Running the idea of running some snares and have never snared much before. Only thing I've ever snared is beaver.
Looking to go after fox, cats, and coons, if coyotes come in I'd take them.
I plan to run bait stations and want animals expired as fast as possible with as little disturbance to surrounding area as possible. Also want to run all the same equipment to streamline things.
Which is the better one to use? Cost isn't a factor.

Never used RAM'S before but understand if your not careful, they can go off unexpectedly and break your jaw. Don't know if that's true or not but they are much heavier than kill springs.

Pretty much no one uses the Rams except in Canada, where in parts of it they are pretty much required to. They are expensive, heavy, bulky and much harder to blend than a plain snare. Also as 20scout says, you must be careful setting them, and they are very lethal on everything, including nontargets. On the plus side they are very lethal on target animals and the snares with no locks are mere pennies to replace and don't always need replaced. Regular snares, with or without kill springs are easy to blend, light and compact, you can carry dozens of them with you in one trip walking in, are cheap, easily replaced and can be made lethal or nonlethal. They will usually have more disturbance of the set than a Ram.

Not sure how BADs or deer stops would work on a Ram if you are required to use them. Unsure on Minnesotas laws in that respect.

If you have the option to not use Ram’s, don’t.

If I had a hundred of the rams I’d keep using them, but I’ve only got 20 or so. Switched over to Lightsout and never looking back. Hopefully next year we can use em for wolf too. There’s enough bloody pics of split lips and teeth missing or worse on social media. They’re safe, just always stay out of the bit zone if the safety’s off, usually happens when you’re almost ready to walk away and just want to make a final adjustment. With the little springs, it pays to be set up with a bench swager, super easy to remake them how you want. You can carry a bunch in your pocket, instead of hauling 30 rams around.


Jordan, has MTA done anything for you lately?…..lol

"Pretty much" I have run Rams here in the U.S. since 2001 and as many as 50 at one time. Trigger set up is poor for areas where you may catch smaller species in the coyote size BUT I designed a better lighter trigger. It took about 5 years with my two sons as my worst critics LOL...Finally hit on it when I started catching pheasants in trails with it and they had to admit I had an all around kill snare. I have since caught coyotes, rabbits, skunks, badgers, opossums, lots of coons, fox, bobcats, dogs, cats, pheasants and other bird types, squirrels, deer, and beaver with this trigger on my Rams. There are a few of us here that use Rams in killing situations but they don't use my trigger. My game cam showed where coyotes were dead or incapacitated in 2 minutes or less (sometimes as short as 15 seconds) with a Ram. Can't say that about the hundreds of kill spring regular snares I have set/used. O'Gorman talked Senneker into designing a small version kill snare with the Ram being the model as he didn't like the bulk (and costs) but again the trigger on the Senneker takes a lot of pull to release the spring and the spring throw distance is very short. A lot of efficiency of the kill spring, in small snares, depends on a/the force needed to activate (release) the spring. Not so with a gentler trigger like mine (and I'm sure someone in Canada has developed a better spring trigger than the original one too). Rams are much, much better for killing a coyote for me but in the big open cattle/game trails, the smaller less expensive Senneker and other spring type snares will work for me. Generally its the brush and surrounding cover "entanglement" that does the coyote in when the regular snare shortens the anchor distance. This makes a pretty big "mess" of the catch site. Note: you need no lock with the Rams and I use the stake to support the Ram so no tree or wire support for the snare is needed. Because you have a very short death time after the Ram is triggered it is imperative to only use it in lethal situations as stated above. A second, added safety latch is standard equipment to protect the clumsy trappers like me!. I have had only 3 live animals in the hundreds of catches I have made with the Rams. Each being a raccoon that was hip caught and we have a 24 hr check regulation no matter what type of land trap here. That has been some (but not all) of my experience with the two types of snares you referred to. So "Pretty much" some of us older guys still have a tip or two in our pockets LOL.................the (always trying new stuff) ....mike

I love rams. I was hesitant to use them at first, but I personally would never go back. Superfast to set, can be set in such a wide variety of setups quickly, easy to blend in to the surroundings, and they kill in a hurry and seldomly leave a catch circle. I've walked up on countless dead yotes in the snow that didn't even appear to have struggled but instead just lay there dead on the trail.

If I were having to lug stuff around on foot, I'd not like them but if you're using a truck , atv, or snowmobile and toboggan, their size isn't an issue.

Can you post your modified trigger?
What size RAM do you suggest?

Thought I’d resurrect this thread from the dead as I’ve been picking off some yotes on deep snow trails that cross the road. Picked this one up today and reset right there as even in the snow there was little sign of a struggle. The ram just snuffed it out in a hurry. It’s pretty open timber where I got him, just stuck the ram in the snow and it blends in just like a piece of brush growing from the ground. Stick a couple hunks of grass nearby to the loop and they vanish.

A quality snare that's 8' long with a good lock and kill spring will give you the same results as the picture above .

Another way to look at the comparison is a person can pack 4 dozen snares at one time , let's see you pack 4 dozen arm's away from the pickup or snowmobile to set out a snare line .

If you read my previous post you will see that I stated earlier in the thread in a previous post that rams were not convenient when it came to having to lug a bunch on foot.

Now, I’m curious about the same results with a kill spring and a good lock, maybe the result would be the same but most of the pictures I view on here and other places where trappers post, the catch circle of a snared coyote looks like a murder scene. Lol

Great educational post and just more "good information" for states like mine that DO NOT allow snares or even cable restraints on land.

In my opinion, a good lock and kill spring with plenty of cable is more than enough even with no entanglement.

The latter part of that is mostly do to poor lock choices or state rules disallowing good locks.

Great pics Turd, thanks for sharing.

rvsask , if you were to attend a trappers convention where I've got a booth set up you'd notice I'd have close to 500 dozen snares or more offered to sell and quite a few snare supports and misc other snareing supplies .

My response wasn't aimed directly at you but more of a general statement to educate and give a person more food for thought , many of the folks who use the snares I make have been very happy with the quick dispatch of the target animal when caught with little or no catch circle even without entanglement and in some case's the snare cable isn't bent up twisted or kinked up severely to make removing it after the catch quicker , then the used snare can be used for a extension if needed .

I've had some health issues that have kept me from running my own snare line like I did while I lived in Southeastern Montana I'd run between 300 - 400 snares a season with many catches similar to the pictures that Turd Ferguson had posted and numerous others who use the snares I make will tell you the same thing .

Not every catch will be picture perfect due to bur's in the fur or matted or the snare lower on the neck of the target animal so there's a slight chance of a catch circle if so more the snare a bit further up or down the trail and reset it .
There's always variables in what ever you do and running a snare or trap line is no different , I've spent a great deal of time to educate folks about how well snares can add to make a successful fur season even better or to help control predators from preying on livestock .

Your friend along the snare line !

Allan

Turd's picture are to note. The coyote has an open run to hit that snare end and produce enough "pull" to release the small kill spring (F=ma) . If you are in tight quarters where a coyote gets a short tug and then wraps on a plum bush or wraps on a small tree the Force needed to release the trigger can't be applied quickly (sometimes not at all for me) ....... Have been lucky enough to witness 2 coyotes I jumped hit a smaller kill spring snare (like a Senneker) full bore and after the 'summersault' he was laying in a daze and the spring had tightened. He was on his last breaths and possibly would have expired in 3-5 minutes. Likewise I have had dozens of coyotes caught in these types and even a few Sennekers that tore the catch site and they had not applied enough Force to actively release the spring due to a confined escape and short entanglement. In my case, these coyotes needed that greater de-acceleration force to pop (trigger) the spring loose or to tighten the regular spring farther against their windpipe. Not so with a Ram and a lighter trigger (both standard Rams trigger and the smaller kill springs need the/more animal force to release their compressed spring). That is why I set out to design a lighter trigger trip on the Ram. For anyone interested my tip: I did this to set coyote trails that crossed our county roads where I could check them on my way to work in the early morning. In this farm country with section line roads, the coyotes will move regularly where they want close to human activity at night (no big open spaces like Turd's pictures). Never lost a coyote or trap (Ram) all the years I did this location and headed to work with 2-3 coyotes in tow many mornings.Checked other sets along the roads on my way home in the evening with an additional 1-2 stone cold dead coyotes that were laying w/i 30 - 50ft of the gravel. No bouncing or live coyote for traffic "gawkers" to see. Ram's in plum brush sets just as lethal with no chewings. So if you have the space to have your capture site coyote get a run I agree that death is fairly quick with the smaller spring snares but a lot of trappers don't have those places to set and still need/want to harvest coyotes. Lots of other examples but this is enough from " My side of the fence" for now............................. the mike

The snares I make and have used all have the small compression coil springs , I've got friends who use and like Marty's Canadian snares and yes I've made a few dozen of them . So I have no personal experience with them , however I e caught more coyotes in a wide variety of set locations from the wide open grass lands to thick entanglement to fence crawl unders , each had a high dispatch rate with a limited visible catch circle , in plum thickets or cedar patches .

There are different spring poundage 25 or 50 pound coil springs for most applications the 25 lb springs are more than adequate for most predators up to wolves where some prefer the 50 lb coil springs .

Alan and wife, thank you both for contributing to this thread.

Alan, you clearly know something about snaring, that is easy to see based on your responses. I’ve tried some kill spring snares in the past, they killed, but not nearly as quickly as the RAM. Maybe that was user error, maybe not. Obviously I never made them, I just bought some, I’m open to new ideas. I’ve just come to the conclusion that most guys snaring coyotes are not using devices that get the job done in a hurry as most photos people share definitely show a serious catch circle. You’ve proven that to not always be the case.

Wife, our situation is very similar. I too am simply snaring on trails crossing the road between home and work. I too want a stone dead coyote in a ram, 25 feet from road as opposed to one that is alive abs tangled up in the brush as you described. I also deal with heavy moose sign near those roads this time of year. When the snow piles up they seem to want to be near the roads. I can only guess it’s because increased light there in the summer provides more growth of shrubs and they’re there now to browse on that. Any way, I definitely have the odd moose walk through the ram. It likely hurts their leg a bit but they bust that breakaway ram snare real easy and carry on their way.

Everyone has different circumstances and accordingly approach things in different ways. I know if i locate brand new trail to set on, I can have a ram anchored to a tree and set and be back in my truck in a minute or so and that’s important for me as well.

Happy Snaring!!