I caught a lot of coyotes and beaver in snares when I was young, way before I ever caught either one in a foothold or a beaver in a big conibear. I never learned how to swim, I never had much more than a few bucks to spend on equipment, and I didn't have the strength or skill knowledge to safely set or work with the bigger traps for these animals...but not be denied I read about snaring beaver on the banks at castor mound sets, crossovers on dams, slides and trails, etc. and with a lot of trial and error I ended up catching a lot of huge beaver this way. I never had more than a buck or so in each snare, and I saved any length that wasn't too badly kinked up for another snare or just extension lengths. I always saved my locks (still do) or made my own from bent washers. I had an older uncle who showed me how to snare coyotes, make deerproof sets with snares (duck unders, etc.) and I finally was able to enjoy "big" game trapping without dangerously deep water, big strong and expensive traps, etc. I also learned to do both for many a year without ever toting bait or lure. I used peeled sticks in back of "blank" mud pies for beaver...just learned to make them at prominent areas or used slides and trails. For coyotes I walked a long distance at times, passing by many a good traditional set location opting for just the right spot to squeeze things down and connect on travelers. I learned about loop size and distance from ground for specific critters. I experimented a lot with combinations to get a better catch (neck, body, etc.). It was a cool way to learn to trap for a small-statured kid like myself. I even had a plastic sled I used to put beaver on and to drag them out of the timber with and across the fields. For coyotes, I lashed all four feet together with a shoestring and slung them over my shoulder like a pack.
Another bright note for snares is that they are much lighter in comparison to a bundle of steel footholds or big conibears. No way I could have carried a dozen big #330s or #4s (let alone afford that many) for beaver, or a bunch of nice coyote-sized footholds plus hammers, trowels, bait, lure, etc. But a dozen snares fit nicely into a book-sized backpack along with my wire and pliers. I had a folding saw also for cutting branches, too.
When someone would swipe a snare from me on location (and this is true even today) I'm not set back much economically as I am on a decent foothold or conibear, either. Snares are a 1-time catch tool most of the time, but if I have any sense of the safety of my equipment from "Johnny Sneakums" then I won't even hesitate to switch to snares only in that area.
The weather factor mentioned earlier is a huge plus in the freeze-thaw and snowy situations around here, too. And, unless you really snag an animal and somehow injur it or cause it to struggle, any "miss" I've ever had was merely a knocked down snare that I simply reset and generally connect a short time later. I haven't found a lot of snare-shy critters yet. Snares have been a great way to get the trap or set-shy ones, though.
Jim-NE
