Snaring - simple, effective, and increases your odds at getting protien

Regenerative Subsistence Fauna Food
#1

Snaring is a great way to get meat while you sleep and is not all that complicated. The hardest part is coming up with the snare.

The snare need not even be triggered. In fact, most people I know who snare just arrange things so the critter goes through the noose and tightens the snare as it tries to get away. I knew a woman who once snared an Elk.

8-10 feet of aircraft cable can take you a long way in snaring. Find well used trails and look for openings in the trail where the critter has to pass its head through first. Anchor your snare so the struggling animal will not get loose. For larger game a tree makes a nice anchor.

You can set as many as you have and it’s best to do so to increase odds.

Don’t practice this in an urban setting as you’re more likely to catch the neighbor’s dog than a deer or coyote.

#2

I’m with you. If I wanted meat and did not have to worry about the law, I’d put out a bunch of snares.
I’ve snared quite a bit of meat of various sizes in the past. Just like you said nothing fancy just find a trail and hang a loop.

One more thing what would be wrong with the neighbors dog? just kidding

Old fashioned, box traps are fun too, and you can release a dog if it’s too small.

#3

my buddy got picked up hitch hicking by a guy that claimed he snared a bear. It supposedly struggled so hard to get away it decapitated itself.

#4

That must have been an accidental catch in a snare that was set for some other animal. If that was in the lower 48 it must have been a coyote set that was set with the loop way too big. It could have been a wolf snare if it was in B.C or Alaska. Unless of course it was a snare set by a poacher who was totaly disregarding the law. Still sounds like it was bungled to me.
Snares set for bears are set to catch them around a foot.

#5

yeah, it was totally illegal poaching. he was dropped in the olympic natl park by a buddy and stayed out there for almost a year. poached about everything he ate during that time.

#6

I don’t know if it’s the ancient vegan-liberal demon deep down inside of me, but snares just give me the willies. They seem like they would cause more pain than a hunter should cause. Am I misinformed?

#7

As far as I remember, a good and experienced snare kills the animal instantly breaking its neck; one second the animal grazes or whatever the next millisecond it hangs dead ready for the harvester.

#8

In the Book by Lee(?) on the !Kung-San he talks about the !Kung snaring antelope and clubbing them to death. I don’t think that snares are necessarily “humane” but I do think they would be a much more effective way to hunt than a lone person with a bow.

JimFive

#9

Jordan,
I’m not sure about your use of the word “should” but you are right about it not always being instantaneous. That is something a person has to come to terms with if they are going to feed themself that way.

Even hunting with a rifle or certainly with a bow, things do not always go as planned.

Human beings are the only hunters that even give it a second thought.

#10

Yeah, I’ve watched enough nature shows to know that a lot of hunters don’t even make sure their prey is dead before they start eating it. I’ve also hunted enough (not tons, just enough) to know that it’s not easy, at least with a bow, to do the whole, “I wont shoot it unless I know I will instantly kill it” thing. My hat is off to all that have that degree of skill, I wish I could do that. I also like being able to hunt my own meat occasionally, even if it doesn’t usually look pretty.

#11

In my experience they rarely work that way, even though they are “supposed” to (and I grew up on a remote subsistance trapline in alaska, so I do have some experience).

#12

anyone have some advice on how to set a snare for deer? aircraft cable, yes, but a simple noose tied in the cable wouldn’t be strong enough to hold the deer it seems. commercial snares have sliding peices that also lock the animal into the noose - how could one make an effective deer snare for themselves?

#13

My friend Derek made a great, simple snare with an L bracket and some cable. He’s on here as Derekja I think. You could PM him for details, I don’t know how regularly he browses this site. I could make one, but couldn’t describe it cause I don’t know the name for the part he got. Really fucking simple though. Inspired by, ah shit, forget his name, the poaching guy, writes tons of books… Regnar something? What a garbage post.

#14

Some sort of “L” bracket is a standard kind of snare lock to keep the loop from coming loose once it’s pulled tight.

#15

trollsplinter, heyvictor,
thanks!

#16

People like to discuss different types of materials for snares. I grew up in a poor southern household where we often had to catch what we ate. the easiest place to get good snair wire is roght in your own home or neighborhood… Good old fasioned electrical wire. I once stripped an old washing machine and had enough wire for 200 snairs, and you simply size the snairs by the gauge of the wire.

you can leave the rubber coatings on the wires, but the smell tends to scare away animals… the best thing to do is strip the wires, leave them outside on the ground for a few days to weather and pick up the natural smell of the earth and most animals dont notice them.

When setting traps, try to handle the parts/wires as little as possible to avoide leaving “human” smells, and expect them to go a day before getting tripped. thats becus they need to have a chance to “air out” meaning for your human scent to leave the area when you passed thru.

set your traps so that you can see them from a distance of at least 20 feet. that way you can check them without “re-contaminating”’ the trap with your smell by approaching too close. Also it lets you see if you caught a skunk… no need to explain that one.