Something ive been looking into is increasing my snare use. I know ky has a restriction on mechanical snare locks, so which snare lock do yall find most effective. Is there one that i can make myself?
Colt and Tim Grooms good ones to ask. On Colts suggestion I used the mini pro last year on beaver.
I saw a YouTube video yesterday where a guy drilled two holes in pre 1983 Pennie’s and made simple locks but I thought it was illegal to destroy money, I don’t know
I would think that you could bend a washer and drill hole and make a good lock. But really snare locks arent that expensive. Good cable i think is key. Hopefully the trapper class will have a good lesson on snares. Need to get me some #9 wire to make my supports better. Been driving a stick and double twist 14 ga wire to support. Have a hard time getting them set right and figure im missing everything. Looking to set alot of trails this winter, blind sets and snares to guard em. And beaver snaring intrigues me.
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I really like the gregerson locks or the micro locks
Wish I was Smart enough to figure out how to use the gregerson lock
I have this mental block how to run the cable
Just being honest
I really like the micro lock and the mini pro, with the way things have gone up in price, a washer costs as much as a lock so by the time you make the mods it is more if your time is worth anything. I’ve got several different style locks but from now on, I’ll probably just go to one lock for everything. Did you see how I did my supports at the spring training class, that has been a game changer for me when beaver trapping
I mustve missed it. Ive been looking at the supports dale Billingsley uses. Just a 9 ga wire bent. Is it better to run a barrel swivel and a pigtail? Seems some of the harder fighters like otter would put a burn line. Had one do that last season.
No problem, I’m on the road right now but when I get home, I’ll post a picture. But basically I take a piece of 12 gauge wire about 36 inches or so and fold it almost double, leaving enough offset to put the whammy/tubing on to hold the snare. I then chuck the loose end up in a cordless drill and hook the looped end over something and use the drill to twist it leaving about a1 1/2 inch loop. This allows me to use my stake driver to push or drive it into the ground and keeps the support from twisting.
I plan on making some up with 9 gauge wire they will be even stiffer. I have found, the stiffer your support the more successful I am.
I have some snares with swivels I think the amount of entanglement plays a big role in how quickly the swivels foul. I have never caught an otter in a snare which kind of surprises me considering some of the places I snare beaver so I can’t offer any advice on that. I hope if I do they entangle quickly, an otter on 10 feet of cable could get interesting
Dale Billingsley has some very good snare building videos on YouTube.
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Yeah ive been watching alot of his videos. I like his methods and he will get back to ya if you have a question
I like the mini pros the best very tunable and good for somebody like me who ain’t a great snare builder.
And I’m not
Colt
I was able to make a serviceable snare with the mini pros. Other closing devices I’ve had trouble with. I squeezed the mini pros together a little bit and it helped.
Thumb, the first snares I ever saw were at Etown made by Dan Dezarn. They were Gregersons. Gregersons little snare book is really good for the basics. I think the little mini pros work for me better than the Gregersons but there’s been many thousands of animals taken with them.
Thanks Steve
After I posted that I looked on Southern Snares
Website and saw them
I’ve got a few that were gifted to me of different
Sizes
I had thread the cable through but felt I had it backwards and seeing that picture was like
Dah ya big dummy
I’ll look into that book
Dan Dezarn gosh that brings up a memory
Maybe I shouldn’t say this but he was a very Odd guy/weird to put it mildly
Maybe it was me but he refused to sell me something one time from his booth
I musta wizzed him off but I don’t know why?
I barely knew him
And I’ll leave it at that
On snare locks
I have used a washer lock for a long time
And I’ve been satisfied with them
But
I’m asking an honest question
No one seems to favor them and was wondering why?
Is it there size? Slowness
Loaded to me they work fine just asking for thoughts
If you remember Marsee Wilson he made his snares out of brake cable and bent washers and snared the heck out of foxes. He got to really liking snares in his older days.
The washer locks are all that I own,I experiment with snares some and just wasn’t as pleased with them.i know they have there place but I don’t use a whole lot
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My favorite hands down is the micro lock
I used them and caught everything with them I thank what pushed everybody around hear away was the fact that we thought that’s all we could use until they clarified the law.
I like the mini lock because there fast and have a very small profile. That’s good for blending and reduced wind drag. I also use 1/16 on my cat snares.
The washer locks catch allot of wind on me and seem to get knocked down on windy days.
Cokt