The WHERE of snaring and trapping.

M

Michael Bennett

Joined
Mar 2, 1999
Messages
666
It seems to me that the most crucial aspect of snaring or trapping is placement.

I've read a lot of stuff about how to build traps and snares, but not a lot about how to determine the best location or how to find sign of a specific critter.

Any good tips on placement for small game such as rabbits in a woodland environment?

Thanks,

Mike
 
Hi Michael,

I just watched the first 5 videos in Ron Hoods video series. Excellant stuff and the best learning medium excepting live hands on!

Volume 5 deals with your questions nicely and covers scouting game trails and using timing sticks to influence game behavior and a myriad of other details concerning trap placement. Please understand that I have no connection to Ron (other than being a member of his forum at his web site) and this was the first time I had watched his videos. Money WELL spent and I will be buying many, many more! Just my opinion.
 
Michael,

Like any animal, start thinking about the rabbit's physical characteristics and then habits -- what does it eat, where does it drink, where does it feel safest, and how big is it? Find books or films on the animal -- and go out and find the animal, too. (I actually got a pet rabbit for awhile and let it have free run of my house -- so I could study its movement. It was a very loveable little guy, too. I let my ex-girlfriend take it with her when we broke up...)

For rabbits and hares (lagamorphs), low leafy vegetation areas, thick bushes, and stick piles are favorite hiding places, as well as rabbit holes. Thick forests, with a heavy canopy blocking sunlight, won't support low leafy vegetation, so look at the edges where they intersect with meadows or in more open woods. Briar bushes or other prickly vegetation are favorite hiding lairs.
They are nocturnal, and like many animals, feed at dusk and dawn when it's safest for them to move. Their tracks are easy to see, and you'll see broken grass and leaves at about their head-height, plus rabbit pellets along their trails. They like to stay in cover, and only usually venture out into open areas without cover at night.

Once you recognize the areas that a rabbit might feed, then look for watering areas. Then search in between and squat down low to look for their trails (get down to rabbit height) -- it's easy to spot in early morning or late day when shadows are long. (Morning is especially good because the animals have very likely recently travelled the trail and you'll see fresher bending of vegetation, dew wiped from the leaves and grass, etc.) Then find the tracks themselves, and look for where they move and where they stop to gnaw or dig. Different traps are good for different places. As a broad generalization, snares work great in "movement" areas, and so do deadfalls, and deadfalls are especially effective in feeding areas with good bait. When deciding on type of trap, think about the surrounding terrain -- a big huge rock hanging out by itself with a figure-four on a grassy game trail, where no other rocks exist, might be suspicious to them.

The next thing on traps is "fencing" which means it is imperative for you to guide the animal into your trap by creating the route of least resistance and easiest opportunity. Look for tight trail areas surrounded by vegetaion and/or rocks that would be perfect for snare placement or deadfall placement.

This is a great question: you can see why tracking, sign recognition, and understanding animal habits are key to catching them. Why? Trapping and hunting won't happen unless you know where and how to find the animals.

Hope this helps,

Brian.



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Suburbia: Where they tear out the trees, then name streets after them.
 
Materials used and type of trap or snare IS very critical. Depending on what you are after and under what conditions you are in.
It isn't always necessary to funnel your
prey into a narrow passage. Finding where
your prey travels with snares is. With traps
it can be a matter of baiting and drawing the
prey into the trap. Traps can be used on
trails but I have better results off trails.
Alot of times things that are OUT OF PLACE
draw prey to it. Curosity killed the ---
It works with most animals even wielly coyote
and sly fox. My deadliest set is a single
straw bale out in the middle of a hay field.
Prey and predetors become cretures of habit.
and can be snared out in the open along a
trail.
I haven't seen Ron's videos or Gregs book yet
but I'm looking forward to learning some new
stuff from them. Hopefully will have them
soon.
I'm toying with the idea of placing some
snares and taking some pics along with how
to build some simple snares.

------------------
http://www.imt.net/~goshawk
Don't walk in tradition just because it feels good!!!!!
Romans 10:9,10
Hebrews 4:12-16
Psalm 91

 
Great stuff Goshawk...

I've found rabbits to be more skittish and less curious than predator type animals -- but agree with your post on luring, etc. Finding game trails is the easiest way to get started on trapping tho -- later, when you're intimately familiar with their habits, you can start luring, etc.

Sounds like you're an experienced trapper yourself if you can do that well -- thanks for the info -- great stuff!

Brian.

------------------
Suburbia: Where they tear out the trees, then name streets after them.
 
Great information, gentlemen!

Goshawk: I'd agree that methods and materials need to match the situation at hand. I guess the angle that I was looking at is that I don't see a lot of rabbit sign while out in the woods. I see plenty of squirrel, deer and turkey sign, as well as coyote scat, and can identify a lot of critters by tracks. But cottontail sign seems to elude me. So, I figure either they aren't in the area, or I don't know what I'm looking at.

Mike
 
The best way to find tracks is to find 6 or
8 spots that you think the prey your after
would pass. Rough up the area and smooth it
out so tracks will show up. Check the area
and come back until you feel it's there or
not. In the mean time make some more test
areas.

------------------
http://www.imt.net/~goshawk
Don't walk in tradition just because it feels good!!!!!
Romans 10:9,10
Hebrews 4:12-16
Psalm 91

 


I'd second Brian's advice on traps, and add some to his thoughhts on choosing 'movement' areas for snares. With bunnies, it's really useful if you can go out and look at tracks in the snow, I've learned a lot this summer.

Bunnies have a tendency to pause just outside an open area, and then dash through said area. This 'pause' area will often be trampled flat, and marked with scat and urine (Very visible in the snow) Then, the intervening trail, across the open space, will be just a few landing places as they sprint across. Setting a trap just past the edge of the cover, into the open area, or right at the open area, will catch the bunnies at the beginning or end of a sprint, when they are looking for things that may eat them and not paying attention to the trail, and have enough surrounding vegetation to keep them on the trail, guiding them into your snare.

For an idea of the amount of food you can get, in a fairly heavily trapped area, I was in a group that set about 20 snares one evening, and by the second morning when we left, we'd caught two snowshoe hares. Not enough fro an individual to grow stong and healthy on, but definately enough to keep you living for quite a while.

Stryver, still marvelling at the cross-section view created by sawing a hare in half...
 
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