Your opinion for snares.

for me snares are a last resort for getting food .. they are not the most humane way to get food , and where I am / where I go , food isnt that much of an issue to get really .

Interesting thing to consider with snares , in an emergency situation where obeying hunting and game rules and regs is not high on the agenda ... snares can be used to get big game .. they are used to poach Rhino in Africa ... Ive seen them get pigs and goats here in australia tho how legal it was for that to be done I do nt want to think about , I never thought that would have been doable , especially goats ..... think outside the square , but seriously if youre not looking at starving dont go snaring stuff that you can get by either more humane or more legal methods
 
I'm weak with snares. All I can do are the standard wire hoop set up for rabbits. Works though.
 
45 lbs/24" test fishing leaders, there really cheap, they take up very little room in my kit and I dont have to screw around buying and then making them out of wire.
 
Modern snares made from commercially available snare cable and locks. Because they are the best tool available for snaring. Two sizes, one for small game like squirrel/rabbit/muskrat, another for everything else.

If I could only have one size:

5/64 7x7 cable with cam locks and an adjustable loop end. 6 foot 5/64 7x7 extension cables to go with it with one fixed loop end and one adjustable loop end. Would handle anything from groundhog/raccoon sized animals up to larger game.

A 1000 foot spool of cable, a good set of cable cutters, several hundred snare locks, double ferrules, and stops, plus a good hammer or swage tool to crimp combined with snare know how = food for a long time.

Follow the laws in your state.
 
Ive used my son's broken metal guitar strings[not the wrapped ones] to make some for my BOB but have never used them except to practice setting them up. If they snap at the top there is a little hole thing on the bottom end that works well for a slider. I also have a couple of modded rat traps in my there that I would probably go to first in a food gathering situation.--KV
 
It always interests me how folks will make every effort to build the perfect kit with all the best, proven gear and then use floral wire, guitar strings, picture wire, etc... for their emergency snares. Real, pre made cable snares with working locks weigh little more than junk wire and they are 1000 times better...and they are easy and cheap to make.

Cheap wire snares can be made from just about any wire or cordage and that is good to know but I would only use that stuff if nothing else was available. You can probably get by with thin wire on squirrels but good luck with consistantly holding larger game. Nothing is more frustrating then walking up to a catch circle that has held an animal and the animal is gone..

I can only think that if folks would actually get out and use snares (as allowed by law) they would begin to understand what will and what will not hold an animal. Putting snare wire in your kit but never practicing the skill is not good. Just like those pocket fishing kits and firesteels, these skills need to be developed so you are ready when you need them most. Practicing setting up snares with no catch is like casting but never landing a fish.

If you get good with legal snare methods using modern snares, you will have the knowledge to get along fine if you have to use lesser materials latter. Catch what is legal and get good at it and you would have no trouble "altering" the methods to easily take other animals in a survival situation. So many people seem to start out with the wrong equipment and then you hear statements like "snares are not very productive" and "only as a last resort" .....Let me tell you snares are very very productive and may be the very best tool to put meat on the table. Been that way for thousands of years and will always be.

If you expect hunting to provide you with food in a shtf situation, go out and hunt now. Same with trapping, snaring, fishing, etc..
 
Sam Hell said:
If shtf..."humane ways of capturing food" will be non existant.
Click to expand...

the question I responded to was what do I use my snares for and why

that they are one of the crueler ways to kill animals has a big impact on the what and why I use them ... there is more reasons than social graces to avoid killing food slowly if you can .
 
As I am sure you know, from experience, the fate of the snared animal depends on the species and the set. You, as the snare man have some control over that. Some die quickly, others simply wait for you to show up, then you can end their life as humanely as you like. You can set drowing sets or kill poles, increase entanglement or decrease entanglement. Having an animal killed quickly is desirable in some situations, having one simply held in place is desirable in others.

Nothing inhumane about responsible snaring as I see it, but I guess that is a matter for each person to decide for themselves. I do know that it is much more efficient than hunting in most situations and the results taste worlds better than roots and leaves.
 
I can only speak from my experience
I prefer to kill directly , and as quick as possible , for more reasons than nice social graces :)
Snares have their place and i have used them , for me they are not choice number 1 tho .
As for roots and leaves and eating , I prefer a combination , be it steak spuds onions and salad , or roo saltbush and yam , it just seems to be more balanced that way :P
 
From experience...I use coated stainless downrigging wire no more than 30 lb test for small game and I make it with stainless crimps on each end at about 6 feet. This weighs nothing and I have woven them folded in half into webbing belts (Imaging something just a little thicker than a human hair). For anything larger I have 20 feet of 150 lb test waxed spectra. When I use them as this would be used If I had to stay someplace for a while before moving on. It is the lazy way of hunting and requires patience.
 
grafton said:
It always interests me how folks will make every effort to build the perfect kit with all the best, proven gear and then use floral wire, guitar strings, picture wire, etc... for their emergency snares. Real, pre made cable snares with working locks weigh little more than junk wire and they are 1000 times better...and they are easy and cheap to make.

Cheap wire snares can be made from just about any wire or cordage and that is good to know but I would only use that stuff if nothing else was available. You can probably get by with thin wire on squirrels but good luck with consistantly holding larger game. Nothing is more frustrating then walking up to a catch circle that has held an animal and the animal is gone..

I can only think that if folks would actually get out and use snares (as allowed by law) they would begin to understand what will and what will not hold an animal. Putting snare wire in your kit but never practicing the skill is not good. Just like those pocket fishing kits and firesteels, these skills need to be developed so you are ready when you need them most. Practicing setting up snares with no catch is like casting but never landing a fish.

If you get good with legal snare methods using modern snares, you will have the knowledge to get along fine if you have to use lesser materials latter. Catch what is legal and get good at it and you would have no trouble "altering" the methods to easily take other animals in a survival situation. So many people seem to start out with the wrong equipment and then you hear statements like "snares are not very productive" and "only as a last resort" .....Let me tell you snares are very very productive and may be the very best tool to put meat on the table. Been that way for thousands of years and will always be.

If you expect hunting to provide you with food in a shtf situation, go out and hunt now. Same with trapping, snaring, fishing, etc..
Click to expand...

:D Just get to them before the Ravens\Magpies. They like to peck out those bulging eyes first.
 
I have used copper wire and braided wire for small game, but mostly I use synthetic nylon cord or rope. Cord can be used over and over if it is not damaged, whereas wire kinks. I also think that for a live snare capture, cord is gentler to the animal than wire might be. Cord can take a bit more work to set as a snare, whereas wire holds it's shape more readily, but it isn't difficult to rig a cord snare even if it takes a few moments longer.

Furthermore cord is just cord in your pocket or backpack and can be used for a variety of purposes. A wire snare is obviously a wire snare whether it is set or not.

Snaring is not illegal where I live, but it is in some places. Snares should always be checked at least once a day and they should be completely removed when the hunting is finished.
 
I am sure New Zealand calls for different tools. Animals in the US have teeth, :D

Cord is a bad choice here. Raccoons are a very common animal and easy to snare but they will fight like a little bear. No nylon cord or rope would hold them for very long.
 
Yes, it is true that wire is less likely to get chewed off and that is an important consideration. However for centuries our ancestors had only natural cordage for snares.

While all the animals I've snared (hundreds of them) have teeth, I've had very few chew-offs. Maybe NZ animals just don't think of chewing the vine or cord they get tangled in. I've certainly never tried to snare coons.

If chewing is a problem, then a spring snare should solve the problem by making it difficult for the animal to get its mouth on the cord.
 
Right. Modern snare cable has made the spring pole obsolete. The spring pole does have its place, especially with weaker snare materials, unfortunately they are illegal to use here.

I have even had a few coons chew through cable, but only a very few.
 
Dang. Those coons must be tough dudes.

The things I've snared most of are the introduced Australian brushtailed possums. A big one might weigh fifteen pounds at a guess. I once had one break a braided wire snare, but I think that was because this particular snare didn't have a good swivel system.
 
I use cable snares to trap coyotes. I manage a high fenced exotic game and cattle ranch so keeping predators down is crucial.
 
I'm trying to learn more about snares myself.

A Kiwi on another forum I frequent is an expert at snaring feral hogs. We have a burgeoning feral hog population here, and they are unregulated (Official DNR position is to kill on sight). I have not been successful at direct hunting, though I have found many signs and hear their squeals in the distance. Because of this I want to learn how to snare game effectively.

Our hog population is still small, so they are no so bold or brazen as they are in many places - here they still fear humans and hide in the deepest thickets and roughest terrain. So I figure it would be more effective to set a bunch of snares and do more camping / bushcraft than actual hunting.
 
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