Making a Primitive Gig

You may be accustomed to using a frog gig that you buy in a store, but could you make do without?  If you find yourself in a survival situation and that handy frog gig is nowhere in sight, do not fret, making a primitive gig, is something you can still make your own from materials in your environment.

Making a Primitive Gig

Gigs are great for catching frogs and animals in the water, but can also be used to trap small animals on land. Obviously, you would probably prefer to be using a fishing line and a bit of bait to catch fish and it would probably be easier, but in a survival situation you must make do with what you have. If the weather permits, a gig is a nice option to fishing with a line.

In this video, we show you how to make a gig. As you will see, this is a relatively simple tool to make and could very well mean the difference between eating and not eating. Most gigs you buy in the store have several barbs, but you can make do with just two. For added effectiveness,  cutting  barbs into the tips will help hold the animal once you get it speared.

One thing we have learned through experience, about making a primitive gig, is that a three-pronged barb seems to be very effective and is less cumbersome. You may feel otherwise and that is completely fine. In the video, you will see that the number of prongs may be determined by the wood you find depending on its width. You may also start out with the intention of making a four-prong gig, but through the splitting and sharpening process, you may just end up with two. That works, don’t stress over it.

Once you get the wood split, one to two times, you will need to sharpen your tips using a knife or hatchet. You can grab little pieces of wood that are lying around to act as wedges between the prongs. Remember, as with any skill, you will want to practice making gigs before you actually need one to survive.

When Craig Caudill is not making a gig, most likely you may find him testing gear for survival or writing about survival topics, you can read more of his articles here. He also teaches at his Nature Reliance School.

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