively catch critters as they wander around, and maybe can be used to lure or chase them into it in a pinch, and that I can then sit at the top of or maybe hang from a ladder to poke them to death with a spear, unless it's possible to somehow use fire or some other indirect means to kill them more efficiently.

Smothering doesn't seem possible. Dropping blocks on top of them does damage them, but they're also automatically pushed up on top of the new block. Otherwise I'd think about making 1x1 pits 3-deep or 4-deep and just dropping sand on them.

Edited Friday at 08:32 AM by grinning_serpent

[Dilan Rona]

For the most part, yes. spears. But since they are in a pit trap, i dont kill them immediately, and its guaranteed meat when i cant find any redmeat, or especially during winter.

[Vratislav]

54 minutes ago, grinning_serpent said:

Yeah, but how do you actually kill them once they're stuck? Spears have a ~2.5 block reach, right?

In my usual 2 blocks deep pits, spears do the job. For the bear pit, I have that 1 block wide entrance, that easily allows to stab the bear by stone spears until his death. 

[grinning_serpent]

2 hours ago, Vratislav said:

In my usual 2 blocks deep pits, spears do the job. For the bear pit, I have that 1 block wide entrance, that easily allows to stab the bear by stone spears until his death. 

You're only going 2 blocks deep even for pigs and deer? They can leap out of a 2-deep pit can't they?

2-deep is enough for bushmeat critters, for sure.

[Dilan Rona]

pigs no. deer, possible to yes. Mouflon and bighorn is a very big yes.

[Vratislav]

1 hour ago, grinning_serpent said:

You're only going 2 blocks deep even for pigs and deer?

Just for pigs and wolfs. I usualy do not make pits for large pelt animals.

[HalfAxd]

13 hours ago, grinning_serpent said:

Is fire an option?

I agree with most of the replies related to pit traps.  I use them as longer trenches with poles on each end as guides for running game into them.

As for fire...  hee hee hee...  I use it all the time to provide food and more importantly clear sight lines.  There can be a performance hit, but I generally leave the immediate area or go to sleep in a safe place.

Burn baby burn   

[Zaph42nd]

13 hours ago, grinning_serpent said:

Is fire an option? I've come across dead animals after burning a prairie out of my way, so clearly fire can and will kill animals, but I'm not aware of any way of setting a fire in a pit from a distance. Would be it possible to place a log or logs in the pit and rely on burning dry grass around the lip of the pit to ignite the logs? I've seen fire travel up (such as an open flame igniting a wood/log roof that isn't sufficiently far away), but haven't yet seen it travel down

Yes but would have the consequence of potentially causing a forest fire and maintaining a fire-trap is a pain (fire travels to the next available burnable block within close proximity), plus damage over time isn't nearly as efficient as trapping + spearing down predators.... I will say controlled burns are good at clearing out an area to build but fire spreads quickly if you don't pay too much attention (and for your own sanity, don't set a fire near peat-blocks, you'll be struggling to put that fire out). Pit-traps wise, I find them ok for boars and deer, but for bears I prefer hunting them (just maybe more satisfying? for me) once I get better equipment and I get to winter

[Teh Pizza Lady]

49 minutes ago, Zaph42nd said:

I will say controlled burns are good at clearing out an area to build but fire spreads quickly if you don't pay too much attention

I've noticed it seems to spread faster in hotter weather. Idk if this is a feature or a coincidence, but I struggled to burn out a prairie in a temperate climate, but as soon as I switched to a hotter climate start, the grass fire got pretty hard to control very fast. I had to use creative mode to stop this grass fire...

 

So uh... yeah, just be careful when doing this and make sure to have a fire extinguisher on hand.

[availableAvangarda]

On 10/2/2026 at 6:37 PM, Teh Pizza Lady said:

I've noticed it seems to spread faster in hotter weather. Idk if this is a feature or a coincidence, but I struggled to burn out a prairie in a temperate climate, but as soon as I switched to a hotter climate start, the grass fire got pretty hard to control very fast. I had to use creative mode to stop this grass fire...

 

So uh... yeah, just be careful when doing this and make sure to have a fire extinguisher on hand.

I have two words for controlled fire

STONE WALLS

Fire doesn't spread over stone walls (haven't checked other stone options)

[Dilan Rona]

what a waste of perfectly good firewood. Its a good thing there wasnt a patch of peat in the area though...

[HalfAxd]

9 hours ago, Dilan Rona said:

what a waste of perfectly good firewood. Its a good thing there wasnt a patch of peat in the area though...

There is always more of each.    

The world is your oyster.  LOL

Enjoy

[DeanF]

Dig a one-block wide stair down to the bottom of the pit.  Bears and wolves are >1 block wide, so you can sit outide their reach and stab them with a spear.