Snaring is a useful technique for capturing animals that cause economic loss, such as coyotes that kill livestock and beaver that cut trees or plug irrigation ditches. Snaring also is becoming popular for harvesting surplus furbearers, which are one of our renewable natural resources. Snares are highly effective for capturing target animals, but when used improperly may capture non-target animals such as deer and dogs. Snaring is the technique of setting a steel cable loop in an animal's movement path and capturing the animal by the neck or leg. A swivel that prevents twisting and breaking of the cable should be attached to the end of the cable opposite the loop.
Snares present several advantages over steel leghold traps.
They are lightweight, compact, simple in function, affected little by weather, easy to set, low in cost, and offer a high degree of trapper safety. Snare Preparation New 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. Afterboiling, snares should be kept clean of foreign odors.