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Snare traps

JamesRKJamesRK Member Posts: 25,670 ✭✭✭
edited May 2009 in General Discussion
Has anybody ever caught anything in a snare trap? Or know anyone who has?

Setting a snare trap is kind of like buying a lottery ticket. You could win, but it ain't gonna happen. [:D]

I saw part of a TV show last night, didn't get the name of it, about nine people they turned loose in Alaska with a map and they have to travel from one place to another with nothing to eat except what they can find. It was sort of like that Alaska survival series they had last year.

These folks set their snare traps just like they were shown in "survival school" and went back to them actually expecting to find their supper.
The road to hell is paved with COMPROMISE.
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Comments

  • fishkiller41fishkiller41 Member Posts: 50,608
    edited November -1
    It IS the same show, from last year. I have cought cottontails in them years ago. They seem to work best in the snow and in the briar patches that are really thick. That's how i set mine, anyhow.I used piano wire and just put it around the rabbit hole in the briars.I cought every one i ever got, around the neck.
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  • hrbiehrbie Member Posts: 521 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Still use them to catch beaver. Made out of air craft cable.
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  • tomahawktomahawk Member Posts: 11,826
    edited November -1
    only a couple times on a dry trap set on a rabbit run under a barbwire fence, best if you use a e-string off a guitar so it will cut immediately when the loop or noose is pulled tight...not my favorite though if you want to eat

    get a couple steel jaw traps , or a seine stretched on the ground and tied by threading a piece of nylon chord in and out of the squares in a circle about 3' in diameter to a bent sapling and use a figure 4 trigger baited with peanut butter. set it so that when it is tripped it will gather up the animal and fling it against a tree.this will usually break their neck,and peanut butter or apples seem to work the best[;)][8D]
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  • agloreaglore Member Posts: 6,012
    edited November -1
    Rabbits, Wolves, Fox and Lynx
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  • WarbirdsWarbirds Member Posts: 16,904 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    When I was a survival instructor, we typically told students to expect less than a 10% success rate with traps and snares. In other words, they better not be your only game plan if you are hungry.
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  • agloreaglore Member Posts: 6,012
    edited November -1
    Snares have to be set up on known travel routes or the animal has to be forced into the snare by funneling it in that direction. Unlike leghold traps where you can set up a bait. Years and years ago Wolf trappers in SE Alaska would setup shark hooks with chunks of meat on them, hang them just high enough off the ground so the Wolf would have to jump up to grap the chunk of meat and at the same time hopefully get the hook impaled in one of their jaws.
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  • JamesRKJamesRK Member Posts: 25,670 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I've had pretty good luck with what we used to call "rabbit gums". It's a triggered box trap made out of slabs or boards or whatever wood is handy. Never did have any luck with a snare.

    It was a little surprising that the little old lady from Tennessee who was supposed to be the hunter couldn't find a squirrel and the fishing guide couldn't find a fish.
    The road to hell is paved with COMPROMISE.
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  • dcon12dcon12 Member Posts: 32,003 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I know of someone who uses homemade snares to catch gators. Works real good. Don
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  • TxsTxs Member Posts: 17,809 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by JamesRKSetting a snare trap is kind of like buying a lottery ticket. You could win, but it ain't gonna happen. [:D]Success depends upon skill in selecting where to set a snare. Besides choosing an area where sign is present, tree limbs, rocks, etc. can be arranged to channel an animal's path into a blind set.

    The crap shoot is what you'll nail.
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  • JamesRKJamesRK Member Posts: 25,670 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Txs
    The crap shoot is what you'll nail.
    I guess if you're starving to death you could eat a skunk. [:D]
    The road to hell is paved with COMPROMISE.
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  • MMOMEQ-55MMOMEQ-55 Member Posts: 13,134
    edited November -1
    Taught Jungle Survival in the Philippines back in 1975 to LtJg and Lt pilots. We taught the art of using snares and the trick is to set them up in a location that has traffic. Also bait works better than a bare trap. Look for things such as foot prints, droppings ect. If you just set up a snare you will not catch anything. It is the location that puts the odds in your favor. But with all traps, it is like a crap shoot. You never know what you are going to roll.
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  • chollagardenschollagardens Member Posts: 4,614 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Yes I have set snares and had success but I used a mini ram and snare. I'm not sure snares and/or rams are legal in all states.
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  • crash2usafcrash2usaf Member Posts: 4,094
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Txs
    quote:Originally posted by JamesRKSetting a snare trap is kind of like buying a lottery ticket. You could win, but it ain't gonna happen. [:D]Success depends upon skill in selecting where to set a snare. Besides choosing an area where sign is present, tree limbs, rocks, etc. can be arranged to channel an animal's path into a blind set.

    The crap shoot is what you'll nail.



    Yes location location location... If you set a branch leaning up on a tree in an area where squirrels frequent they will climb up that branch and "explore" Set several snares on that with enough slack for them to fall off and not be able to get back up... Also volume, snares are effective, reusable, and easy enough to fashion. Whats nice about them is they hunt for you 24/7.. We caught five squirrels in 2 days @ survival school using the pole method and lining that with 15 or so traps... However we were the only group to catch any as far as I know... More traps the better, and like was stated before, funneling or restricting paths is the key to any success.
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  • KodiakkKodiakk Member Posts: 5,582
    edited November -1
    I've never tried to use a regular snare. My only experience is with the lead type of snare.

    This summer though I'll be taking my kids out for a ton of hiking and survival skills. We'll probally give them a try as long as there are no laws agianst it.
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  • quickmajikquickmajik Member Posts: 15,576 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The trick too snare traps is high volume of traps and tracking craft. You look for small game trails under fences, through bramble patches, and over creek banks. You can catch stuff regularly with them, but most likely its going to be domestic animals these days.. I have had two of my dogs killed in other peoples snares.

    I never have used them for anything except nightly placement when out in the woods away from farms and houses. You are right, when you use them like that it is like winning the loto. very rarely do you catch anything.
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  • A J ChristA J Christ Member Posts: 7,534 ✭
    edited November -1
    My uncle showed me how to use snares when I was about 10 or so.

    If properly employed, success rate can be as good as 50%.

    Had someone put a bunch of them out on my land about 15 years ago. He didn't do a bad job of putting them out but he didn't ask me first. Still have about 20 of them. Good for animals up to the size of *.

    Rough way to end life, caught in a snare. Check them daily if you use them.
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  • Survivalist86Survivalist86 Member Posts: 3,105 ✭
    edited November -1
    I carry a snare with me everywhere I go. It is hidden in plain sight.

    225.jpg
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  • owen219owen219 Member Posts: 3,799
    edited November -1
    Used e-wire on Charlie in VN. It works, especially at night, cuts em deep before they can get their hands on it. They bleed out fast. They move at night on trails. Silent too.
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  • Horney toadHorney toad Member Posts: 1,769 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by JamesRK
    Has anybody ever caught anything in a snare trap? Or know anyone who has?

    Setting a snare trap is kind of like buying a lottery ticket. You could win, but it ain't gonna happen. [:D]

    I saw part of a TV show last night, didn't get the name of it, about nine people they turned loose in Alaska with a map and they have to travel from one place to another with nothing to eat except what they can find. It was sort of like that Alaska survival series they had last year.

    These folks set their snare traps just like they were shown in "survival school" and went back to them actually expecting to find their supper.


    I saw that, those folks were having a rough time. All non-outdoorsmen who couldn't hunt or fish.
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  • RosieRosie Member Posts: 14,525 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Someone post a picture of some small animal snares for my grand son please.
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  • agloreaglore Member Posts: 6,012
    edited November -1
    A-Snare-Picture.jpg


    This is a commercial version. I make my own using piano type wire.
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  • Tom Lee ATom Lee A Member Posts: 264 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    We used wire snares provided by the Game and Fish folks to get rid of beavers. We were fighting the beavers and even used dynamite to get rid of their dams. They would rebuild them within 48 hours. If I remember correctly, we killed 5-6 within a week. The good thing about it was they didn't come back.
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  • Warpig883Warpig883 Member Posts: 6,459
    edited November -1
    We snare beaver, mink, raccoon, coyote, fox.

    Neighbor buys 1000 foot spools of cable and make snares.

    Can make 10-20 snares for the price of a steel trap (depending on the trap). Don't hurt much when a $1 snare gets stolen but a $20 trap getting stolen hurts. Plus snares are lighter to carry, quicker to set up, easier to maintain, store, ect.

    Can cover a ton of ground with a 1000 snares. Try the same with steel traps and it will take 10 times as long and much more work.
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  • n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427 ✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by aglore
    Snares have to be set up on known travel routes or the animal has to be forced into the snare by funneling it in that direction. Unlike leghold traps where you can set up a bait. Years and years ago Wolf trappers in SE Alaska would setup shark hooks with chunks of meat on them, hang them just high enough off the ground so the Wolf would have to jump up to grap the chunk of meat and at the same time hopefully get the hook impaled in one of their jaws.


    We used both techniques when trapping game...funneling and baiting. It worked very well.

    I have trapped using leg traps considerably...and it is very effective. I have little experience with snares.
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  • Survivalist86Survivalist86 Member Posts: 3,105 ✭
    edited November -1
    Kind of dumb, but I use fishing line and a long piece of bamboo to snare lizards.
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