Nice setup. I've been enjoying these "set of the day" posts. It's nice to see the way others make sets and to read about something non virus related.

Looks like it works, Eric. Good job!

Thank you, Sir!

Thanks. Interesting how fast the forest takes back a field.

This will need to be added to the archives.
Good stuff

Agreed!

Cool set and story. Most people do not realize how fast mother nature changes.

Awesome Eric.
Mac

Thanks for the info Eric. Nice to see how a veteran snareman sets cable in our area...
I especially enjoy the mink snaring, as im a newbie Keep em comming please!

Thanks for sharing.

I like it .That would be the kind of set you could prepare during the summer .It might not be your primary set but I can see that it would be useful in helping to pick up an additional animal or 2

I'd be curious to hear from Ontario snare men on this set up. Fox yes, hybrid eastern yotes, hardly a chance, IMO. Great posts though, thanks for sharing.

We call that a Jackpot set up.As shown by Eric it works well for cats and fox.
Al, we use a jackpot for timberwolves,so eastern coyotes no problem,just think bigger,Snares should be 50 foot back from bait,minimum,set up in a more naturally thick area and limit the horizontal blocking.

We naturally think of timber wolves as being smarter or more cagy then the hybrids but I doubt that, probably due to their existence with lower human population density. I hear you with the jackpot so long as snares are on travel routes and a fair distance from bait but the idea of funnelling them with unnatural cut ended trees and bait within view of snares I have virtually no success, maybe the odd young of the year or stupid one. What your describing reminds me a lot of how Gordy Klassen describes his set ups in his presentations. Maybe I'm just a lousy snare man. Thank for the help.

Today and tomorrow we will look at culverts. The first picture is how I set a road culvert for coons. I know you are thinking "no big deal I already do that". But do you neck snare over 70% of your coons in your culvert snares? I do. The key is the support system. I cut a green (not dead) stick the same length as the inside diameter of the culvert (be it 18 inches or 4 feet it works the same) and about as big around as my little finger. I wrap a short piece of 14 gauge wire around the stick in a figure 8 before I twist the wire tight (see picture 2), this keeps the support wire from wobbling. The support stick is then wedged in the culvert in an open "C" shape with just a press of the hand. The remaining length of wire is then wrapped like a pigtail around the snare to support it. This gives a SOLID support that does not bend or wobble like an 11 gauge wire run into the culvert from somewhere outside. Bending, wobbley support wire allows the coon to walk his front feet into the snare, a solid support tends to eliminate that. Most of the time the snare can be fastened right to the culvert on an exposed piece of rebar. On a metal or plastic culvert I drill a small hole to fasten the snare to.
As to the trappers that say a coon will pull a snare off his neck try this: put a snare on your own neck pull it snug (not tight!!)like a coon would do before he realizes he is fast. Then see what you have to do with your hands to take it off. You have to do this: #1 Keep the snare cable slack, #2 Back the lock off with one hand while using your other hand to #3 Ease the other side of the loop over your head. Hardly any coons are going to do all 3 three of these things AT THE SAME TIME which is necessary to remove the snare.
This was my go to coon set in the late 1970's and thru the mid 1980's at the height of the fur boom. Between November 15 and December 3 or so I would catch 400 to 600+ coons only in culverts. This while working 7 days a week on the family farm and mink ranch. Before the season I placed 5 precut and pre wired support sticks at each culvert I was going to set. These sticks were just out of the reach of a trapped coon. In 1979 I had an International Scout, left the house at 2:30 AM and was at work at 7:30 AM with 104 coons stacked in that Scout. I could shoot the coon, replace support stick and the snare and be down the road before the coon quit kicking.
Those of us who trapped then remember that theft of catches was rampant. I rarely had a coon stolen from these sets. 2 reasons for that. #1 you have to shoot the coons in these sets, there is no way to bop him on the head in a culvert. To pull him out with the snare cable is an invitation to get bit, and most thieves do not have a 22 with them. # 2 is that more animals are stolen in the back 40 than next to the road because the thief does not know which vehicle driving by is yours!

Picture #3 is how I snare mink in culverts in the winter. Taking a 2 quart pop bottle, cut off both ends, making a tube. Cut a slit partially thru the tube so you can slide your support wire and mink snare into the middle of the tube. Then pack snow around the tube leaving the mink a nice hole to run thru to enter the culvert. To do this with a conibear use a 3 quart pop bottle or a milk jug. I do not have a picture of it but on small square bridges I do the same except I put several snare tubes in. This set is death on those bank and ice running buck mink.

We have eastern coyotes here and I have no problem catching them in corral sets. Often I have had them walk up to a snare and refuse to enter, then they jump over the Christmas tree, eat some and then walk out into the same snare they refused on the way in. This set is also good for cats but they are not legal to catch here so I did not mention them. A friend has been quite successful using them to snare fisher in his state.
Also I forgot to mention that I do not set a snare in the opening closest to the road. We can have free roaming dogs here but mostly they come off the road, to the set then back to the road, so I leave them a way in and out. This also helps in catching coyotes, gives them an uninhibbited way in after they come across the road and then they go out the back of the corral into a snare 9 times out of 10. I have caught coyotes within 5 feet of a bait provided they are leaving the bait and not going to it. Going in they can be shy but leaving they are not thinking about a snare.
Last year my Dad (at the age of 90) caught 11 coyotes in his 5 corral sets on his farm. Here's one.

Wonderful that your Dad is still trapping. God Bless him. Enjoying your posts, keep them coming.

I like pic #3. Looks like it would be a killer for mink!

Great info! Thanks.

Pretty cool.