I was never any good at traps. They always seemed like too much effort, and when you are the trap maker the trap seems so obvious you wonder how any one or anything could fall for it. The closest I ever got to performing a trap gambit was in tag. I hated running, and wasn't very good at it. So when playing tag I resorted to all sorts of trickery. I really thought it out. I would stay away from it as much as possible. Sometimes I would run in a herd with the other kids and hope they became it. Sometimes I would feign being completely uninterested in the game. Of course none of this was fool proof. Tag is the ultimate basic hunter prey game and all of it has been tired in nature at some point or another and other kids are quite canny themselves. Reflecting on this when I realized it, I took a page out of the Venus Flytrap's play book (it's easy, they have only one play) and when tagged "it" would sit down on the ground and wait. Eventually, the other kids would come in reach an I would tag them. If I missed I would remain seated, holding the flow of the game hostage until I could get someone which would happen or the game would be called off. I am not proud. But it often worked.
There are Christian Mystics who say God is like this. We go chasing after him begging to see and meet him, but what we really have to do is slow down, be still and wait, and God comes and finds us and says "Tag you're it."
Sorry that was quite a leap. Did your mind just explode? I hope so but I am not holding my breath.
In many ways this strip sets the basic character for all three characters: dad's passing interest and skepticism, Calvin's indomitable optimism and arrogance, and Hobbes' humility that still gets him in trouble. It is interesting to reflect on which one we are. The answer is usually a bit of all three, and soon we will find that the trapper and trapped become inseparable friends which is how so many great relationships start.
