Okay, for those of you who run reverse-bend washer cable locks, which I’m told are relaxing, do you get a lot of snare burn on COON because the cable moves?

My trapping area has the occasional dog and hunter which the land owners have forgotten to tell me about. I haven’t caught a dog in 20+ years, in any sort of capture device and I don’t want to start now. I’ll try snaring coon trails next fall but as sure as God made little green apples, a dog will show up in one. Cable restraints are suppose to make life easier on the incidentals. I just have to know they work.

Neck snared coon dont have much burn. Hip caught ones are almost hopeless if the coon fight the snare at all.

X2 Neck snared or just behind the front legs and your coon are still good and marketable. If they are hip caught (caused by trapper error and poorly designed snares or CR's), they are going to be VERY down graded by most any fur buyer in a tough market especially.

X3 on the neck snared. Every coon I have sent to auction that was hip caught or something besides the neck was graded damaged because of the cable burn on the leather.

I got the video called Snare Masters a couple years ago. In it they say consistent neck snaring is pretty difficult. I haven’t watched it in a while, but as I recall, they catch more than half of their coon around the body, too. ADC, how do you ensure neck snaring?

Smaller loop, higher off the ground. Latter is far more important than the former.

Back to snare burn, does a cable restraint with a relaxing lock (in general) leave more snare burn on coon vs regular locks?

No. I used to use all relaxing locks. The main trouble with relaxing locks is coons can get under them with their feet (especially if there is a deer stop) and they can and do work the lock loose enough to slip out if neck caught on rare occasions. I also believe they will sometimes work the snare further down their body on rare occasions also.

Fast loaded snares set with a 6-7" loop, 7-8" off the surface of the trail, with a solid support like #9 wire will ensure you get a VERY high % of coons by the neck. You will miss some coons (mostly smaller undesirable coons), skunks, possums, etc... however you will increase the chances of catching fox and bobcats.