was just PMing a knowledgble trapper about treating snares...

do you? and if so, how?

I boil them in some baking soda to take the shine off the cable. Turns them a flat gray rather than shiny silver. I don't do anything else to them.

does that make them rust though?

boil in baking soda and willow branches and leaves.

I just rub em around in the dirt where im setting....run em a couple of time and set them...

im just using select walnut hulls this year. no baking soda. gonna letem air till time to use em.

Boil them in baking soda, they dont have time to rust.

nough said.............

click here I'll never boil mine again.

I have heard and seen that before, I use more snares than traps while doing ADC work and I always have a pot of bakin soda set off to the side ready to be put on the burner to boil off snares. I only do a dozen at a time to get me threw the week.

Mine dont set long after the boilin process. I have heard of guys boilin off dozens of snares and usin them for several seasons and breakage happens sooner or later usally durin cold months.

Good suggestion ADC.

As someone who uses 90% snares in winter conditions, I feel compelled to answer this question.

I starting snaring in the late 70's using Raymond Thompson snares. I then went to Grawes, O'Gormans and finally Gregerson's. I, since around 1981, have been a "student" of the Gregerson snare philosophy...having learned much of what I know from Keith Gregerson. That of couse was a stepping stone but it got me going in the right direction.

With Keith's teachings and Grawes snare systems along with the big loop and Long line death lock of O'Gormans, I was running more snares than most guys with a lot more experience...and catching more fur!

After Larry Whitman, who was a lot like Grawes, came out with his system...it was on again with some new ideas and methods.

Over the years I have tried every cable size, type and lock avaiable. Starting out with the 7x7 3/32 on coyotes and'coon for example, to the 1x19 1/16th I use today.

Well all this was started over 29 years ago and after snaring for fur in 7 states and doing ADC work over that period of time , I can tell you what I've learned about snares and snaring, in regard to the treatment of snares.

First and foremost, all snare cable is not created equal! Some have a lot more oil on them than others. Removing that oil will cause steel cable to rust, usually from the inside out. Leaving it on there will cause some problems too...mainly out on the line. One should not let snares that have been boiled sit around for years, to rust from the inside out. Do what you use in a season. Or camo-paint them solid. I am also trying some of Newt's Formula 1 ( in the brown color, which is almost an olive drab) on some snares and then camo painting them after they dry with streaks of camo paint. After one season, so far so good!

Gregerson taught me to boil snares in baking soda and to pour of the oil that rose to the top. I now use a garden hose to do the same thing. On his snares with his thin low visibility lock, that was all you had to do. Boil 'em and let them bleach out in the sun to a dull grey color.

With Grawes, and O'Gorman's larger locks and heavier ferrels and later the Cam-lock, it became a question of how do I hide them? Or do I even need to?

Q: Can you catch an animal in a bright shinney untreated snare?
A: Of course, I've done it and know of others that have but will you miss some animals in that same snare?
That answer is undoubtably ,YES!
Same goes for larger cable regardless if it's treated or not.
Worst than not treating snares is to dye them jet black.
Most animals see in black and white...so why would you color something jet black and expect an animal not to see it in a brown, grey and green enviroment? Or even worst, under snow conditions?

Today I boil mine in baking soda and let air and bleach out to a dull grey...anything left will be camo painted, even as much as streaking the cable a few times with olive drab, browns and tans...depending on the enviroment I'm in. And yes, I have some white and mixed white ones too for snow conditions, which only last here a month or less. Do I think my snares are better than the guy who does nothing to his?

(Please)!

As a full time ADC trapper I am often asked to remove an animal that has avoided everyone elses traps and snares....Do you think I would go in with any less than the absolte best? Would you?

I don't survive at the top of my game using mediocre eqipment and methods. I want the lightest, strongest camo-colored cable I can get away with and still get the job done!
Me ever fail to get the job done?
Surely you jest!

I would always boil my snares in baking soda. Now that was "new" supply store bought snares w/ aluminum ferrules.
Once I started making my own and used malleable nuts instead of ferrules I basically let them sit in baking soda and then sit outside for awhile.
After they had dulled enough for "my liking", I would leave them wrapped up in a dozen bundle and hit w/ a little flat paint.

ardell grawe told me to throw em on the roof and let the sun take care of em.

great post LT grey!

Dip them in Newt's Formula One, and you'll be good to go.

I have tried the F1 and had problems with the cable lock sliding and catching on the coating. Just as the coating seals and fills small indentations in traps. With a coiled up bunch of snares, It will span from one snare to another leaving a rough film of coating. The way to eliminate this is to uncoil them and hang them but that is to much work for me. I boil them in soda if I'm needing them done quick but the best way I have found is to simply buy or make your snares a year ahead of time and throw them on the roof for a summer or until the shine is gone. Then store them inside after that. No special work involved. This is by far the best system I have tried. I have caught fur in shiney snares also. But have seen the cat tracks in snow walk up the trail to the snare and literally walk around it using shiney snares. Throw them on the roof. Thy won't rot or corrode like others say happens when you boil them.
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i have boiled em in baking soda .... i have also boiled in dye .... another thing i have done is toss em in dye AFTER boiling .... leave em sit til ya get the desired look .... doing this ya will get a broken pattern (camo) in em ..... i kinda favor it to be honest

I boil mine in baking soda to get most of the oil off, then I use a light tan color of spray paint to match the color of the grass, and streak them with some sage green and a light brown to camo them, then I hang them outside for about 2 weeks to get the smell off of them.

A simple way to fix that is to add more water to your mix. I run mine thinner than the directions on the can if it looks thick on there. If I didn't have hundreds to do I'd still camo paint them.

Good idea ADC
I remember the f1 getting built up in the hole on the locks, does thining it eliminate this problem?
p

Probably depends on the area you are snaring. In Florida, with salt air and high hunidity, things rust over night.
Here in Montana, you can drive a nail in a stud and hang new traps on it and six months later the traps and the nail will still shine. High humidity here is ten percent. Makes a big difference.
Most of my snares are boiled in soda, and I feel confident they will be ruined by a catch long before thet rust. Still like to camo some though. Since I am still learning, I need to experiment.