Live snaring fox

[martentrapper]

Looking for info on live snaring red fox. The fox I catch fight pretty hard, unless they expire. Can fox be held in a live snare for 24 hrs or more without damage to the fur? See quite a bit of chewing also. Will 1/16th, 1x19 be enough? 5/64th better?
Anyone with exoerience at this?
mt

[ADC]

I successfully live snare all my snared fox(all red fox in my area) using 4 foot 3/32 cable snares with large washer locks, deer stops and good swiveling with no entanglement. I get no fur damage and no chewouts on neck snared fox BUT we have a 24hr. check law so I can't say for sure, if left up to 48hrs or more, that there would be no damage or chewouts. I don't recall a fox ever even bieng close to chewing out on 24hr. checks though. I'll bet you'd be fine using this set up.

[Snareman]

ADC touched on 4 good points of successful live snaring: larger surface area locks, 3/32" cable or larger, good swiveling and no entanglement.

Another factor which helps is the location of a limit close stop to help with healthy venous flow. Although fox can be live snared with 5/64" cable, I've seen some bruising on the leather side when they're alive. I've experienced this mainly from using poor locks in entanglement and am thinking if a larger lock would have been used along with no entanglement, it may be better.

I understand your fox spoiling... especially in early season or spots that get ample sun exposure throughout the day... which is one of the reasons I use more foot traps during this time.

Shorter snares will allow you to stick to tighter areas void of entanglement. As for chewing the chewing you are seeing is a result of setting snares in a situation or using snares not suitable where they are not dispatching soon enough. When an animal dispatches quickly, the amount of damage within the catch circle is limited. If you look at any videos of a snared animal and see where it chewed the heck out of everything, you know the job was done wrong.

Another important thing to consider in your live snaring, is the use of an inline swivel. They really help keep the snare from binding or breaking. Whatever you decide to go with, the longer you have him in the snare, the longer he works the cable and lock into the fur.... which could damage the longer guard hairs.

Snareman

[martentrapper]

Thanks for the replies. ADC, are you using 7x7 or 1x19? I've seen fox almost chew thru 7x7, 3/32. I'm somewhat reluctant to try it. Also, I do have refusals and 3/32nd seems likely to increase refusals.
What I want is to have time to run more snares. If I could run a snare line on a 48 hr. schedule, and live snare, I may be able to do that. Since live snaring is my goal, setting to make the animal expire is not an option. Thus, chewing is a problem I expect to have to deal with.
I'm just worried that 36 hrs or more in a snare, even 3/32nd could result in fur damage.
mt

[Snareman]

martentrapper,

I started out using 5/64" and 3/32 7x7 cables for fox snraing. I have never had a fox chew out of either and never had one come close, yet. I attribute that to the entanglement. You can also reduce refusals by not having the snares on a straight-away so the snare is outlined and to use pieces of brush wired to your support wire and poking some into the ground. If ground is frozen, use a pointed rebar and drive it in slightly to make a pilot hole where you can jam brush into to better help the snare blend in more. As for length of time in a snare, I never recommend checks longer than 24 hours as it could result in more leather bruising, guard hair damage and possible chew outs for the incidental coyote. If you do opt for extended checks, save your notes and it would be great to hear about your experiences during and after the season.

Good Luck,

Snareman

[ADC]

martentrapper said:

ADC, are you using 7x7 or 1x19? I've seen fox almost chew thru 7x7, 3/32. I'm somewhat reluctant to try it. Also, I do have refusals and 3/32nd seems likely to increase refusals.

I use 7x7 and like I said I never had a fox even come close to chewing through it. Coyotes are another story. LOL! maybe your fox are just tougher than mine. As for refusals I haven't noticed a lot but I don't have snow all season long only later on so it is harder to see when your getting the refusals plus a white background behind the snares makes them easier to see and that could cause refusals as well. Have you thought of coloring your snares to match the background? Maybe white dip or paint?

[Snareman]

Have you thought of coloring your snares to match the background? Maybe white dip or paint?

LOL! I purposely left that out to see if someone else touches on that one. Yes, anything a person can do to help the snare blend into it's surroundings will help reduce refusals. Good point.

Snareman