snaring coyotes in the open

[SteveCraig]

I wonder how all those Northern snaremen, like Vernon Hopkins, Raymond Thompson, Leonard Pavek. Ardell Grawe, Larry Whittman, and the like, made a living, with all the snare avoidance and snow they have up there. Probably missing 90% of all wolves, fox and coyote according to some. Then again, maybe they knew something about snares and snaring , and snare avoidance that most dont. After snaring thousands of fox,coyote and cats etc. My preferred coyote snare is 1/8 cable with a fast lock. This is my preferred beaver and coon snare as well. I learned how to snare with 1/8 cable when no one knew about anything else. Bob Wendt saw me use 1/8 cable on coons and coyotes for a couple of trapping trips we made. I have gone the lighter cable route and have come back to 1/8 for just about all my snaring. 1/8 for coons will save you money on snare damaged hides. I had a brain fart once and went to 5/64 for coon and ran 50% snare damaged untill I learned how to neck snare them consistantly. Even then, I used and still do, 3/32 for most of my coon snares. But if you dont know how to neck snare your coon, go with the 1/8 cable and dont worry about hide damage. I believe and FWIW, that most snare avoidance is an odor problem......somewhere! OR, too much open area around the snare with an unnaturally round snare loop. Narrow him down and brush him in and the problem will go away. It doesnt take much to do it either. Remember that that nice neet round loop is not natural in the woods. I'll take the tear drop shape any day. I consider the most important part of snaring is to have an animal MOVING, a FAST lock, CLEAN snaring equipment, and the BOTTOM of the loop at the correct height off the ground. These are my experience's of over 40 years of snaring all over this country. find what works for you and if you are getting alot of snare avoidance, then look at all areas and do not assume it is just one thing.
Again, FWIW
Steve

[bobwendt]

I use 1/8th on beaver too, for the same reasons- less hide damage. Beaver are bulls anyway and would go thru even bigger. They tend to want to chest and belly catch so tha big cable is needed to stop hide damage. You guys listen up to steve when he talks snaring. He knows his poop now, and has walked the walk before most of us ever knew there was anything but a foot trap, me included. I still to this day am not worthy to carry his pliars on a snare line

[JWarren]

I use 1/8 cable in the summer when I work for the G&F Dept. snaring and relocating beavers. I don't do the live market on coyotes. I never had a problem with chewouts and don't see why 1/8 would be an advantage for coyotes, 'cept maybe it would hold a real big loop better.

[bobwendt]

jw, most of our eastern coyotes are trwice a western coyote weight wise, i.e. chewing ability, just bigger tougher critters. I`ve trapped those little sw desert coyotes-15 to 18 lbs. You could catch them in no 1 traps and never lose a one . Just the opposite of ours. I`ve caught a few of those bigger mtn coyotes upo in the winds that I`m sure went 40 or so, but most of the wyoming coyotes I get are in the upper 20`s or low 30`s. Here in the east 40 is plumb common and 50`s not rare at all. very few topping 60. These eastern coyote are just bigger boned too, with big feet like a dog and bigger thicker muzzles and skulls, just bigger all over.

[JWarren]

Yeah I hear that Bob. From the sounds of it the Eastern coyotes are meaner too...

[rk660]

Bob and Steve, I have no doubt a man could snare a pile of fur with 1/8 cable. You'd just stay in the cover more. If needed for live animals I'm sure it would be the way to go. I dont doubt you could snare some coyotes on compleatly bare ground in 1/8. You will snare MORE % wise in the open with smaller cable though.

I cant see why I'd want to hamper myself in places where 1/8 would stand out like a sore thumb, when a smaller cable will up your % consideribly. Another factor that comes into play is whether you want to dispatch the animal or not. Smaller cable does make a quicker killing snare than larger dia. If wanting them alive, then a larger cable is to your advantage, if wanting to dispatch your catch, smaller cable will do the job much quicker.

5/64 has preformed well for me the last 10 years on everything from coon, beaver coyotes to fox. If coupled with the proper lock, entanglement, you can kill any critter quickly and humanely. If wanting alive in open or as law dictates, swivels and a different lock is used. Ive actually found 5/64 and 1/16 to cause me the LEAST amount on snare damage on beaver. Running a smaller loop to neck snare them, using a cam lock and enough snare to tangle them up, I can get 98% of them dead by the neck, beaver die real quick with the right setup, so quick hardly a mark is left on the neck.

Cable choice is not a cut in stone, one size fits all situations affair. Alive or dead, tangled up or no entanglement, dispatching catch at site or keeping animal alive, all have different best cable sizes that work best for a particular result.

[bobwendt]

jw, One thing I have seen from trapping different genetric size coyotes across the country- they are all the same in temperment relative to if they think they are in the drivers seat or not. Bullys if they think they are on top and chicken hearts if they think they are whooped. Even our big easterns are disgusting cowards once the noose is around the neck and he is subdued. I have rode them out of a muddy field a mile back with no cage, but on my lap with a hogsnare over their head in one hand and the otrher hand on the handlebars. Go figure.

[SteveCraig]

RK,
I AM talking about open country snaring with 1/8 cable too! There is a way to use it in open situations. Bob describe one, in which he hangs a large loop ABOVE a fence where coyotes are jumping over. I am trying to get you to think about this subject and open your minds to the fact that there is more to this subject than has ever been written about it. I know that the big push has been to go to the choke springs, kill poles, lighter cable, etc over the last several years.They work quite well. Many states do not allow these devises, so a fellow must use another method to assure he has his coyote still there in an open situation when he returns.If i can do it anyone can. You just have to think about it for a minute. Go to the coyote, he will show you how its done. Believe it or not, 1/8 nor any cable size for that matter does not stand out like a sore thumb. I have taken 1/4" cable and snared coyotes with it just to prove it could be done. I do have pics of it too. If I can find them I will send them to you. I'm as bad as Bob in that i have literally stacks and stacks of pics and it might take days to find! hehe Back when I built my old Posi-Lock snares and locks and sold hundreds of thousands of them all over the world. I used to build bear snares out of the 1/4" and the bear men would write or call and tell me about all the coyotes,lynx, and yes ,even bobcats they caught in them. Like I said at the end of my last post, if things are working for you now, go with it. But there is more to be gleaned on open country snaring as well as using larger cable too. Just some more food for thought.
Steve

[Ridgerunner]

My 2 cents: In the open, I always work some small weeds on to my kill pole or support wire, and jam a small leaf stem or other such thingy under the whammy. Wrap your camo under the cable, or use twist ties, etc.

In addition to that camo, I like to place two pieces of the same type vegatation on the opposite side of the trail at around 6 or so feet approaching the snare. Finished set will have camo, snare, camo with a total passage of around 12 feet, but this length should be adjusted according to terrain.

For foreign odors, I like to air my snares for at least two weeks prior to use.

"Ridge"