DIY Noise Traps That Actually Work (With Pictures)

If you have owned chickens, quail, goats, or even rabbits for any amount of time, you know the value of a secure perimeter. While prepping can often focus on dealing with two legged threats, DIY noise traps can save your entire food supply!

That said, there could come a time when knowing people with bad intentions are also arriving on your property. A coy fox can take a load of chickens away to the den but 3 men with rifles can ruin your entire life in an SHTF scenario.

Understanding how to DIY your own noise traps means that you can set up a safe and secure perimeter that will alert you to the arrival of trouble.

Amazing Kevlar Trip Wire Sets

These dirt-cheap trip wire sets are basically modelled off of small fishing reels. They even have a drag. The cordage on them is Kevlar so the whole device will break long before the wire itself does. They have many yards of line on each spool.

If you are truly considering integrating trip wires into your arsenal these would be a great purchase and one that I have made for my own personal and home security purposes.

Rocks or Glass Trip Wire

Wash out two tin cans and punch two holes in each. The holes should be across from one another. I used a drill bit for this, but you could use an awl if you didn’t have a drill.

Fill the cans up with rocks or broken glass. These are going to shake inside the can when the trip wire is hit and make a lot of noise to alert you to someone’s presence.

Tie your wire to a tree that is part of your perimeter and run that same wire or fishing line through the cans.

Then tie the other end of the cordage to another tree on the perimeter.

I also move the cans close to one side to keep them out of plain sight of whoever might be stalking your property.

This is one of the simplest noise traps to create and should be in the repertoire of all preppers and survivalists.

You might even have some canned food in your bug out bag to build this project from.

When I made this, I was inspired by our grandparents, who relied on clever, simple devices to protect their food and property.

These tactics are still used today by people living off-grid, such as the well-known couple Ron and Johanna Melchiore.

In their book The Self-Sufficient Backyard, you’ll discover how they managed to protect and sustain their property on their own for more than 40 years.

You’ll also learn:

• How to build smokehouses
• How to construct root cellars
• How to make your own solar heaters

And here’s the kicker: you’ll also receive a FREE bonus book, DIY Projects from the 1900s—packed with old-school traps for wild game, fireboxes, and defensive tricks that have stood the test of time for over a century.

Blank Striker

These clever little devices use a pin trigger to set off a primer. This bang is gonna be much louder than something like the rocks in cans. You use a .22 round that has the bullet and the gun powder removed for safety.

All you want is the bang from the primer.

I used electrical tape to attach the device to the tree. This made it plenty snug to deal with the tension of a trip wire pulling the pictured pin.

This is portion of the trap screws off and you set the round primer up in here before screwing it back on and BEFORE YOU SET THE TRAP. While there is no bullet in the device the heat of the primer explosion could hurt you if you are not careful.

Do not set the trap until you have it taped to the tree, or you have the safety pin, not pictured here, engaged.

I attached the Kevlar trip wire to the pin trigger of the trap and then wrapped it around another tree on the property’s perimeter. I also hid the spool of Kevlar cordage under leaves and sticks to make it less conspicuous.

The trip wire should not be too tight. It will pull the easily as someone walks through them, even it if is a little loose.

Here is a shot of the trap armed and ready to scare the life out of any intruder who comes too close.

I highly recommend you to check out No Grid Projects. It includes blueprints for hidden razor-blade wire, camouflaged spike traps, and tripwire alarms that wake you before an intruder makes it to your door.

You can get your physical copy from here for only $37 + shipping costs. If you go for the digital version only, you avoid the shipping cost. But trust me, the physical one is 100% worth it!

Tangle Foot

Tangle foot is the type of trap where the person who is stuck in it will make all the noise you need.

To explain Tangle Foot, you need to think of a trip wire. Then think of another right in front of it, and another, and another so that a whole stretch of woods is just impossible to traverse easily.

It’s the perimeter of your home covered in a web of 80lb test filament. No fun, and if you hit it moving fast you are going to fall over.

I started with this big roll of 80lb test fishing line. Then began wrapping around small trees.

I moved from one tree to the next and then back again. Criss cross and tangle up the line but make sure that it is tight.

After you do this between 6 or so trees you are going to create a field of trip wires that not only could be a pain in the neck but will make intruders wonder if any of them are also attached to other traps.

👉 Want to go further? The Home Defense Academy shows you how to build three simple but devastating backyard looter traps—including this one that gives porch pirates a taste of instant revenge.

A Plan After the Noise

What happens when an alarm starts blaring? If one of your noise traps is tripped, you need to know exactly what the next steps are.

Otherwise, you are just hoping the noise itself is enough to deter the threat.

A small kit can make a world of difference for this. It has been called a BUMP IN THE NIGHT kit or simply a BUMP kit.

• A cross body with a firearm
• A hostler with a handgun and reload.
• A chest rig kit that is built for TEOTWAWKI

Including a quality IFAK as part of your kit is nonnegotiable when you are going to explore a tripped perimeter alarm. Whether you run into a bear on a camping trip or a group of marauders in a SHTF situation, that IFAK could be the difference between life and death.

These are all lessons that I’ve learned from Joel Lambert. Truth is, traps or no traps, you will always need tactics that actually keep you alive.

A Navy SEAL’s Bug-In Guide teaches you how to clear your home room-to-room, the most common security mistakes to avoid, and how to make your house look too dangerous to even approach. These are the same techniques SEALs use to stay alive in hostile territory.

Let Me Tell You One More Thing…

I recommend always keeping solid sources of information close at hand. Books are priceless—you can store them right at home and crack them open whenever you need to remember how to pull off a specific project.

But let’s face it—some of the best info today exists only online. So what happens when SHTF and the internet goes down for good? That’s where the Prepper Disk comes in. This small but powerful device lets you download and store entire libraries of knowledge—everything from Wikipedia to NIH medical resources, world maps, and more.

That means you’ll still have access to it all—instantly—even without the grid. Check out the full details here!

Final Thoughts on DIY Noise Traps

Prepping is all about staying ahead. We want to know the signs of an EMP long before the masses realize there has been an EMP. We are taking action now to be prepared for chaos later.

The early warning is kind of our thing.

These DIY noise traps can give you that real time warning. I would encourage you to explore some of the perimeter alarm tech that is out there, too. There are a lot of ways you can outfit your property, driveway, and home with similar traps.

Some can trip in utter silence to those approaching, giving them a false sense of security. Your phone is alerted to a perimeter breach and suddenly you hold the element of surprise.

No one can defend territory better than American soldiers. It’s hard to replicate their methods, but you can at least take inspiration from what our troops do when it comes to obtaining water in the most arid battlefronts on Earth. The Water Freedom System gives you access to ultra-secret military technologies for extracting water from thin air. Find out what it involves and how you can create your very own portable water power hub!

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