hunting

Usually a group of hunters, armed with nets and weapons, will work together to hunt for game. After choosing what they consider to be the best place an ambush is set up whild a group of hunters breaks off to beat the bushes. The game is driven from cover to the nets gets entangled brought down by the spears and crossbows (hkli) of the men waiting there. Nearly all kinds of game were caught in this manner, from rabbits to elephants. Although pigs and deer are most commonly hunted in this way.

In addition to hunting, a number of traps are also used to catch animals. The spring trap ('wa hkaw') consists of a small bamboo spike that would be traggered when the animal passed through it. The box trap consists of a small box with door on either side, bait in the form of a smaller animal is tied inside, once the animal to be trapped is inside a string closes the doors. In addition to the two previous traps a third consists of digging a small hole in the ground, covering it and waiting for the creature to fall in.

Small animals, such as squirrels and rats, are killed by means of a heavy pole (tu), one end of which is propped up from the ground just inside a tight fence enclosing or partly enclosing a field. Lengths of large bamboo lead the rodents through holes in the fence, and as they emerge on the inside they have to push past a string, which releases the little prop under the log. Such traps are called ".

The Karen primarily hunt for food and once the animal is caught very little is left to waste with most of it being eaten in one form or another.