summer prep work

[Bushmonkey]

Starting to prepare for the season. I was curious if anyone ever tried to dye their snares? I know most will say its not needed, but hey if I'm dying foot holds already it wouldn't take long to throw the snares in.

[nube]

I am not sure if your wasting your time or not to be honest. I did have a handful of coyotes walk up tot he snares and turn around. Maybe they would have seen them anyways if they were dyed or maybe they would have seen more of them if I had dyed them. I know some guys are big on it. I was thinking of a mist of spray paint of white colour for kicks but then again I didn't find I needed too. I boil mine in baking soda and lighten the colour up that way and it works

[tomcat]

Originally Posted by nube

I am not sure if your wasting your time or not to be honest. I did have a handful of coyotes walk up tot he snares and turn around. Maybe they would have seen them anyways if they were dyed or maybe they would have seen more of them if I had dyed them. I know some guys are big on it. I was thinking of a mist of spray paint of white colour for kicks but then again I didn't find I needed too. I boil mine in baking soda and lighten the colour up that way and it works

After a quick 5 minute or so boil in baking soda I soak my snares
for a while in a logwood cyrstal solution and they come out looking a natural twigg color. In the picture the ones above are the ones soaked in the logwood solution.


Then as the logwood soaked snare appears set on a trail:


Painting snares white is of limited value, IMO being of use only agaisnt a white background. From a coyotes view pepspective most snares appear against a forest or bush colour background and a white snare sticks out like a sore thumb.



Edited by bctomcat (11/23/13 08:05 PM)
_________________________
The only constant in trapping is change so keep learning.

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by Bushmonkey

Starting to prepare for the season. I was curious if anyone ever tried to dye their snares? I know most will say its not needed, but hey if I'm dying foot holds already it wouldn't take long to throw the snares in.

I asked the same question this winter, and I had the same train of thought, when I was speed dipping some body grip traps and several guys told me not to do it, at least not with speed dip. Apparently the cam lock won't slide well on the cable for a quick closure.

[H380]

I have been told that snare dye works good on 7x7 cable , but the 1x19 is too tight to take it well, also told it does gum up some locks . I plan on giving mine a light dust of tan / gray to further dull them after boiling .Another thought from a fellow trapper is that he paints a small portion of the snare brown or black on the off side from which it is hung to funnel the coyote to lift his head into the snare opening , can't remember who told me this . Maybe some on here have some other suggestions that would be better .

[bill9044]

As to not start another thread. Is anyone building martin boxes or weasel boxes this summer. How many do you longliner guys have on hand? Also how many do you resident trappers have on hand?
Thanks
Bill

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by bill9044

As to not start another thread. Is anyone building martin boxes or weasel boxes this summer. How many do you longliner guys have on hand? Also how many do you resident trappers have on hand?
Thanks
Bill

Resident Trapper here......first season full time. I built my first 6 weasel boxes last winter but I want to build 18 more before this winter. I'm going to be putting them out in a trailer park where there are plenty of wood piles and weasels. I figure that rotating 24 boxes will be enough for my first year.

I'm not making any marten boxes this year, maybe next, but I've been hoarding pieces of plywood to eventually make some. I have to drive 100 kms to get where I can trap marten so I'm going to see how busy I get with rats and yotes locally first.

[jim summit]

Snares i have always just boiled in soda to get the shine off.

We have about a 100 marten boxes out on the line, if the bear or wolverine have not tore them all down. Have to replace some every year.