need some pics and advice on how 2 properly hang a snare, ground height, loop size etc... have a lot of closed loops layin on ground. i get a few but not the numbers i want. any pointers?

Newt's books/tapes @ Snareone.com... Newt keeps it simple.

Your loop is too big and too low to the ground. Raccoon can be neck snared despite what people tell you, especially those big boar raccoons. Keep your loop a little smaller, a little higher and try a "chin up" stick. You will notice a big difference, I'll bet.

Also you need a support system that keeps your snare rigid and centered in the trail. I use a #9 support wire welded to my rebar stake.The snare is held to this wire with a plastic wammy built on the snare. Good luck

i use #11 wire for supports and 1/4 tubing for wammies. this snare isn't loaded all that much. sometimes i put the wammy next to the lock. my supports are 2' long precut and dyed. this is what that snare caught. for coon i'm 6" loop 6" high. depending on lock style, i'm at 1 'o clock-12:30 this is what i like to see in my snares. i use a 5' snare with a 4-8' extention. loop to loop on the extention, loop the swivel and chock a tree for the anchor. here is a extention that s-hooks to the swivel.

http://www.procoonsnaring.info/

Don't waist your time trying to neck snare coons. It can be done but not with consistant results. Coons simply vary in size too greatly from one to the next. I snare hundreds a year and can tell you no one neck snares them all. Use #9 wire for supports, use real metal wammys, and set your loops 6-8" off the surface of the trail to the bottom of the loop. Make your loops 7-8" across. You'll get them.

~ADC~

use real metal wammys,

what advantage does the metal wammys have compared to plastic

ADC is the king at coon snareing lol

I also started snaring coon. I had good results except I live in South Dakota and it seems that every pheasant around runs into the snares and knocks the support wire out of the collar. I've heard of bending a w at the end of the support wire and running the snare through that. Anyone do this?

blaine the only advantage I can see is that sometimes the plastic gets hard in the colder weather and can break or will be tougher to slip on the support wire.

Slackjaw we do not have enough information to give you solid answers.

Are you fence snaring or trail snaring?

What type locks are you using?

Supports?


You have gotten some good advice so far, but I would like to know more about what you are doing now before I go any further with advice.

SD small game like pheasants can be a pain in the rear, and sometimes there is not much you can do about it. However a knocked down snare is not neccesarily always a pheasant.

I have a friend who swears by the W bend, and he catches a lot of coon and fox with snares. I am personally a whammy or plastic tubing guy, but would not be afraid to try the W setup as I know it works.

Do you wrap the support wire around the stake? I did this last year and it seemed the coons wrapped the snare around the wire and made the swivel useless which then pinned them next to the stake making a heck of a mess. When I saw the w bend used they just stuck the wire in the ground. I'm wondering if this is what most do.

Having a solid support is key. The only thing that should move on the snare is the lock. I do not like driving the support wire into the ground unless you are really putting it in solid. I prefer a kill pole or if using a stake down setup I want the snare coming off the rerod stake, or driven into the ground with a good U shape or W shape bent in that end so the snare can't spin. I have never really found a good way to put the support in the ground, that satisfies me as much as attaching to the stake does.

I am playing more and more with neck snaring coons, and when it works it is real nice. They are layed out dead as a hammer. I have figured out over the years that fast locks and solid supports are very key to any snaring and very key to neck snaring. This last fall I was able to neck quite a few, and I used to think it could not be done.

If you are wrapping the support wire around a T stake, pre wrap them and leave a little pigtail on it that can seat down into the dirt when you stomp in the stake. I would show you a picture but have gone to almost all kill poles for trail snaring coon. You don't want a snare that will spin around because the support is just one little loop around the stake.

On my kill poles I have played with this and that. I really like having my support wire welded solid to them. However I have tired of the weld breaking when I am driving in the stakes. I then went to a solid wrapping setup that works OK, and no broken welds but uses lighter wire which is not as rock solid as I like. I am goind to weld up a bunch this year, and wrap the wire and weld in several spots to spread out the shock that breaks welds when I am hitting it with a hammer.

Also I donot care about swivels so have not worried about the wrapping up you are talking about. I am working with entanglement which renders swivelling at the stake useless. I am on a 24 hour check using 3/32 cable.

I made all my supports 4 wraps around a one inch pipe with a 2-3 inch tail. here in SD we have to have swivels and they have to be under 4 inches or I could use a really neat setup that uses the support wire as the swivel and shorten up the legnth of the snare cable. As for kill poles I have seen a far off picture but that is about it. I would be very interested in how these work.

A kill pole is a rerod piece that is driven into the ground alongside the trail. Most of my kill poles for coon are around four feet long, and you should use 1/2 or 5/8 rerod for coon. 3/8 is just to thin for anything in my book. 1/2 inch will bend if you catch a coyote.

I beleive Ron Hansen from Iowa originated the kill pole, and may variations exist as far as how to hook your snare to it, but the concept is basically the same.

Here is one that has everything wrapped on it, rather than welded. This is some real hard rerod, and I just flat out can't any welds to stick to it for long, without breaking of when hammering on the rod. This system works, but a solid weld is superior. I iwll try to remember to snap a photo of a welded one tomorrow to put on here for you.



The pole is driven beside the trail and a foot or two of it left above ground. It blends in with the weeds most of the time, and I have snared coon on open trails with them with no problems. The pole gives the coon something to entangle on, holds the snare where I want it far more solid than a support wire driven into the dirt or coming off of a T stake.

You can see on top of the pole where the snare is attached. It can be a loop or in my case it is a rectangle or square. That is the anchor point for your snare. The support wire also comes off the pole and should anchor solid to the pole.

Welding is better, but if you try wrapping them like I have on here, check it after each catch. Sometimes the wrapped anchor wire starts to loosen up from the animal fighting, and you should tighten it with pliers if that happens. Also if you try wrapping with wire, cut off sharp ends and flatten down ends that stick out so they won't hang up on the fur and cause damage.

Keep in mind, even though I am posting this photo, I prefer welding on my anchor point and support wire. The acnhor point set up like this will hold everything, and will not come off. However the support wire loosens after a catch, and I prefer a thicker guage support wire, but to wrap as tight as I like to was forced to use thinner wire and twist it together.

#9 wire welded on is best.

I just re read my post, and that is a pole without a snare. All you see is the pole and support. Where I told you to see where the snare is attached, I do not mean there is a snare there. The snare anchors into that square anchor point. I loop mine through, some guys I suppose use a tie wire.

How do you connect the snares to the anchor. I wonder this for remakes just down a trail or do you have to use another premade one. Also Thanks for taking the time for explainations and picture. It has helped alot!

Hope this helps. You just reuse the pole and support over and over again. The support does not always loosen up when wrapped like this but I want it rock solid tight so am usually cranking on it with pliers after a catch. This thinner support wire is a little bouncy for my taste, but has actually served me very well. I got a bunch of this rerod that is great stuff, but very hard to weld to which is why I went to this. If I was a trapper with no access to a welder, all mine would be set up this way.

The support wire in this photo is down to one side. Obviously in a real setup it would be supporting the snare.

Also I stated earlier that a foot or two of the pole is left out of the ground. I must correct that, as I am using a four foot pole, and leave around three feet out of the ground, so am driving it in a foot or two, not the other way around.

I see now why this setup is so good and why you said you work for entanglement. I sure wish we didn't have the swivel law. I would change to this setup in a heartbeat. Thanks again.