# snares



## Quakmaster316 (May 9, 2004)

Well today i set my first snares ever. I found a few areas were it looked like some fox and maybe a few coyotes have traveled. I put out five snares. My questions are will coyotes and fox travel the same areas more than once. Because i have no bait for them. i just put them on some tracks that were traveling around a thick pond and a few trails through a frozen swamp. I was also wondering should i run out and check them tomorrow or wait a few days. Should i keep the sent down or keep checking them. i hopeing for the best but not sure being my first sets and all. What should i do.
Thanks A.J.


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## gunner1 (Jan 25, 2006)

Quakmaster The Answer Is Yes Coyotes And Fox Will Travel The Same Trail More Than Once, The Deeper The Snow The Better. Find A Nice Pinch Spot And Try To Check Them From A Distance. I Have Had Them Sit For A Month Before They Came Back Through.


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## FixedBlade (Oct 14, 2002)

Quak. Check the reg's for trap checks. I believe it is every 24 hours.


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## Northcountry (Feb 4, 2004)

Quakmaster316 said:


> Well today i set my first snares ever. I found a few areas were it looked like some fox and maybe a few coyotes have traveled. I put out five snares. My questions are will coyotes and fox travel the same areas more than once. Because i have no bait for them. i just put them on some tracks that were traveling around a thick pond and a few trails through a frozen swamp. I was also wondering should i run out and check them tomorrow or wait a few days. Should i keep the sent down or keep checking them. i hopeing for the best but not sure being my first sets and all. What should i do.
> Thanks A.J.


Quack,

As Fixedblade said, the law requires 24-hour checks. Not to sound like a jerk, but if you didnt know that, maybe you need to visit the DNR website real quick and read the snaring (and general trapping) regs again.

Now to answer a couple of your other questions...

Yes, canines will often use the same trail...or more likely, a pinchpoint along the trail. I have spent hundreds of mornings studying canine tracks in the snow on various properties, over the past three winters, each and every morning. I would memorize them and watch as old ones faded and new ones appeared. What I have found, in respect to snaring, is that you need to look for a funnel or pinch point. This is not news to anyone, its common knowledge....but I was able to confirm this for myself through observation. Canines wont keep trotting down a linear trail unless it is actually a "feature" such as a tire track, snowmobile track, log crossing, etc. Their normal travel mode is random (at least by my perception), checking out various debris and scents, but mostly just making tracks it seems. This is not good for snaring. What you need to locate is a POINT ON THE GROUND that they will pass over again, coming from various angles. For example, hole in a fence (illegal to set right at the fence), gap between brush or farm equipment, or sometimes if your lucky...a section of trail in deep grass/cattails. These are just examples.

Now regarding bait/scent....you shouldnt use any at all. The snares should be used to intercept an unsuspecting canine travelling from Point-A to Point-B with nothing in particular on his mind. He should be moving at regular speed (trotting) and then just become leashed. Do not leave any human scent around the set or on the snare...and dont use bait nearby. However, a large food attraction might allow you to intercept the canines on their travel to/from it....but that seems like a lot of work with no particular gaurantee.

Thats all I have. Most important, read the regs and understand that snaring is under attack by houndsman, animal rights whacko's, and the DNR (in my opinion) so you must take extra care to do things legally and ethically. Any mistake will be magnified by them and used against all trappers, in general.


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## TRAPHUNTFISH (Oct 1, 2005)

Bait stations are a great way to begin with snarring and learning how canines isolate their movements through trails and such. 

They are hard work because often the birds are cleaning you up long before the canines get a chance to work the bait. 

But, once you learn how coyotes/fox travel and get your sets rite then I would suggest checking out areas that hold canines and just start settiing their travel routes. 

Snarring is an awsome way to produce numbers for people who may not have the knowledge or time to put steel in the ground..... DNR regs currenty suck and as I understand it when they 1st alowed snarring in Mi it was set for a 3 year "experimental" season that can be cancelled at anytime. 

Ill tell ya what, I have gotten so tired of starring at a wall of a fish shack that snarring has really opened up my winters alot and made thiings much more enjoyable for me. I love trapping in the fall but once the snow flies the steel comes out of the ground and the cable starts to fly!!

here are some pics of my year so far:


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## daddyduck (Nov 2, 2001)

Seems like the deer would knock them over all the time


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## Northcountry (Feb 4, 2004)

Traphuntfish,

Congrats on the snared yotes. If those are from this year, then you have the distinction of being the first person I know of to catch and KEEP a canine with 2006 Michigan-legal snares.

Was there extra damage to the fur around the neck, due to struggle/friction of the loose-fitting wire collar (snare loop with 4-1/4" dia stop)? Unless it was a hip catch, I gotta believe the fur would be frayed to heck. I would love to see a close-up photo of the neck fur after combing.


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## frostbite (Dec 22, 2004)

I'm with you NC I would love to see the answers.


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## Dave Lyons (Jun 28, 2002)

I hope you answer the questions traphuntfish. You by far are the only guy I know as NC said that would have snared a coyote if your snares where legal. And I am real sure they were not hip caught with the new regs. or we would be seeing the GUTS!!!!!!!!! Almost every coyote I did hip snare with the old regs had fur damage it for sure would be worst with the new regs. I have snared just under 200 coyotes before all this new reg crap in four years. It sure seemed I got the snaring and releasing deer down to a science in a short time. Just my opinion if you want to release most of your deer use a light BAD and no deer/dog stop staked solid. And kill all your coyotes in the snares.

Good luck with your snares guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Dave


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## critter trapper (Feb 9, 2004)

pulling all my snares tommorrow only managed to get one coyote (large male).had one break a bad. and the rest were all pull outs. personally think snaring is a waste of gas money this year. hope they change something for next year or Im going to have to learn how to catch them with steel better.


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## TRAPHUNTFISH (Oct 1, 2005)

Hey guys, Well I know that I was the first of the year as far as my freinds go because the 1st yote on top was caught on the 2nd of jan, it was alive with a neck catch with a little water head and no fur damage. 

The second yote (the big one ) came a few days later and was alive with a neck catch, not much water head and no fur damage.

The next two were the same, neck cathches, small amount of water head and no fur damage. 

I was amazed that there was any water head with the new regs on deer stop size but they did have it, must be just a little blood restrction creates waterhead ... im no scientist so I ave no clue. 

But to answer all of you questuons I am not the only one to have snarred yotes this year , I have several freinds that have and are still.. I have only had one pull out and I believe it was a fox. 

Dont get me wrong, I hate the new regs and see no point in them at all, but I really enjoy snarring and I realize that the DNR has made this an "experimental" season and could pull the plug at any time so I just try and make the best of it and get by. 

Good luck guys, and I hope that all this snow we are getting helps some of you with your line in isolating some of their movements.


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## SJC (Sep 3, 2002)

Last year my partner and I snared 57 coyotes, the year before we managed 52 and the year before that 47. This year we are up to 7. We have had more pull outs than I can count. I'm no pro, but for a guy that works a 40 hr+ job and still catches this many dogs, it should count for something when I say that I don't think that the new snares are an effective trapping tool. If you want to hold them consistently you have to try to body snare them. This is hard to do without making your loops too big or the animal tripping the snare or knocking it down with its front legs. The ones that were body snared were pretty tore up. The ones that we did hold by the neck were very large coyotes and they all had bad water head. Not only are these snares not as effective in holding an average size coyote, they are not as humane as the old ones. Thats just my observations. Good luck in whatever you do.


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## Northcountry (Feb 4, 2004)

Thanks for the report, SJC. Doesnt surprise me one bit.

How was the fur damage on the yotes that were neck caught this year?


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## mathewsman99 (Dec 27, 2005)

does anybody have a picture of there snare set up i would like to get into snaring but i have no clue how to start. i was just wondering if anybody had some pointers


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