Snaring my way...
Aug 28, 2007 12:36:56 GMT -5
Post by ~ADC~ on Aug 28, 2007 12:36:56 GMT -5
I'll tell you about my traditional way of setting for coon/red fox. It is a live catch method that I have developed over the last 20 years or so and the set-up I used exclusively for the last 10+ seasons netting me many, many, snared coons. I get very little if any docking for any marks caused by the snares at my fur buyers. That said, they will on rare occasions chew at the snare on their body and cause enough damage to get docked but like I said rare like 1/100 or less. Anyway here's that method...
For coon and fox…
I use 48" of 7x7 3/32 cable, a mini cam-lock, a whammy (support collar), deer stop, and a 9 ga or 11 ga swivel at the end. This combination of lock and larger 3/32 cable leaves nearly no damage to the pelt. I use a piece of #9 wire for a support and a 24" long 1/2" washer top rebar stake. The way I set them for coons and fox is I put the snare on the stake with my #9 wire “pigtailed” and welded on the stake. I pound the stake in the ground right beside the trail. Then I make a 7-8" loop from the snare and push the whammy up to the lock then on to the #9 support. These whammys fit VERY tightly and that is key in getting the snares to fire closed quickly and not dragging down so you catch the animals nearest the neck as possible. I then lift the loop to 7-8" off the ground to avoid skunks, opossums and little coons. I place the loop directly over the center of the trail. I try to set where the trail is naturally narrowed down and I use very little if any blocking or guiding. I also prefer there to be nothing as far as entanglement but if there is a short log or rock or something they can reach after being caught they tend to concentrate on it and not on chewing the snare. If I find the snare knocked down the next day I raise it 2" cause 9 times out of 10 it is a extra large coon or fox and you'll most often have them the next day.
Also as soon as the coon is dispatched, I cut the snare off, then pull and stretch and rub the area of the fur where the snare was. This will greatly reduce the "snare marks".
As far as locations, I look for trails along hilltops, through dry culverts, and high on the creek banks. Coons in more open areas use landmarks a lot. If you see a lone tree, telephone pole, big fence post, etc... Always look for a trail past them.
Here’s the soon to be welded pigtail…
Here’s a video on how I build the snares...
This method is for live catch snaring, which is recommended in Iowa for fox and coon. Here's why...
It is very difficult to neck snare coons all your coons, though a loaded snare helps alot, due to their wide variety of body sizes and height. As for fox, due to the regulations stating that all snares must have deer stops that won't allow the loops to close smaller than 2 1/2" in diameter, you can't kill fox with the snares because that big of a loop won't dispatch them unless you limit your sets to locations where they will tangle up themselves.
Speaking of that... My second method is a killpole method. Now at the time I made this original post, it was still in the experimental stages* but I had very high hopes for it. I left it in this post for those who would like to try it in their area. The method was developed by a man who knows his snaring and told it to me. He said if I follow these next procedures exactly I'll get the desired result (neck snared, dead raccoons and fox) here goes...
The poles are made of 1/2 rebar 4' long. The support wire is #9 and the cross piece is 3" of 3/8 smooth rod. (1/2" nut on top) Here is how the poles are set up...
As you see the #9 is way shorter than most killpoles and the cross piece of 3/8 is one of the key aspects. It is there to serve as the point they will be hanging from.
The snare is another key piece to the set-up. It must be a very fast loaded snare with a very aggressive lock that will not relax.
The loop is 6-7" wide and will be set 7-9" off the surface of the trail to the bottom of the loop. Common school of thought is you need a much smaller loop to get neck catches on coon, but with the extreme "loading" of these snares, they snap shut so fast you can get away with the bigger loops.
Now coyotes are a whole different story. You can use the same type pigtail supports but you should go with 30" long 1/2" rebar stakes and set the snares for coyotes in good solid entanglement as you are trying to dispatch the coyotes ASAP with the snares. You can also just up-size your killpoles to 5/8 rebar 5' long and they will work well for you too. I use 4-5' snares for the coyotes with an 11" wide loop 12-14" off the ground. I also don't use a swivel in my coyote snares but the same mini cam-lock.
To prepare the snares to be set I like the Formula 1 it is fast and easy when you have a bunch of snares to do. I also like painting them with a LIGHT coat of camo paint. If you coil them together and spray each side with different colors of camo, when you un-coil them they blend in so well I can hardly find them. But the spray paint is too expensive when you have 1000 snares to do so if I have a lot to do I use the F1.
I used to do the boiling in baking soda thing but I never liked the chalky feel or the resulting look of the snares. It also makes them stiffer by removing the lubricating oils from the inner strands of cable. Without this oil, the first time the snares see any moisture or high humidity the cable begins to corrode/rust as well from the inside, out. This is often very gradual, and if your snares are used and connect the first year-two after you boil them it will not be so big a deal... HOWEVER after a couple years in Iowa's climate the cable becomes stiffer and weaker. I've had snares get so bad that if you'd bend a kink in the cable by hand, the strands actually break (not all them but some). So I say if you have a few to do, use camo spray paint and if you have a bunch to do use the F1. I use the brown F1.
*The raccoon killpoles did not live up to all I had hoped. They did work flawlessly on the coons I was able to neck snare but due to the huge variation in the size of the coons here, I found it next to impossible to neck snare better than about 80% of the coons without limiting myself to a smaller loop that had me missing fox.
~ADC~
For coon and fox…
I use 48" of 7x7 3/32 cable, a mini cam-lock, a whammy (support collar), deer stop, and a 9 ga or 11 ga swivel at the end. This combination of lock and larger 3/32 cable leaves nearly no damage to the pelt. I use a piece of #9 wire for a support and a 24" long 1/2" washer top rebar stake. The way I set them for coons and fox is I put the snare on the stake with my #9 wire “pigtailed” and welded on the stake. I pound the stake in the ground right beside the trail. Then I make a 7-8" loop from the snare and push the whammy up to the lock then on to the #9 support. These whammys fit VERY tightly and that is key in getting the snares to fire closed quickly and not dragging down so you catch the animals nearest the neck as possible. I then lift the loop to 7-8" off the ground to avoid skunks, opossums and little coons. I place the loop directly over the center of the trail. I try to set where the trail is naturally narrowed down and I use very little if any blocking or guiding. I also prefer there to be nothing as far as entanglement but if there is a short log or rock or something they can reach after being caught they tend to concentrate on it and not on chewing the snare. If I find the snare knocked down the next day I raise it 2" cause 9 times out of 10 it is a extra large coon or fox and you'll most often have them the next day.
Also as soon as the coon is dispatched, I cut the snare off, then pull and stretch and rub the area of the fur where the snare was. This will greatly reduce the "snare marks".
As far as locations, I look for trails along hilltops, through dry culverts, and high on the creek banks. Coons in more open areas use landmarks a lot. If you see a lone tree, telephone pole, big fence post, etc... Always look for a trail past them.
Here’s the soon to be welded pigtail…
Here’s a video on how I build the snares...
This method is for live catch snaring, which is recommended in Iowa for fox and coon. Here's why...
It is very difficult to neck snare coons all your coons, though a loaded snare helps alot, due to their wide variety of body sizes and height. As for fox, due to the regulations stating that all snares must have deer stops that won't allow the loops to close smaller than 2 1/2" in diameter, you can't kill fox with the snares because that big of a loop won't dispatch them unless you limit your sets to locations where they will tangle up themselves.
Speaking of that... My second method is a killpole method. Now at the time I made this original post, it was still in the experimental stages* but I had very high hopes for it. I left it in this post for those who would like to try it in their area. The method was developed by a man who knows his snaring and told it to me. He said if I follow these next procedures exactly I'll get the desired result (neck snared, dead raccoons and fox) here goes...
The poles are made of 1/2 rebar 4' long. The support wire is #9 and the cross piece is 3" of 3/8 smooth rod. (1/2" nut on top) Here is how the poles are set up...
As you see the #9 is way shorter than most killpoles and the cross piece of 3/8 is one of the key aspects. It is there to serve as the point they will be hanging from.
The snare is another key piece to the set-up. It must be a very fast loaded snare with a very aggressive lock that will not relax.
The loop is 6-7" wide and will be set 7-9" off the surface of the trail to the bottom of the loop. Common school of thought is you need a much smaller loop to get neck catches on coon, but with the extreme "loading" of these snares, they snap shut so fast you can get away with the bigger loops.
Now coyotes are a whole different story. You can use the same type pigtail supports but you should go with 30" long 1/2" rebar stakes and set the snares for coyotes in good solid entanglement as you are trying to dispatch the coyotes ASAP with the snares. You can also just up-size your killpoles to 5/8 rebar 5' long and they will work well for you too. I use 4-5' snares for the coyotes with an 11" wide loop 12-14" off the ground. I also don't use a swivel in my coyote snares but the same mini cam-lock.
To prepare the snares to be set I like the Formula 1 it is fast and easy when you have a bunch of snares to do. I also like painting them with a LIGHT coat of camo paint. If you coil them together and spray each side with different colors of camo, when you un-coil them they blend in so well I can hardly find them. But the spray paint is too expensive when you have 1000 snares to do so if I have a lot to do I use the F1.
I used to do the boiling in baking soda thing but I never liked the chalky feel or the resulting look of the snares. It also makes them stiffer by removing the lubricating oils from the inner strands of cable. Without this oil, the first time the snares see any moisture or high humidity the cable begins to corrode/rust as well from the inside, out. This is often very gradual, and if your snares are used and connect the first year-two after you boil them it will not be so big a deal... HOWEVER after a couple years in Iowa's climate the cable becomes stiffer and weaker. I've had snares get so bad that if you'd bend a kink in the cable by hand, the strands actually break (not all them but some). So I say if you have a few to do, use camo spray paint and if you have a bunch to do use the F1. I use the brown F1.
*The raccoon killpoles did not live up to all I had hoped. They did work flawlessly on the coons I was able to neck snare but due to the huge variation in the size of the coons here, I found it next to impossible to neck snare better than about 80% of the coons without limiting myself to a smaller loop that had me missing fox.
~ADC~