Proper use of snares for capturing furbearers Snaring is an effective technique to capture animals that cause economic damage and for harvesting furbearers. Snares placed in trails or under fences can successfully capture furbearers. Carefully select sites where snares are set to avoid capturing non-target animals such as deer and dogs. Introduction Snaring is a useful technique to capture animals that cause economic loss, such as coyotes that kill livestock and beavers that cut trees or plug irrigation ditches. Snaring also is popular for harvesting surplus furbearers, one of our renewable natural resources. Snares are effective for capturing target animals, but may capture non-target animals such as deer and dogs if used improperly. Snaring is the technique of setting a steel-cable loop in an animal's movement path to capture the animal by the neck or leg. Snares usually consist of a 2-1/2 to 10-foot long piece of galvanized aircraft cable containing a slide lock that forms a loop in the cable (Figure 1). Attach a swivel, which prevents twisting and breaking of the cable, to the end of the cable opposite the loop. Snares present several advantages over steel leghold traps. They are light weight, compact, simple in function, affected little by weather, easy to set, low in cost, and offer a high degree of trapper safety. In a south Texas study, snares were 10 times more selective for target species (coyotes and bobcats) than steel leghold traps. However, snares can be a greater hazard to livestock and some non-target species may be killed. Snare PreparationNew commercial snares and extension cables can be cleaned by boiling in detergent and hanging outdoors for a few months until they turn a dull gray. Snares also can be changed to a dull gray by boiling each dozen snares in 4 tablespoons of baking soda for one hour. Darker snares can be obtained by boiling in brown logwood crystals and dye. After boiling, keep snares clean of foreign...
