# Survival > Primitive Skills & Technology >  How to Make a Snare

## Rick

I've seen a lot of so called experts on youtube showing how to make a common snare and all of them leave out an important step. So I thought I'd put together a short tutorial on the way I was taught. This will be for a rabbit or squirrel snare. 

You will need about 2 feet of .024 or .025 brass, copper or stainless steel wire. 

The first step is to make a loop in each end of the snare. One loop is slightly larger than the other. 

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Twist the large loop so you make a figure 8. This is the part nearly everyone leaves out. 

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Bend the figure 8 over onto itself so you have a double loop. This double loop serves as the lock. You will not loose an animal using this lock!

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Next, slip the smaller loop through the double loop lock. 

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Attach some type of cordage to the smaller loop. This is another important step. The cordage prevents the animal from twisting and breaking the wire. The type of cordage is up to you. I've used some paracord sheath for this demo but you can use natural cordage if you choose as long as it is strong enough to retain the animal. The length of cordage will depend on how far it is to the anchor. 

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That's all there is to it. Remember the double loop lock. That's an important piece. A single loop can and will lose an animal. The double loop lock will not.

There are a lot of ways to make them I suppose but this is how I was taught and it works.

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## Sourdough

> That's all there is to it. Remember the double loop lock. That's an important piece. A single loop can and will lose an animal. The double loop lock will not.




Thanks.....Good job.

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## Pal334

Looking good,pictures are worth one thousand words

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## Sourdough

I would like some made out of 1/8" and/or 3/16" cable, and maybe 20' long. Strictly for SHTF survival application.

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## Rick

I have some Thompson snares. They are made out of aircraft cable (I think). In any case, they are bomb proof.

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## crashdive123

You snare bombs?

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## Rick

If necessary. I prefer they be self snaring however.

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## crashdive123

Oh - OK.

Oh yeah - good post.  Tried to give you some green thingies, but I gotta spread the love.

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## COWBOYSURVIVAL

Thanks Rick! Great Post!

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## Sourdough

> I have some Thompson snares. They are made out of aircraft cable (I think). In any case, they are bomb proof.



Yes, I have some small Thompson Snares, and they do make some huge ones. I have some spools of cable that I'll never use for another aircraft, I should get some copper closure keeper'thingies. 

Oddly enough it is now "Legal" the snare bears in Alaska. For "ME" (only) I have a moral issue with "ME" trapping, however said moral issue ends if I am real hungry.

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## Rick

I have some of the 1/16 (Size 0) and a couple of the 1/8th (Size 4). I'm the same way. I don't see a reason to kill if I have food. The laws for snares in Indiana are pretty strict and you can only use them in very specific places and they have to be set up in a specific way so you don't strangle the animal (has to have a relaxing snare lock). It can't be larger than 15 inches unless it is half covered by water. 

Like you, all bets are off if I'm hungry.

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## your_comforting_company

Great post Rick. Thanks!

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## Ole WV Coot

Rick, that post was needed. Things we take for granted aren't known by some folks. I am very guilty of making the assumption that something I've known for many years is known by all.

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## nell67

Great post Rick! I too tried to rep you,but alas,I must spread the love :Frown:

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## rebel

Very nice tutorial / post.  Thanks.  I tried to give some rep.

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## Rick

Thanks everyone. Since you all tried to give me rep, I'll just give myself a couple of dozen green thingies. Woohoo!!

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## Justin Case

How does the double loop lock better than a single loop ?

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## Rick

There are a couple of things that come into play. 1. When the animal starts thrashing around to escape you'll have a thin wire puling against a single loop that will collapse. What I've seen is the wire cut the single loop letting the animal escape. 2. A single loop will also allow the wire to bend back and forth against the loop and metal fatigue can cause the wire to fail. 

The double loop doesn't collapse like a single loop does. So it provides a bit of cushion to prevent the loop from breaking or cutting the wire.

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## Justin Case

> There are a couple of things that come into play. 1. When the animal starts thrashing around to escape you'll have a thin wire puling against a single loop that will collapse. What I've seen is the wire cut the single loop letting the animal escape. 2. A single loop will also allow the wire to bend back and forth against the loop and metal fatigue can cause the wire to fail. 
> 
> *The double loop doesn't collapse like a single loop does.* So it provides a bit of cushion to prevent the loop from breaking or cutting the wire.


Oh, ok, I understand now,   Thanks,  Great Post !

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## Rick

I've seen a lot of guys use the single loop and just about everyone teaches it that way. But I've seen them fail, too. I'd sure hate to check my snares hoping for dinner only to find broken wire. That probably means an injured animal, too.

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## Rockgod1619

Great post Rick, thanks for the pics, as well as the information!

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## maker_of_fire

will the double loop work on cordage no wire

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## Rick

I've actually never used cordage for a snare. The problem in doing that is the animal may be able to chew through it. That's why you never see anything but chain or steel cable on the larger ones. 

And, while we're at it...how about snaring your way over to our introduction section and tell us a bit about yourself? 

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...ead.php?t=7813

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## Dennis

Thanks Rick.

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## welderguy

Great info thanks Rick

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## jcullen24

I know this is an old post, but it's a great one.  I had not known about the double loop. 

Thanks again!

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## Wildthang

Good post Rickster! I will never forget the double loop method!

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## jake abraham

thanks Rick

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## Winter

I've never heard about that technique, thanks Rick. All my planned survival snares are gonna be spring snares with braided fishing line as the snare with a modded figure 4 trigger.

Can they escape if they are hanging above the ground?

Said snare setup.
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## Rick

Won't have much wiggle left in 'em. A spring snares works on most stuff 'cept earthworms. They hang on roots and stuff real tight. They got a pretty good grip. I once saw a Nightcrawler pull a Robin underground. Never did see that bird again. They say you can hear him whistle late a night when the wind is still but I think it's an old wives tale.

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## Winter

Is that sarcasm?

I'm not up on trapping and I'm making assumptions I hoped you would critique.

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## Rick

Uh, yeah. That would be sarcasm. 

Nothing at all wrong with a spring trap. I've never made anything that sophisticated. My snares have been for squirrel or rabbit and I go for a neck grab rather than a foot hold. Doesn't that trap limit you to one direction of travel, from bottom of picture to top? And you have the problem the animal may still be alive? 

I've always set mine with the loop vertical so they can walk into it from either direction. The trigger I've used is pretty simple. Like this one. 

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## randyt

I set my snares as a blind set in a bottleneck. I make my snares like Ricks except my method of construction is different. I also leave a little tail of wire about 3/4" long up by the double loop. This tail can get tangled in the fur and help lock the snare so to speak.

wanted to add that I don't use triggers or spring poles on my snares. Trolling wire for small animals and thompson locking snares for large game. If I make a trigger it's for a deadfall rather than a snare.

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## Rick

I have a couple of sizes of Thompson snares but have yet to use them. I got them as an emergency fall back. You talked about leaving the tail of wire in another thread and I had forgotten about that. Thanks for the reminder.

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## Winter

That makes sense. I guess y snare is less a snare and more of a trap. The end of the trigger stick would be baited.

I reckon I need to learn ore about this trapping business, but, like SD, it doesn't sound like fun at all.

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## Rick

Here we can hunt squirrel with any method. There are no restrictions. I'm not one to go out and kill stuff just to test my skills. That seems a bit egotistical to me. But when squirrel hunting it's perfectly legal. I use squirrel poles, too.

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## randyt

that tail really helps. The last rabbit I snared, I had a heck of a time pulling the tail out of the fur. I doubt a tail would be necessary for squirrels. The snare would be on a slant pole and gravity would work in my favour. If I didn't have locking cable snares for larger game I would probably use a spring pole or weight along with a trigger but still set it as a blind set. In my opinion trapping is a awesome energy multiplier. Lots of potential for payback. Like all things though ya gotta do it to own the skill.

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## Stairman

I dont bother double looping for twitch ups but definetely for stationary sets.

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## Thaddius Bickerton

Hey Rick,  good post.

I want to add something I do and I don't have my camera (I dropped it into the lake last week fishing  lol have to start hunting yard sales for a new / old one again i guess)

I take the doubled end and open it up into sort of an "L" bit more or less depending on the wire.  That way when it slips closed it is less likely to slide back open.

I have seen a bent penny with a hole at 12 and 6 oclock used as a "lock" also.

I will set about 6 snares at one end of a meadow and then walk the meadow and usually run a rabbit into one of them.  Had them sort of stop and stand still and it loosen up so I started bending them that way.

Of course if you are pressing rabbits just right they almost die as they hit the snare, I almost think they have a heart attack.

But I found your pics did a great job showing how I set up except for the bend at the end.

I don't want to sound all know it all an such, just wanted to add what works for me.

Thad.

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## Rick

That's how we learn, Thad. Sharing 'round the campfire. That's the reason I posted. I don't know it all either. Just a smidgen about a lot of different things.

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## Thaddius Bickerton

I remember when I was a kid (like 6 or 7 probably, I still mostly act like a kid) but anyway, my Dad gave me a card board box and told me to prop it up on a stick with a string tied to it and hide under the pine tree with some bread crumbs under the box and yank the string to catch a bird.

I bet I spent hours trying that, every time a bird went under the box, and I yanked it somehow the bird got away.

I did learn patience and watching the game etc.

don't know what I would have done had I caught a bird.

while I have never attempted it I suspect snaring birds is something that takes unique skills.

Still snares are now a pretty sure way to get small game for me if I really need it and have time to set up a drive.

most of my "trapping" was done with muskrat boxes which are just wire cages with spring loaded doors set where when they exit their dens they are caught in them and drown.  I have sometimes gotten 4 or 5 in one box nose to tail.  Back in high school we got $5 per pelt, and I pretty much was one of the "richest" kids in high school just for trapping in season.

Beyond that I never much trapped and learned snaring from the same old fellow who taught me to catch muskrats.  He used it to keep his stew pot full.

Which by the way, muskrat makes a passable substitute for rabbit, but I pretty much just don't care to eat em.

Now I have also burrow snared groundhog which I love to hunt with a decent rifle or snare or any other way to get them.  They help the farmers save their crops and since mostly fed on clover and soybean and such are a clean meat that I substitute for pork chops and have never had complaints.

bread n fry em up boneless with a pan of biscuits and some fried taters and it's a good dinner.  (My friend Rip, the retired butcher, well his Mom was a old hillbilly from the hollers and could turn stuff like that into a fine meal.)

You should have tried her way with salt pork, made it downright yummy.

And don't get me started on what that woman could do with a few teal or other ducks.

Ok, now I'm hungry.  Gotta make a munchie run.

Thad.

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