climbed into a tree and rested, finally, which brought him “new confidence and almost a feeling of security.” Even though he is confident for the first time, and he thinks that “only the devil” could follow such a trail, General Zaroff might just be the devil. When he finds him, Rainsford holds his breath. The fact that Zaroff can do this is very unsettling to Rainsford.

His first thought made him feel sick and numb. The general could follow a trail through the woods at night; he could follow an extremely difficult trail; he must have uncanny powers; only by the merest chance had the Cossack failed to see his quarry.

Zaroff saw something, because he stopped and smiled near Rainsford. The thought of General Zaroff smiling sends chills down Rainsford’s spine. He realizes that the hunter is toying with him. His evasion did not work. Zaroff found him, and let him go. He is enjoying the game, like a cat with a mouse. Knowing the ”full meaning of terror,” Rainsford realizes he has to do better if he is going to survive. He also can’t lose his nerve.

Rainsford does up his game, with the intricate “Malay mancatcher” trap. Unfortunately, Zaroff figures it out. It does wound the general though, and buy Rainsford some time.

But [Zaroff] was not quite quick enough; the dead tree, delicately adjusted to rest on the cut living one, crashed down and struck the general a glancing blow on the shoulder as it fell; but for his alertness, he must have been smashed beneath it.

Zaroff congratulates Rainsford on this trap, telling him that he might have been caught if he had not seen it before. He goes to get his wound dressed.

Rainsford keeps moving, and after almost sinking into quicksand, makes his next move. He digs a pit with stakes on the bottom. It earns him another day’s rest.

"You've done well, Rainsford," the voice of the general called. "Your Burmese tiger pit has claimed one of my best dogs. Again you score. I think, Mr. Rainsford, Ill see what you can do against my whole pack. I'm going home for a rest now. Thank you for a most amusing evening."

Zaroff is enjoying the game, but the game is also getting harder. Each time Rainsford proves that he can do something clever, Zaroff ups his game, too. The tiger pit was a great success, but the pack of dogs terrifies him.

Rainsford tries to finally take Zaroff out after he sets an entire pack of dogs on him. He uses his hunting knife and a “springy young sapling” to accomplish this. The problem is that the knife lands in the wrong person.

His pursuers had stopped. But the hope that was in Rainsford's brain when he climbed died, for he saw in the shallow valley that General Zaroff was still on his feet. But Ivan was not. The knife, driven by the recoil of the springing tree, had not wholly failed.

At this point, Rainsford has whittled away at Zaroff. He has lost his best dog, and his giant mute bodyguard. All along the way, Rainsford has also been getting more and more wild. His nerves are wearing thin. He responds by making the final move—swimming. Rainsford makes his way into Zaroff’s chateau, confronts him, and reminds him that he is still the “beast at bay.”

Zaroff wanted competition, and he definitely got it in Rainsford. Rainsford had to fight for his life during this hunt. Unfortunately, although he started out ready to stand up for his principles, by the end of the story, Zaroff has transformed him into an animal, reduced to his baser animal instincts.  

One of the reasons Zaroff feels that Rainsford is a worthy opponent is because Rainsford has traveled around the world and hunted in every country. He is considered an expert on the subject of hunting.  The knowledge he gained on these trips helps him to fight Zaroff.  Zaroff also has traveled extensively in his pursuit of exciting game. His knowledge will also be tested.  Zaroff is now hunting an animal that can reason and has knowledge of how he hunts.

First, Rainsford builds a Malay mancatcher.  Rainsford made it from a huge dead tree that was leaning on a smaller, living one.  When Zaroff‘s foot touches one of the smaller boughs, he recognizes the trap.  He jumps back quickly just as the large dead tree comes crashing down.  It injures his shoulder, but he is still alive and still willing to hunt. He yells to Rainsford,

“Not many men know how to make a Malay mancatcher.  Luckily for me I, too, have hunted in Malacca.  You are proving interesting, Mr. Rainsford.” (pg 8)

Having failed with that technique, Rainsford heads further into the island only to end up in the swamp. Zaroff warned him about at this end of the island.  His foot gets caught in the quicksand, but he is able to extricate it.  He backs up about a dozen feet from the quicksand and begins to dig a Burmese tiger pit.  When the hole he is digging is above his shoulders, he climbs out.  He places pointed stakes in the bottom with the points sticking up.  Then he weaves a cover for the pit of weeds and branches so that it can not be seen.  When Zaroff comes in pursuit, Rainsford hides. The technique works. Rainsford hears a horrible scream.  He thinks he has killed the general, but he has only killed one of the general’s best hunting dogs.  Now Zaroff says,

“Again you score, I think, Mr. Rainsford, I’ll see what you can do against the whole pack…..Thank you for a most amusing evening.”(pg 9)

Rainsford now heads away from the swamp.  He is going to try a trick he learned in Uganda.  He found a young, supple tree and fastened his hunting knife to it with the blade pointing down the trail.  He tied the tree back so that it would spring forward when tripped.  He then runs away as quickly as possible.  He can hear the baying of the hounds as they search for him.  Suddenly, the baying stops.  Rainsford, again, thinks he has killed Zaroff, but, to his surprise, Zaroff is still standing.  The trick killed Ivan.  This time Zaroff continues the hunt.

My copy of the story comes off the internet. Therefore, my pages may not coincide with your story, but they should be close. 

Initially, Rainsford runs in circles through the forest in an attempt to confuse General Zaroff as he searches for his trail. Rainsford then climbs up a tree and spends the night in the branches hoping to avoid the general. However, Rainsford is horrified to discover that General Zaroff has easily followed his false trails and is keeping him alive for another day of hunting. Rainsford then climbs down the tree and creates a Malay mancatcher by balancing a huge dead tree and attaching it to a trigger, which almost kills the general. When the general leaves to repair his wounded shoulder, Rainsford creates a Burmese tiger pit by digging a deep ditch, placing sharpened spikes at the bottom of the pit, and covering the pit to conceal the spikes. Fortunately for Rainsford, one of Zaroff's best dogs dies after falling into the Burmese tiger pit. Rainsford then recalls a trap he learned from Uganda and fashions his hunting knife to a young, springy sapling, which he holds back using a wild grapevine before jumping into the ocean and swimming to Zaroff's chateau. The trap Rainsford created ends up killing Ivan, and Rainsford survives his three days on Ship-Trap Island.

When Rainsford finds out that General Zaroff is actually hunting humans instead of animals, Rainsford is disgusted.  He calls him a murderer.  Moreover, Rainsford says that he wishes to get off the island right away.  In this way, he tries to avoid him altogether.  Here is the dialogue:

"General," said Rainsford firmly, "I wish to leave this island at once."

There are two main ways in which Rainsford the protagonist from Richard Connell's short story "The Most Dangerous Game") uses his knowledge of hunting to escape General Zaroff.

First, Rainsford has extensive knowledge of traps and ways to avoid capture. Rainsford uses his knowledge of the The Fox Hunt, The Maylay Mancatcher, a  Burmese Tiger pit, and the Uganda Knife Trick to evade capture by Zaroff.

The second way Rainsford uses his knowledge of hunting to avoid capture by Zaroff is by using Zaroff's own ideology against him. Zaroff no longer finds any "thrill left in tigers." Hunting for Zaroff (prior to his new prey) offered "no real danger" and Zaroff live[s] for danger." Zaroff decided to hunt man because man is the only creature which can reason. For Zaroff, his prey "must have courage, cunning, and, above all, it must be able to reason."

Therefore, Zaroff's desire to find a prey which could reason (man) ends up being the one thing Rainsford possesses which saves his life. Rainsford's ability to reason is the greatest skill he possesses. It is through his ability to reason that Rainsford is able to escape and defeat Zaroff.

Rainsford first gives Zaroff an intricate, convoluted trail to follow, "recalling all the lore of the fox hunt, and all the dodges of the fox".  Then, "taking care to leave not the slightest mark", he climbs high up into a tree, and stretches out on a limb for some much-needed rest.  Although Zaroff approaches the tree but does not actually discover him, Rainsford gets the feeling that his enemy knows where he is, and realizes that he will have to take much more desperate measures to survive.

Rainsford then makes a "Malay mancatcher" by balancing a dead tree on a living one, with the dead tree set to fall upon a rigged trigger being touched.  Zaroff is injured in this trap, but not enough to have to cease his hunt; as he goes to dress his wound, he congratulates Rainsford on his ingenuity.

Rainsford next proceeds to dig a "Burmese tiger pit", which is lined at the bottom with deadly pointed stakes sticking up.  One of Zaroffs dogs is killed in this contraption, but Zaroff himself is spared.

Desperate, Rainsford then tries "a native trick which he learned in Uganda, in which he fastens his knife to a sapling in such a way that it will be catapulted into the air when triggered.  Although Ivan is killed by the weapon, Zaroff again emerges unscathed.

Rainsford finally leaps off a cliff into the sea and his apparent death, but he manages to swim back to Zaroff's residence, where he surprises his adversary and kills him.

Because of his background, including his tenure as a soldier in World War I and his experience as a big game hunter, Rainsford proves to be something of an elusive and crafty prey for the sociopathic hunter General Zaroff. When Rainsford is initially released from Zaroff's chateau, equipped only with some food and a hunting knife, he runs blindly into the jungle, admitting that he was not "entirely clear-headed." Once he regains his senses he realizes that "straight flight was futile" and that he must cut a circuitous and therefore untraceable trail through the woods. Rainsford is sadly disappointed when the general follows his trail to the last broken branch and stands under the tree which Rainsford has chosen as a hiding place. The general stops and even smokes a cigarette. Rainsford quickly realizes that Zaroff knew very well exactly where Rainsford was hiding but wanted to prolong the hunt. Rainsford thinks, "The general was playing with him! The general was saving him for another day's sport! The Cossack was the cat; he was the mouse."

Rainsford understands that Zaroff is even more cunning then he had first thought and so, in his flight, he devises three booby traps which are intended to maim or kill the general. First, not far from the tree where he first hid, Rainsford finds two trees "precariously" balanced on each other and here he devises a "Malay man-catcher" which is intended to be triggered by a footfall. When Zaroff gets to the trap he is instantly suspicious and just as he sets the trigger he leaps away and the branch grazes his shoulder. Only slightly wounded, the general is much impressed with Rainsford's trick:

"Rainsford," called the general, "if you are within sound of my voice, as I suppose you are, let me congratulate you. Not many men know how to make a Malay man-catcher. Luckily for me I, too, have hunted in Malacca. You are proving interesting, Mr. Rainsford. I am going now to have my wound dressed; it's only a slight one. But I shall be back. I shall be back." 

Desperately trying to escape from Zaroff and his hounds, Rainsford decided to try a few of the tricks he had learned from his travels around the world. First, Rainsford

... executed a series of intricate loops; he doubled on his trail again and again, recalling all the lore of the fox hunt, the dodges of the fox.

He climbed a tree to rest, and when he awoke, he found that Zaroff had tracked him right to the tree. When he saw Zaroff smile, he knew that the Cossack was merely toying with him,

"... saving him for another day's sport. The Cossack was the cat; he was the mouse."

Rainsford's first trap was a Malay mancatcher, in which one tree served as a trigger to cause a second tree to crash from above. But Zaroff sensed it, and he was only slightly injured. Next, Rainsford dug a Burmese tiger pit, with sharpened stakes at the bottom of a hidden pit. It only claimed one of Zaroff's dogs. Finally, he used

"... a native trick he had learned in Uganda..."

and attached his knife to a sapling, tying it down with grapevine. This trick worked, killing Ivan, but still Zaroff came on.

Above all, Rainsford keeps reminding himself that

"I must keep my nerve... I must keep my nerve."

He first decided to put as much "distance between himself and General Zaroff," but he soon realized that "straight flight was futile"; he would only reach the water, creating another boundary he could not evade. He then decided to create a deliberate false trail, by which he

... executed a series of intricate loops; he doubled on his trail again and again, recalling all the lore of the fox hunt, and all the dodges of the fox.

Rainsford hoped that this would buy him enough time to rest and possibly sleep. But Zaroff soon discovered the tree in which Rainsford was hiding, but he allowed his human prey to remain so he could hunt him again the following day.

Next, Rainsford set the first of his traps, constructing a Malay mancatcher, in which a dead tree rested upon a live one that had been cut in half by Rainsford. The trap injured Zaroff, but he soon returned to hunt Rainsford again. When Rainsford encountered the quicksand of the Death Swamp, it gave him another idea. He had soon fashioned a Burmese tiger pit, with spiked points upraised at the bottom, and a camouflaged cover on the top. Zaroff avoided the pit, but one of his dogs was killed. Desperately running out of time and space, Rainsford now used his only weapon, his knife, to fashion yet another trap. He attached the knife to a sapling which was triggered by another. This trap also proved deadly--but to Ivan, not Zaroff. Rainsford struck out again, and when he encountered the open sea, he decided to plunge from the cliffs into the water rather than face Zaroff and his dogs.

Rainsford does indeed set all three of the traps you mention in Richard Connell's short story, "The Most Dangerous Game." The Malay Man Catcher is apparently not a real trap but only a term invented by Connell for his story. Rainsford constructed the trap from two small trees:

His foot touched the protruding bough that was the trigger. Even as he touched it, the general sensed his danger and leaped back with the agility of an ape. But he was not quite quick enough; the dead tree, delicately adjusted to rest on the cut living one, crashed down and struck the general a glancing blow on the shoulder as it fell; but for his alertness, he must have been smashed beneath it.

The Burmese tiger pit is another Connell invention, though it may have some historical precedent under a different name. (Didn't I see this in the old Tarzan movies?) A hole is dug about four feet deep; sharpened poles are then embedded in the earth and placed with the sharp end up. The hole is then covered and camouflaged with the intent of surprising the victim who unknowingly walks upon the covering.

"...the pit grew deeper; when it was above his shoulders, he climbed out and from some hard saplings cut stakes and sharpened them to a fine point. These stakes he planted in the bottom of the pit with the points sticking up. With flying fingers he wove a rough carpet of weeds and branches and with it he covered the mouth of the pit. Then, wet with sweat and aching with tiredness, he crouched behind the stump of a lightning-charred tree.

The final trap, with his knife attached to a small tree, was tied to the ground. Another hair trigger was designed to trip the  trap when stepped upon.

He thought of a native trick he had learned in Uganda. He slid down the tree. He caught hold of a springy young sapling and to it he fastened his hunting knife, with the blade pointing down the trail; with a bit of wild grapevine he tied back the sapling. Then he ran for his life. The hounds raised their voices as they hit the fresh scent. Rainsford knew now how an animal at bay feels.

It is a testament to the enduring popularity of Connell's story that these traps are now best known for their appearance in "The Most Dangerous Game."

In order to elude Zaroff and his henchman, Ivan, Rainsford used several tricks.  The first trick he used was to create a trail that would be difficult to follow; the trail looped and doubled back on itself.  Rainsford also slept and hid from Zaroff in a large tree.  In addition, Rainsford built a trap from a dead tree (Ivan was injured), dug another trap in the swamp, created a third trap by tying his knife to a sapling, jumped into the ocean, and returned to Zaroff's home to wait for him.Rainsford played Zaroff's game intelligently and ultimately won.

"The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell is set on an almost-deserted island in the Caribbean, and the only house on the island belongs to General Zaroff. He is a world-class hunter who has grown bored with all the animals he has hunted; now he has moved to a new prey--humans.

Until now he has been hunting the random shipwreck victims which he has tricked into crashing into the rocks surrounding the island. When Sanger Rainsford arrives and introduces himself, Zaroff is thrilled because he knows who Rainsford is and is anticipating a true challenge.

Rainsford, of course, does not want to participating in Zaroff's "game," but he is forced to play or be killed. He has three days to elude Zaroff, and he starts on day one with a simple but effective (he hopes) hunting technique.

"I'll give him a trail to follow," muttered Rainsford, and he struck off from the rude path he had been following into the trackless wilderness. He executed a series of intricate loops; he doubled on his trail again and again, recalling all the lore of the fox hunt, and all the dodges of the fox. Night found him leg-weary, with hands and face lashed by the branches, on a thickly wooded ridge. 

Rainsford's first attempt at eluding Zaroff is making a complicated (and he hopes untrack-able) trail.

Rainsford creates a Burmese tiger pit to elude Zaroff.

Rainsford is a skilled hunter who has written books on the subject, so he is definitely in General Zaroff’s league.  However, Zaroff has given himself an advantage in every way.  Rainsford therefore has to outwit him in order to have a chance.

In order to do this, Rainsford uses every trick he has.  One example is when he creates a trap, hoping Zaroff will fall in.  The General is impressed.

"Your Burmese tiger pit has claimed one of my best dogs. Again you score. I think, Mr. Rainsford, I’ll see what you can do against my whole pack. I'm going home for a rest now. Thank you for a most amusing evening."

A Burmese tiger pit is created by digging a hole and sticking sharpened sticks in it, and then covering it with a carpet of branches.  The hope is that the enemy or prey will fall in and be impaled on the spears.  Rainsford wanted to trap Zaroff, but instead he only caught a dog.  Still, Zaroff was impressed enough that he left Rainsford for the day.

The incident is hard for Rainsford because he realizes that Zaroff is toying with him, trying to drag out the fun for as long as possible. This makes it more difficult for Rainsford in some ways, but also gives him more motivation to try harder to survive.

Because Rainsford is an experienced hunter, he uses knowledge of trap making and stalking prey to trey to avoid Zaroff's pursuit. 

One of the first manuevers he makes is to double over his path to avoid being easily tracked. He does not simply run in a straight line, allowing Zaroff to follow and predict his next move. However, this trick is not all that useful.

Rainsford also uses the natural materials available in order to make a snare for to injure Zaroff. Again, Zaroff recognizes the trap before it is useful for Rainsford, but Zaroff is impressed.

Finally, a useful trick that does work is in the end when Rainsford is chased to the rocky edge of the island, he leaps towards the ocean and seemingly his death. Zaroff gives up in his pursuit, but we find that Rainsford was able to survive when he shows up behind Zaroff's curtain in his bedroom.