Rabbit snaring

Hey guys

Im just starting to try and snare rabbits. I had my home made snares out all weekend on some good trails, but none were touched. I dont know if my wire is to thick (0.7mm/0.027 of an inch), i need to decent them or my snares are just not the right set up. Ive got my noose about 6 inches above the ground and the other end of the snare into the ground which is attached onto a peg by a bit of string. Need some ideas and tips to catch some.

Thank you
Daniel

Sounds to me like you don't have a trigger setup and a spring pole is needed.

Your current set up would be dependent on the animal slipping its head into the noose of the snare and then pulling it tight to strangle itself, not particularly efficient since the critter is going to feel that noose and back out or just hop right through without touching it enough to get hung up.

The best snares incorporate both a trigger mechanism (a figure 4 is very common, easy to build and very sensitive) and the spring pole makes sure the noose closes on the animal quickly as well as jerking it up off the ground.

here are some links to show you how to build them.

offgrid survival

outdoor survival

make a snare

Hi Daniel,
I myself do not use a trigger or spring pole. If you have a good trail I'd try lowering the bottom of your snare opening a bit I use my fist as a guage so that's a bit lower than your 6 inches. A natural choke point helps. Wire size sounds good make sure the noose slips freely, I use piano wire.

You have the top of the snare set at 6" or the bottom of the snare set at 6"?

I'd set the bottom of the snare from 2"-4" and the snare opening only about 4"-5" across. Possibly some smaller.
With stationary snares that require the animal to catch himself numbers are your friend. I'm talking 30-50+ snares.
The lightest wire you can stand is what you need to use.

Not sure on the wire I have as I bought a 1000 yard roll like 10 years ago and never had to worry about it since.

Rabbits are to me by far harder to catch than coons, beavers, opposums, and even deer.

Those animals I listed tend to just push through "vines" and then flip the F out when they get caught up.

I've watched rabbits push into a snare then feel a bit of resistance then back up out of the snare just same way they came in.

So how do you keep other stuff (like cats) from getting caught in the snare?

Snares and other traps are indiscriminate.  Best way to not catch a cat is to not set it up where cats are.
If you are in more of an urban suburban area I'd say use a box trap to avoid killing Fluffy.

Yeah, we're pretty rural, but there are a lot of feral cats here. So no snaring for me, lol!

Vick Smith wrote:Yeah, we're pretty rural, but there are a lot of feral cats here. So no snaring for me, lol!

I have no love for feral cats.  They get composted.
House pets and barn cats are a different story.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/feral-cats-kill-billions-of-small-critters-each-year-7814590/

I agree, they do kill gazillions of small mammals. Like rats. I like feral cats WAYYY better than I like rats. We have an LGD who keeps the cats away from the house (and HER cats, lol) so I don't worry about them predating any of our own animals... I like cats, and if I saw one dead in a trap, I'd worry that it actually wasn't feral...  because a feral cat looks JUST like a tame cat. And, even alive, many people can't tell the difference between a feral cat and a dumped off housecat... Or a lost housecat.

For small game, if there are enough around to see them, then they are plentiful enough to cull.  Best tool is an air rifle.  Humane, cheap, lowest destruction of meat.  I wouldn't snare a rabbit either, unless in a survival situation, and I doubt I would get much out of it in that case.

The MO department of Conservation has free plans for box traps. They're easy to build, and you might be able to find enough scrap lumber to build them for free. I built a lot of them when I was a kid, a long time ago. I built the kind with the door that drops down a channel. They work great. They are heavy if you want to carry many very far. If you catch a kitten, you can release it unharmed.

A pair of rabbits in the spring can produce 50 offspring a year because the baby rabbits born in the spring can be parents before winter.