I've been searching the internet and noticed there is not very much information on snaring bears. Anyone here snare bear and give a few tips?
Thanks, ScotianTrapper

Footsnares are the only legal way to take bears here besides cages,or shooting.
Cages are way better,as it is much easier to release a female with cubs from a cage than a footsnare.

There aren't many places in the States where it is legal though government agencies sometimes use foot snares.What type snares can you use?

Belisle makes a good foot snare I think.

I only have 3 years experience foot snaring bears in Maine, but I'm happy to share what I've learned.

I use and really like the WCS Pro-12 foot snare. The springs are weak compared to footholds, so I use only a light covering of shredded, dry leaves or other ground covering so the snare can easily fire through it, especially in rainy weather. Use a large, green leaf as a pan cover. I stabilize the foot snare using 1/2 inch thick sticks that I hammer in on four sides of the frame to wedge the frame in place. Use a lot (I haven't tested the poundage) of pan tension to prevent raccoons from setting off the snare.

All of my foot snaring occurs at established bait sites which are initially used for hunting. Prior to the hunting/foot snaring opener, I bait once per week, since I live far away. I use ample (25+ gal in my case) trail mix bait to avoid letting the bait site run out. I also make every effort to fill all bait sites by 2:30 p.m. since the bears generally begin visiting around 4:30 p.m and late afternoon/evening bait tending seems to cause more nighttime visits. Trail cameras are invaluable for identifying how many different bears are regularly visiting, which direction they're from, and whether any visitors are sows with cubs. I haven't set a foot snare at a site being visited by sows with cubs because of concerns about the release. This is a tradeoff that I was comfortable making because I have multiple bait sites; however, some of the sow/cub-visited sites were also visited by large boars.

Sometimes bear trails are poorly defined when the bait site is in open pine/beech forest (for hunting). I've moved the bait barrel up to 50 ft (haven't needed to try moving it farther) into thicker cover, to yield better-defined trails, and the bears promptly followed.

So far, I've always found good locations ~25 ft from the bait to set my foot snare. The simplest location was where the bears were walking down a steep slope to reach the bait site and the repeated use wore in "stairs" on the trail. I use 1/2 inch thick sticks as stepping sticks by hammering them vertically into the ground in the trail, on both sides of the foot snare. They look like pegs sticking out of the ground about 3 inches. I've struggled to guide the bears' steps using horizontal logs, rocks, and brush fencing. They've stepped on and climbed over everything that I've put in front of them!

I'm foot snaring in hot, early September weather and unfortunately, tend to "sweat up" the trap site and evidently, the trap, too. Last year I had a problem with the bears smelling my foot snare and digging it out. The trail camera told the nightly story. So, I rinsed off the snare, reset it 10 ft away, and smeared a mixture of peanut butter, honey, and black oil sunflower seeds about 4 foot high on trees up and down the trail. My thinking was to raise their noses and distract them as they walked down the trail. This evidently worked and I caught one that night.

I use two heavy duty stainless bear swivels and heavy chain to attach the snare to a sturdy, 6+ inch diameter tree and don't give them more chain length than absolutely necessary to reduce the potential for entanglement or tree climbing problems. This hasn't happened for me, so far.

I am contemplating purchasing a culvert trap since I would like to have the option to easily release smaller bears and continue trying for a big one.

Good luck, have fun learning about this aspect of bear behavior, be creative and persistent!

Dang MV, that's archive material there. I doubt I'll ever get the chance to snare a bear but that's still some great info. Thanks for sharing.

I saw a guy at Minktoberfest on Thursday give a bear snaring demo that looked pretty good. He invented a device to make the snare work really well. It's like a giant DP trap. I don't remember his name but Mink Guy on here will know who he was if you contact him.

Didn't something happen to Maine's bear season this year?

Man Mustela vison that's great info. Our bear snaring opener started yesterday and I'm heading out Thursday to set a snare. But man them Belisle bear snare throwers are some tough to set.

Wess Osborn

I sell his Bear snare

I wish more states would allow foot snaring bears.

If its the design im thinking of it was invented by Orin Young from Maine. I trapped with Orin and caught a bear with the trap and saw several others caught.
Orin gave me permission to manufacture the trap.

As of right now it seems Maine changed the laws and it is not legal. That is really stupid as it would never catch a lynx.

I have trapped and been with alot of trappers who have trapped bear in Maine. IMO the trail set is most effective. Most of us prefer the aldrich and sometimes the Fremont if on hard ground. In Maine we are required to have a "stop" so the snare can not close smaller then 2.5" we set ours at 4" to allow most under 200 lbs to pull out.

Why not the Belisle, scalloper?

Sure would like to trap a bear....Is Maine the only state that allows trapping of bear?

Can a non resident trap bear in Maine?

I believe it's the only state of the lower 48. I don't understand why more states don't allow foot snares for bear.

The best trap for bear is a cage trap.

To be honest the Aldrich will do everything I need it to do. I see some of the new (last 10 years or so) style some are selling and i wonder how a large bear could possibly get caught in one. I set a nice wide loop at least 1.5" larger all around the track maybe even a little more. One day me and three of my sons made 4 sets. Back then we could set two per trapper but we had 4 real good chances. The next morning we had three bears waiting 337,340,and 347 lbs dressed two were 25' apart.
The boys had been going bear trapping with us for several years at that time but they were only 10,11 and 13. They had quite a serious look on their faces when they got out of the truck with all of that commotion going on.

IMO its the most humane way to harvest a bear with 0% chance of any suffering.

Where can I get a bear trap like he makes?

Newt Sterling sells them or says he does in your post.