This will be a continuing topic

What if you got caught in a bear trap in the middle of know ware. Yes i know this is a topic that everyone has on there mind...but what if. Say your hunting in the woods and some trapper forgot his good old #12 bear trap and SNAP there it is your leg is stuck.
To make matters worse its going to snow there is no hope of rescue because ya didnt tell anyone that you were going. Your vehicle is 1 mile away and its a good 3 hrs to the hospital.

Thats the scenario here are your tools
You have enough water and food to last 3 days
Pocket knife
Game bags
The usual survival stuff

What to do, what to do, now before you start building a plane out of duct tape mcgiever
This is were I'm going,
1 could you cut your leg off to survive?
2 would you miss it???
3 do you think you have the mental toughness that it would take to do it?
4 would you give up and let the dingos eat you? and why?

Just trying to see what kind of sissy we have out there.

As for me, i believe in my mind that i could do it, it would be very emotional as i have become attached to it.

I'd have to lay there for 3 days tryin to get out before I had the strength to cut it off but pretty sure I'd do it.

yea it would take some time to talk myself into the fact that there was no other way but then i also think i could take a limb to live the other thing is how long would it take to cut it off with passing out from the pain and shock (cut pass out wake up and repeat) now that sounds fun

Ok.....Here we go. First I would take 2 game bags, roll them lengthwise and tie them into loops. then i would take these loops and slide them over the ends on the trap springs. using a stick for leverage, I would twist the loops, compressing the springs enough to open the jaws. If the bags started to rip/tear, I would stop and pee on them. Wet fabric is stronger than dry fabric. Then retry.

If that didn't work, I would try to undo the anchor for the trap

If that didn't work, I would train squirrels to go for help.

If that didn't work, I would tie my belt around my leg just above my knee. Then I would try to break my leg ( is the trap didn't already do it for me) then cut the flesh and meat to get free. THIS WOULD SUCK BADLY!!! Then take my bloody stump, and cauterize the artery with my harbor freight commando knife, wrap the bloody appendage in a game bag and cover my stump with another game bag. Crawl back to jeep and turn on CB, start driving slowly back to civil if poss

I understand the point of this exercise which is do you have the intestinal fortitude to chop and cut Civil War style, on yourself, for the purpose of survival. I honestly don't think I would. I am a glass is half full type of guy. My mind would hold out for the hope that I would be found or that I could find a way out of the mess if I keep myself calm, don't panic and prioritize. For me the risk of injuring myself beyond what the trap already did and needing to go three miles with that injury is a compounding risk that I don't think I would be willing to take. Bear, Cat and Wolf are out there, can smell the blood and would likely investigate at some point with that distance to cover while prone. If I were in a decent spot I would try and shelter myself as much as possible, get as comfortable as possible and start to calculate my options based on the resources I have. Like J-Bone said I would try and work the trap loose from it's anchor. I got opposable thumbs that I can use for more than just the clean and jerk.

Johnny and jimmy will rot and smell like almonds before rescue is possible.
I'm just trying to see at what point would you do this....after 3,4 days when your unable to take care of your self?? I'm all for sit and wait for help but my point is this, at what point do you decide to take responsibility for your own rescue? This does not mean that i will lop off any protruding appendage at the first sign of trouble but what if no help came, and you are now to weak to survive. i know that you can use mechanical advantage on these types of things that's not the intent of this question, could you perform outrageous thing to help gain the upper hand in a survival situation?

No I could not cut off anything. I'd shoot myself.

I was not trying to throw this thread off track. I get exactally what you are driving at. I honestly have to say that I have not been tested that far and can't speak to exactally what I would do in that kind of situation for real. Hypotheticals being what they are I don't think I would be able to saw off my leg in this case. I don't know where that threshold would be for me. Maybe I'm flying alone over the mountains, the engine conks and down I go. Wadded up in the crash and my foot is trapped. 100 octane LL Fuel leaking and there is a small fire around the motor. My priority to make a move would go way up. The lesser of two evils comes into play and it would be more evil to burn to death than to lose a foot or leg. I guess for me there would have to be imminent danger of a severe death type of situation before I would make the amputation move. It's daylight and I see a cat in the brush on the other side of the park just waiting for nightfall. My priority to gain mobility goes way up. I fucked up and went in the woods alone and did not tell anyone where I was going and when I would be back. My priority to make the move would be high on the list.

What if you got your shmeckel caught. Would you be quicker about lopping off a leg or Mr. wanky?

ultimatley yes it could come off, you could reduce pain before cutting, reduce blood loss etc. the hard part is the breaking of the bones or cuttin the Seth-Joint apart, however with lack of energy, water this would be a last ditch effort thing. You would have to make sure it was the last thing to do. You have lots of tools with you to handle a trap, protect yourself and alert others so I would go that route first. Now Jonny's situation is alot different due to fire and imediate danger/death.