What’s a good sized loop?

Like actual rats or muskrats ? Either way Newt or airport will probably chime in on this

Newt has a very good DVD on muskrat and mink snaring.
Mac

Muskrat same as mink 3 1/2" loop 3 1/2" off the walking surface
Yes these numbers seen big.
All I can sat "It works for me"
Muskrats are a pray animal and dont fight hard. like a preadotr animal mink
So I use my mink snares for them on a Fur line 1/16" 1x19 double swiveled snare.
With that said. A 1/32" 1x19 snare will hold muskrats

Do you do alot of rat snaring Newt? or to you prefer footholds/conis?

Foot holds are illagle in New Jersey.

Snares are the best dry land Muskrat and mink tool

We're saddled with a deer stop on all our snares so you couldn't use them for mink and rats but I've always been interested in trying it if it became legally possible. Newt do you neck snare or body snare the majority of mink and rats with that set up? I mean what % about are neck snared?

Also I assume you use little snare cable and small locks, care to expand on that part of it?

Too bad lethal snares for mink and rats set on land are illegal in Wisconsin. There are so many opportunities during the winter snaring mink on frozen marshes in trails. I suppose you could make water sets in cattails for rats as long as the loop was half under water as stated in the regs. May as well use a conibear.

Mostly body snares. NO mink and muskrat dont have snare burn on the leather.
Even alltho Mink do have the power to twist out if a snare thasts not double swiveled.

My mink snare- 1//16" x 14 1/2" 'Newts Master Lock" which is made of non-polished Stainless Steel ,1x19 loaded,2/0 barrel swivel,14 1/2" tail with a 9/0 end swivel.Stainless Steel cable ,copper ferrules.

I assume that most mink and rats would end up being body caught when using snares. Wouldn't there be some fur damage from all the twisting and fighting the snare before they expire? How may live rats and mink do you end up with while using snares on dry land?
Those small RBGs In my opinion would be a better choice when trapping rats or mink on dry land. I have used them for trapping wood chucks and I have yet to have a live animal In one of them.

Thanks Newt. Ever use the smaller 3/64" cable on them? I thought if they made it so snares here could be designed to break away instead of a deer stop, that smaller cable would negate the need for a BAD on them little critter snares, since its breaking strength is 270#, less than the 285# BADs most states require that mandate break aways.

I had too many twist offs with 3/64" 1x19 even with a doubled swivel snare.

Thanks fellas

Wheres Eric Space on this post

Rats on land are easy to snare in a mink snare using the same size loop and height that you would use for a mink. Most rats are caught behind the front legs (mink are neck snared). While I have snared a few underwater just to see if I could, other trap options (conibear, foottrap or colony) are better. They do not pull enough to get a snare mark on the leather. The negative of snaring them on land is that any predator's walking or flyin by will kill and eat them. With snared mink most predators will leave them be but rats will be killed and chewed up by even skunks and possems. If it is an ADC job then this does not matter (I snared quite a few goin up the lawn for flowers in lake communities) but for fur trapping its not good. On a rat house or a trail going up out of a steep stream bank a snare fastened to a weight like a brick allows a rat to tumble the weight off into the water and drown. That works pretty well.