Wolf cable

This has been hashed over ad nauseam on here, but you can ignore or respond as you wish. What is the best cable for wolves, or what is your preference? I've been using wolf snares from the snare shop, I think he uses 1x19 3/32 cable. Seems to work fine, I like the 1x19 for making a nice round loop. Anyone prefer 7x7 in the larger wolf type sizes? I want to buy a roll of cable and start making my own on a larger scale. I've made a couple dozen now and then, but mostly used pre made stuff. Price on them has almost doubled the last couple years, so it's time to make my own. Probably go with the 9 wire pigtail support, they are a pain to wrap up, but so quick to deploy.

I like 7×19 1/8 cable, nice an soft.

1x19 for me.I refuse to use 7x7 except for tie offs

I don't like 7x7, either.

Count me in as well as a hater of 7X7, 3/32 1X19 is my preference.

1x19 3/32 for me.

1x19 cable has many more advantages than 7x7. I still have 7x7 snare out on the line, but slowly replacing(when they have a wolf in them) them with 1x19.

Thanks for the replies, I think I will go with the 3/32 1x19. I'm on the fence with locks, the Berkshire ones on the snare shop snares have some issues with bending. I hate waterhead. I haven't really warmed up to camlocks, but maybe should give them a more serious look, would probably go with the ones with teeth.

3/32 1x19 for me for wolf snares. Holds a good loop even with all the senneker stuff on there. 7x7 1/8 for all trap tie downs.

I would think 5/64 1x19 would be a solid snare. I don’t have enough experience on wolves but prefer smallest cable to get job done on everything else and I would think a 5/64 1/19 set up in a good kill type snare would be good. Anybody have any experience with 5/64 on wolves? Preferably not 9 wire tie off set ups?

I hate cams more than I hate 7x7 cable

I've had great success with 1X19 5/64 cable on coyotes and a few wolves using a 3/32 micro lock with a 50# compression spring. YES, I know the micro lock is classified as a relaxing lock and the 3/32 lock is over-sized for the cable but when used with the compression spring I have had quick dispatches and no more water heads.

Nate, I switched from 3/32nd to 5/64ths cable a couple years ago. It has worked well so far. I use 1x19 and the improved cam locks. I've still got a lot of 3/32nd left so do use it as well, but the 5/64ths is fast becoming my favourite.

Have you looked at Slim loc's? They cut through ice on the cable and with the stinger kill system are pretty lethal. Not a fan of cam's when it comes to adverse weather conditions. Can't count the number of times they froze up and a critter backed out of the snare. Agree with the 1/19 cable.

I've played with snares this last year, and went with 5/64" 1x19 with a toothed cam lock or wedgelock with inline killspring, on a 6ft #9 pigtail.
I lost 2 last year with 1/16th camlock and killspring. Caught 7 with the snareshop self supporting wolf snare berkshires that were bent wide open, all were perfect high neck catches....cheap steel does that.
Id like to try using the senneker springs with and without the triggers
Waxing them here in soggy salty southeast is advantageous.







The female here was caught on 1/8" 7x7 with a berkshire that opened up. She had almost chewed out.

i like BMI slide locks. as for jelly head. i have used berkshire,cam, BMI, and amberg. you can get a wolf with jelly head using any of them. All depends on how much the wolf fights the snare. how much the wolf pulls against. what the snare is anchored to. A tree that gives will not allow lock to tighten. Kinda like a fishing rod, it absorbs the fighting fishes pull. I anchor snares between 5 and 51/2 feet high. this seams to work better than lower anchors. most wolves i catch do not have jelly head, but i do have some every year.

I like waxed 3\32 7x7 or1x19,with an amberg wedge and spring.Or a Thompson with spring.
I find setting smaller loops will get a higher neck catch and setting in the thick will put them down quick

This cable chart shows some interesting specs.

3/32 1X19

Anyone know why 3/32 1x19 cable is twice as expensive at Snare Shop than MTP? I think pretty much apples to apples comparison, 500 ft at SS is $53, 1000' at MTP is $59. I get free enterprise and all, but don't want to buy crappy cable, if someone has some insight on this.

Nate....
I know when I buy large cable there is a huge price difference between US made and foreign.
Maybe this is a factor.

Speaking of wolf cable .... this is suppose to be 5/64 7x7 cable. From the frayed wires it sure doesn't
look like 7x7 to me !

Yes, that's what I thought at first, but MTP also lists a Chinese cable same size and length at $10 cheaper, $49.

It probably is an origin thing, tho.

Is your picture from a self released critter?

Unfortunately yes .... third one this winter from 5/64 cable using the Amberg lock!
Between this and wolves getting eaten in snares I give up.
I hate wolf snares .... sticking with traps!

Wow, that sucks! That would make me reconsider my approach as well!

I know some guys use it but I say 5\64 is too small and weak for timberwolves.Trick to snaring wolves and having a good pelt is to get them down and out right quick. Strive to snare them high up on the neck behind the ears,tie off solid and set where you have tight entanglement.A wolf alive in a snare for any period of time will wreck himself to a certain extent.I have been using kill springs on 3/32 wolf snares since the early 90's.Before that we used 1/8 7x7.Loops were big and poor catches were more common but they rarely escaped a 1/8 snare.
Chickenminer that broke cable appears to be 1x19

Chickenminer are you using a kill spring? Show us a pic of the lock? And the setup scenario...Or maybe it is being worn?

Amberg snare.
Here is the lock setup on a new snare.

Your wires look perfectly broken, not cut or chewed, which points to the cable wire strength. There is a difference between the American, Japanese, Korean and European quality control, compared to China and India. This is best explained by anecdotes. China scrapped most of the United States Andrew Carnegie steel. Carnegie's steel is amazing in I have a Ford cultivator that I can not drill a hole in the main frame as it is that hard, but not brittle. Like most here, I purchased allot of Chinese manufacture cast iron cookware when it was cheap. I soon discovered that this cast iron took more heat to heat it to temperature compared to the Wagner and Griswold American manufacture.
When I was in Kansas City for awhile, one day I turned the hot water off and the entire faucet came off in my hand and I had a geyser in the apartment. I got the maintenance crew and was talking to them about it, and the one guy handed me the threaded washer, made in China, and it was thin as paper. China has zero quality control and the United States is full of this garbage.
A friend told me when Bill Clinton was shipping jobs from Minnesota out of country that the corporations knew they would have to manufacture 10 parts for every 5 that might make it through, but labor was cheap so it made the cost factor sense. I would add that "made in the USA" has had the Chinese dumping production in other nations, and it ended up in the United States as American.
The long story point is, I saw cable exactly like yours two weeks ago in a blizzard. I had purchased Goodyear Wranglers which were guaranteed (guaranteed if I rotated tires, kept records.....in other words the guarantee is worthless from Goodyear) and it was the second tire which blew out on those Wranglers, because these Chinese manufactured tires cable wires in them break.
Chinese cable works on steering cables on boats and planes if it is inspected and replaced. Wolves and mountain lions are different in the stress they put on cables. As you know cable is only as strong as the wire, because when unwound, it is just the wires like you have there and they snap. Good wires will hold when no longer cable, but that is not what you have there by the evidence.

Caught a couple dozen now with 5/64 1x19 and a magnum kill spring it put them down fast, might be a different story without a kill spring

Star flakes, with all due respect, while your lengthy explanation of cable failure sounds good, it simply isn't logical. Any cable, (aircraft, in particular), has to meet certain tensile and working load standards.
I work professionally with a LOT of cable, in dangerous places. Huge hangar doors utilized by aircraft companys. Cable flexibility, memory, , crimp and swag compatibility, all vary.
All that said, it is highly unlikely that a simple explanation of the above cable is "cheap Chinese steel".
I was surprised a couple of years ago when Bushman commented on a similar picture where a wolf had popped a cable, claiming the wolf generated enough juice to do such.
I called B.S., then did the math. Bushman was correct.
To be clear, I hedged my bet, used an 80# wolf, with a 6' run, if my failing memory is correct. The Ke. Was plenty to SNAP the cable.

I know this is an old thread, but has anyone used the micro locks with a kill spring on 3/32" cable for wolves? I also keep seeing from the different supply houses that the Korean cable is better quality than the Chinese cable. I generally don't think of Chinese anything as being of real high quality so that might not be saying much.