One year I bought a gallon of herring oil. Tried it at lynx and marten sets without much luck. Stored it in the cache in a box and it rusted through,a pinhole in the bottom. Dripped down through the box under it which was full of wolf snares.(yeah,a big mistake on my part). Wondering if boiling these snares a few times will clean them, or should I just salvage the locks and start with new cable?

I'd boil them then let them soak a week or 2 in an enzyme detergent like Biz.

No, they'll be alright after boiling them. Throw some logwood dye or something similar in with them after boiling for half hour or so and there shouldn't be any herring oil left.

Snares get contaminated all the time since they're always in proximity of baits and oils that lose their contaimnent; WD40, 2 cycle oil, engine oil, injection oil, etc. Giving them a reboil will get them back in service. Its not ideal as boiling should have been done in late fall so they have time to air out but they'll air out fine on the trapline.

Gotta wonder what is in that stuff. I once decided to render some herring oil, and put a couple dozen in a metal coffee can with a plastic lid.
Forgot about it 'till next spring. Picked it up and the bottom was GONE! Super nasty was all that was left. No Good!

If you have one, I'd just put them in the dish washer.

Thanks for the input guys. Fly in camp so dishwasher is not an option, and at home I'm the dishwasher.

Figured that was the case, but worth a shot.

Might be good stuff to soak old traps in briefly to clean'em up befor dying.

I read that boiling snares was a bad idea as it put moisture into the center of the cable and they rust from the inside out.....not sure if thats the case in AK though, its pretty dry up here usually.

When they come out of hot water (in falltime, with above freezing temps) pretty much all the moisture evaporates off the cable in short order. I wouldn't lose any sleep about them rusting from that.

Boiling them to remove scent is too important a step to skip.

Pete

A while back, several years ago, I had a bit of a "snare accident" also. I had a 250 foot roll of 3/32 snare wire in a box with some tie wire, and other odds and ends, as well as a small plastic pail of ground beaver castor mixed with glycerin. On the way to camp the castor leaked onto the snare cable, contaminating a section. So every loop was contaminated.

I boiled the wire for about an hour with some spruce needles. Then buried it in a squirrel midden out back of the cabin. Kind of forgot about it. Two seasons later I dug it up out of the cone bracts. The cable was now brown but no castor smell to it.I made some of it into snares with which I did catch coyotes. I still have about 150 feet of that coil and now using it to replace the chains on my marten traps.