Ha!
I always thought I was the only one who could snare a coyote in a snare set-up like that and not have it dead when I got there. Cutter, thanks to you, now I don't feel so bad!

Up

...as in Michigan's?

LT, hope you are feeling better, could you please share more? I i'm one of the dumbies trying to catch the smart ones so I need all the help I can get. Thank you to everyone who has shared their knowledge here.

Sure...guess maybe you should throw some questions out there and we'll try to answer them.
Lots of good snaremen on here!

I want to know it all.LOL I guess with my first few months of trapping, I hav become kinda partial to the snares. Caught two fox and one coyote with them. I recently bought some snares from a fur buyer, lure and bait maker and trapping suplier here and they are built with 7x7 1/16" on the business end and I'm guessing 3/32" on the tie end. I boiled them in soda water and then dyed them with logwood and the chrystals. Let them air out and then set them a few days later. Too soon? Wrong dye? Should not dye? I may have gotten started too late in the year, but this is why I am here and the fact that this trapping thing has taken a hold of me like nothing else. Like I said before I thank everyone that has shared their knowledge with success and that no good miss.

I DONT DYE MY SNARES SOMEBODY TOLD ME TO SOAK THEM IN A CREEK FOR TWO WEEKS BEFORE USING DYING THEM SLOWS EM UP AND CAN CAUSE SNARE TO NOT FUNCTION I LEARNED YOU HAVE TO BE PATIENT WHEN WE CHECK OUR SNARES WE TRY AND DO IT FROM A GOOD DISTANCE IF POSSIBLE SO WE DONT PUT TO MUCH SCENT AND EVIDENCE OF HUMANS IN AREA KEEP AT IT DO WHAT YOU DID ON THE FOX AND YOTE YOU GOT

Well, I never dye snares with logwood the way you do traps. I don't want my snares black because they will stand out like a sore thumb against a brown and grey enviroment.
I use to boil them in baking soda to dull them and to take off any excess oil..however, I don't even do that anymore.
The trapper known on here as ADC brought up the point that doing this causes snare cable to start rusting from the inside, if kept over from year to year...and I had noticed that.
Today, I dip the snares in thin Formula 1 once or twice, depending on how it looks and streak them, using spray paint of several camo colors. I do this in the summer and then air out until needed.
I've never notice any problems or refusals when doing it this way.
I should note that with Formula 1,,( which is a water based dip, by the way) you need to really shake off any excess dip after you pull them out and once dry, run the lock back and forth a half a dozen times or so. With Cam-locks make sure they work back and forth, as Formula 1 can build up inside these if not careful!

So the ones that I have dyed turned brown. Should I boil them in just water and hang them out or just touch them up with a little gray or tan?

Tinemaster, I caught the coyote by a front foot. He was just a pup. I think I just got lucky and he tried to go around it and might have slipped into the snare.

The tracks said he was trying the uphill side of the set. A little muddy.

I spray paint mine with flat tans and light browns. I run 1X19
1/16 cable for the most part for coyotes. I use springs with amberg, cams and slim locks. It is open where I snare and I like 5-6 foot snares with 5-6 of extinsion on it. Very seldom do I have anything to tangle them up in.

My fist dozen that I built are sprayed flat brown and they are 3/32. I think now that almost all of the snow is gone I will ad a little tan and grey to them.

Yep, browns and greys are the most common colors in a wooded enviroment...even during snow.
I very seldom use an all white snare.

Do any of you do anything special to your support wires and locks to help camouflage them other than maybe a leaf folded over the lock?

Not 100% sure I understand your question....
That said, we have a vine here in this state called honey suckle vine, different from a honey suckle bush, but honey suckle, none the less!
It stays green all year, is non poison and can make a snare really disappear on a kill pole or any other type of support or set-up.
Like all vines, it is very leafy and where it grows it covers everything. It is easy to work with, as it wraps around easily and is very natual.
Probably grows in many states.
It is a God send to a snareman.It is the ultimate in snare camoflauge!
I have killed more coyotes in snares because of this plant!

You have pretty much answered my question but I was wondering if you make a special effort to hide-camouflage your support wire and if you drape anything over the lock to make it more inconspicuous without hindering it's action? If you are in a location that does not have this type of vine is it prudent to import a little grass or a few small sticks to hide things or is the addition of new materials sometimes a deterrent in itself?

Well, you never want anything that will hinder your snare closing. I camo-paint paint all my kill poles, snare supports and snares.
I use steel wammys on all my snares. This allows me to be able to insert a folded leaf,( I like maple) in the wammy and fold it over a Cam lock...this is two-fold. One it hides it and two, it protects it from freezing rain, as it really sheds water!
Not a 100% but what is?
If you use Cam locks, try it...you won't be disappointed!

Ok I will add my little knowledge to this too. I think there is several reasons that a coyote may avoid a snare set, one is because its too open and there isn't enough cover for the snare, I have seen some guys snare in wide open ground with no brush to help break up a snare and catch critters, I have never had in luck in that, and also I believe that people check snares too much on foot and walk around the snares to much, I like to check mine close up at least every 6 of 7 days if weather permits, I know some places have snare check laws that wont allow that, but if you can put them where you can check them from a ways off I think it helps.

Another reason I have seen here is cable size, I used to use 3/32 snares all the time, then I tried the 1/16 1X19 cable and I noticed a lot less refusals with the 1/16 but if you didn't have the right loop size coyotes would be hip caught and chew off quick with 1/16, so I tried the 5/64 for coyotes, then I seen a few more refusals then the 1/16 but not like the 3/32.

Then I seen some snares stuck out like a sore thumb, and so I started boiling them in more baking soda and that helped a lot, but if it got to light colored they stuck out bad them, but if it snowed they blended in a lot better then just plain cable, so then I started playing with painting them, the best colors I have found is a light tan color, as close to a dead grass colored tan as you could get, but when you hung them in the sage brush or mahogoney like we have here the plain tan struck out, so I then painted them the tan color and then streaked them with a sage green color and a lighter brown color, no I feel that my snares blend in pretty well unless I get really deep snow, but even then the brush I hang them in will always help to conceal them some what too.

Now in the snow I always have done like Newt said too, I walk the trail they are on and if I come to one even if its the last one I will walk right over the snare and keep walking for aways, or I will walk aways off to the side where I can see them and not even walk down the snare line.

On the catch area, I have found if the animal is in the area where the snare was hanging and the animal is dead, chances are I wont catch another animal there, but I use 10 foot snare, and I have found as long as the animal isn't right where you hang the snare you can reuse the spot again and pick up another animal, I had one spot this winter where I had 2 snares, and in those 2 snares I caught 4 cats at that location hanging it right back at the same spot, would I have done that with a coyote, maybe, maybe not, but I feel if they can get a ways away from the snare spot it saves the location.

Just whats worked for me here.

Now there is the voice of reason!
Great post Cattrax!