Aragorn the Ranger

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by TheGreatElvenWarrior

But I do not think that he would set up traps, I don't know much about traps, but wouldn't it hurt the animals if Aragorn trapped them? And I don't think Aragorn would purposely hurt some poor animal and leave them there for a while until he came back to check on it. With the way that Aragorn travels, it might be quite a long time before he got back to that spot again.

Of course whenever you hunt, you have to stop for a while or at least tell the hobbits: "Go this way and wait for me at the bridge while I look around for some food." You can very well lay traps in the evening when you camp, and check them in the morning. Of course one does not lay traps along the way through Ettenmoors, go to Rivendell and after a week or two go back the same way and "collect" the caught animals!

But I also don't think Aragorn would use traps. Certainly not any mechanical traps, that's Orc-work. Simple snare using a rope could be possible to imagine, though from the text, I would think of "simple" hunt:

I have some skill as a hunter at need. (...) But gathering and catching food is long and weary work (...)

Catching food - do you think he would use this term if he laid traps? On the other hand, concerning the bow, I am not inclined to believe that he had one because there is not a single mention of it. I believe that sometimes, he surely carried a bow with him during his journeys in the Wilderness, but sometimes, and also this time, he did not. "Why" would be another question.

[Lindale]

With all the "noble" and "high" stuff about Aragorn and the Dunedain, I still think it's impractical for them not to bring little bows for hunting, especially if their quests include watching borders, and in Aragorn's case, catching Gollum. Those kinds of tasks, well, they are done in the wild, and in the wild, you can't really just bring barrels of salted meat or other preserves, you have got to know how to hunt.

Did Faramir and Co., upon meeting Frodo and Sam, really use bows to ambush the other Men, the men under Sauron? If they did, I think it's safe to assume that their kinsmen in the North also used bows, although not mainly for war.

[MatthewM]

Originally Posted by Lindale

Did Faramir and Co., upon meeting Frodo and Sam, really use bows to ambush the other Men, the men under Sauron? If they did, I think it's safe to assume that their kinsmen in the North also used bows, although not mainly for war.

Nice point. I can't see why they wouldn't have.