I might have fallen in love with a new late season tactic

[Swift One]

I have recently had the opportunity to join along with a few guys while they ran a coyote snare line on one of my hunting properties that have some seriously educated dogs.  I was quite amazed at how easy it was to set up the line compared to making foot hold sets.  A few days later, we got a huge old male.  45lbs even, and it's K9s were worn down quite a bit.  It was one very large, very old dog.  Sorry- no pic this time.

I then started looking at prices for snare sets and was eeven more amazed at how little the cost was to get snares.  I'm thinking that I might have a new hobby!!!

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

  Swift, the bad deal with snares is killing nontargeted species...deer and other animals can wind up in the snare and they  can't escape or be released....My friend let a guy set snares on his ranch, and lost his golden retriever in one...I am not opposed to these, they are very effective, but it is something like firearms, we must be care with...Good luck...They are sure coyote getters..My friend who is a fed. trapper uses them for all kinds of animal damage control, from beavers though bears...Very effective...

[Swift One]

Swift, the bad deal with snares is killing nontargeted species...deer and other animals can wind up in the snare and they  can't escape or be released

Wyo. Coyote Hunter,

You are very correct.  I had alot of questions about the same things that you mentioned.  I am only going to place snares on properties where the land owner does not have free ranging pets and Im putting the snares way off the road.  I'm being very cautious as to where I'm going to set up.  I have one piece of property that I know I would slay some dogs on snares but the land owner has three free ranging dogs and im not trying to find on or more of them choked out on the end of a piece of wire.

[markc]

I purchased some snares at one time, but never had much luck with them.  I would like to try again, but am not sure how or where to set them on an unfenced property, that would target coyotes, and not increase the odds of snaring a deer.  Any tips?  Can you post some pics of how and where you set them?  Thanks..

[hunt-m-up]

In IA snares are required to have deer stops to avoid leg catches by limiting how small the loop will go, there are other restrictions such as the distance they need to be set from farmplaces/buildings, but the deer lock is the most important one.
This is a good site for information as well as buying snares.
http://www.snareshop.com/

[Swift One]

We have deer stops on ours.

[highwayman]

a guy that lives around my house has beaten me out of two calling spots  i hate snares.  lol

[hunt-m-up]

We've used them on coons mostly and have had a lot of fun, we've caught a few coyotes as well. I also know someone who caught and crippled a cow and ended up paying for it. Most of the non-target catches/dogs I've heard of have been from setting fenclines too close to farmplaces. I haven't done much trapping or snaring for 10-15 years,but I know my nephew has really been using them on beaver lately. You can definitely put out a lot of snares compared to footholds and they aren't as affected by weather, plus if somebody steals a few you aren't out as much.
Good Luck.

[Glanceblamm]

I would have to check the reg's here but believe that they are allowed for some applications. One thing for sure, cant keep up with them with the call alone.

[Swift One]

One thing for sure, cant keep up with them with the call alone.

That is my thinking exactly.  Calling them in is sure fun to do, but alot of the land owners want to see good results too. 

[Thebear_78]

make sure to use passive locks when trapping somewhere you might get ahold of a house cat or dog.   The passive locks will loosen when the animal stops fighting the snare and help keep them alive.  Also the deer stops are a must have. 

[Swift One]

I must have coyotes that can float to the kill pile. I basically had two snares on trails that lead straight to a bait pile.  All other corridores to the bait pile have been blocked and the trails are funneled so that the heads of the song dogs go through the snares.  Me and a bud went to check the pile yesterday and we saw the usuall crow activity.  We started seeing large chuncks of meat and bone that had been dragged out of the pile.  We also discovered bedding areas were animals had laid right next to the pile and had supper.  We saw coyote tracks in the vicinity of the pile, but no tracks leading directly to the pile.   We looked everywhere.  No snared dogs.  So, we reinforced the blocks and set up one more snare in an area where we thought that was not covered.  Guess we will see what happens........

[Thebear_78]

Make sure you boil the snares to take the shine off of them and destroy all the human scent.  Those suckers can smell really good.  Ram snares are pretty cool too and you can get away with a much lighter snare wire when using them.   Its like a conibear spring that jerks the snare tight, very deadly.