to whammy or not to whammy?

[wormbobskey]

I myself don't use whammy's in any form and was wondering what the overall consenus was on their use. I like to use a double strand of 14 gauge wire twisted togather with 3 inches of single strand sticking out. I make a small cradle in the end of the wire and crimp it behind the lock. I saw this method a few years back in Dan dezerns book and it has worked wonders for me. I read his story in the latest TPC and thought I'd find out who else uses this method. thanks, Worm.

[swampstomper]

I've used every kind of snare support , from spit stick to wammies,w's,m's,fishhook, but what i like the best with 3/32 cable is rubber tubing and #11 wire.I use this on beaver,otter,and coon.For coyote I use wammies with #9 wire.Fox and cats I use #11 and tubing with 5/54 or 1/16 cable.

[45/70]

For years, I used the "DeZarn Method", and still use it occasionally. I have used butterflys, split sticks, whammies, and collars.

The biggest problem I see with the 14 ga. tie wire ending in a crimp, is that the snare is only supported at one narrow point place. When supported in this manner, the snare is more prone to wind fire, water current, bird lightings, etc. Additionally, most of us will occasionally make a mistake in closing the support drimp. When it is too tight, it will not release the snare, and twist out becomes a real possibility.

When I used the coiled wire whammy, I did not always get the fit I wanted. Also the whammy itself dictated the use of the snare. Because of the fit, the support wire had to fit the whammy, and this often called for different size whammies on different sizes of both cable, and support wire.

I have used vinyl collars for a long time now. Vinyl tubing support collars give me the best support of the many things I have tried. The vinyl expands, and can be used with most any size support wire, # 9, # 11, and 14ga., though sometimes the 14 ga. may have to bend back on itself to get a tight fit.

Using vinyl collars has made the job of snare building somewhat easier, and the snares do not need the on-the-line organization that I was making with the wire whammy.

I have used rubber, and like it better than wire. However, rubber, at least to me, has more odor than vinyl. Also because of the greater outside diameter of rubber tubing, it does not hold to my ideas of the smaller the better when snaring, as does the vinyl tubing.

Adios,
45/50,
RKBA !!!

[ADC]

I use whammys on almost every snare I set. They fit very snug on my #9 wire supports, so snug in fact that you can actually tip the snare out to a 45-90 degree angle to create a perfectly perpendicular set even on the steepest trails. They work great in freezing weather as well, can't say the same for the rubber tubing. It freezes solid and won't go over the support. I love the metal whammies won't be without them.

[Snareman]

Thanks 45/70 for saving me some typing. Ditto.

LOL!

Snareman

[yotehunter]

I myself love the support the wammies give my snares, I have not used any rubber or vinyl tubing but I am thinking when it is 10-20 below zero it might be tough to slip it on my support wire. so I will continue to make and use wire wammies.

[dickm]

A bit off subject, but if you ever have a problem with coyotes twisting supports into corkscrew shapes, it happens because the wammy does not release quickly enough after a catch. Solution is to put a deer stop just behind the wammy to pull the wammy off the support.

This isn't usually a problem when dispatch occurs with a single run, as we would hope they all would. But in springy brush it can help.