wormbobskey,

Ron is definitely better to address this than me, but the reason I use breakaways is so I can neck snare. Like I said, currently I'm using camlocks and Sullivan S hooks, but this setup allows the snare to close completely. I also do my setting differently. For young 'hogs I do a 3 - 4 inch loop 1 - 2 inches off the ground. For adults, I do a 4 - 5 inch loop 1 - 2 inches off the ground.

This setup does allow snares to get fired off or pushed out of the way (especially if you don't do some limited fencing), but over 90% of my catches are neck snares.

I have had a lot of my snares pushed to the side and even had one that had obviously caught one for a while as it was all kinked up, but no hog. I have some 1/16 1X19 snares I made for mink that I never used. I used 1/2 diameter washers with a break away and over loaded them. They were extremely fast and in some cases hard to keep set as they wanted to slam shut all the time. After I made them I figured I would never use them, espeacially on mink, but now I believe they will work very well for hogs. I have my loop size about right but a little lower than yours. Maybe that's why they were being pushed aside a lot. I appreciate all the information as I know I will be using more snares in the future on jobs like this.
On a different note. I found 3 older northwoods 110's this weekend at a yard sale and have converted them to 120's with pans. All have new springs and will be perfect on those smaller hogs.

This is going to open a can of worms LOL and yes Paul I need to do the LOL to make sure it stays on the light note. IN MY OPINION and only IMO based on snaring since 1987 in a populated area.(NJ) So feel free to agree or to tell me I am full of sugar LOL

It all goes back to what I said in the other post, I believe on downward trigger vs outward trigger. We need go back to habits and behaviour of the animals are after. As a norm, when we talk, we base our snaring methods off of fur snaring, when in fact, what we are talking about here is ADC in an IN SIGHT AREA, and in most sets, open. not the back 40. Fur snaring or back 40 ADC, We want a neck catch. The reason is in fur trapping neck catches, reduce fur damage, and kill the animal fast in a true snare that is used in most states.(no deer stops or break aways) Yet in states like NJ (1987)we adopted, What we have classified as a non lethal body gripping snare. other states are doing like wise with similar stops. The deer stop puts my snare into this classification lawfully. nuff said on that. The breakaway is to allow animals such as deer and larger to get out of a snare not a Non lethal snare. lets not get into the live vs dead thing here.

Most methods and talk are in fact based off of k9 and cat snaring in a travel set. Where the animal is moving forward and hopefully at a steady clip, in a blending set. The k9 or cat body structure is the neck goes into a vertical point of the chest down to the front legs. so lets say a fox has a average front leg length say 7 to 9 inches and a 5 to 6 inch vertical chest cavity rise, this gives roughly 12 to 14 inches to the top of the back. So a loop of 7 to 9 inches set at 7 to 8 inches to the bottom of the loop will hit the fox on the vertical portion of the chest. a outward movement of the bottom of the snare will trigger the snare and the forward motion of the animal helps keep the snare closing. If and when the fox feels the cable closing the instinct is to move forward, which means when it gets to the end of the cable pull the cable will set for the lock (Kink)positive cable set. To prove this point grab a fox by the tail most of time they will leap forward, Most not all LOL. a lock set at 10 and 2 will hesitate a split sec and then spring forward on a proper tuned snare. The outward swing of the bottom of the snare relieves the lock pressure on the cable.

On animals that climb, like coon and groundhogs, they have a habit of climbing over rather than push through. watch a coon or groundhog work through a bush pile, you will see what I am referring to. so in a blended set, they do not see the snare bottom and will move through, but on a open set they see the circle, and in fact they do go right through it, but if the cable is low they will in fact step through the loop. most think you need a 8 inch loop for hogs and coon because they look very big body wise, yet look at the den hole, most are 4 to 6 inches round for both. also most coon in my area have front leg length of 6 to 7 inches and hogs 4 to 5 inches. The body cavity of a hog is 3 to 4 inches so a 8 to 9 inch to the top of the back. Now here is where the major differences comes to play from the k9. So coon and hogs the chest and neck are a slope not a vertical. there really is no stop and push forward on them. For example a 8 inch set 4 inches to the bottom of the loop the base of the neck pushed down on the snare rather than out, but in fact the loop is being stepped through also with the front leg so there is even more downward pressure on the snare. a lock set at 10 and 2 now loses the swing release motion and now just wedges somewhat, until the animal is almost through the snare and thus we get a back haunch catch or a pull through. I want a downward trigger on these open sets. the snare is tuned so the lock will be at the 1 to 11 position and fires on the downward push. I want as light a cable as I can use. not for speed but for lock cable set. If you do get a neck closing catch, and the hog or coon feels it, the first thing they do is stop and back up not lunge forward. the proof of this is grab a coon or hog by the tail they swing back to fight. so they will not move forward to get the cable lock set and it will come off as the neck and head are the same size. (Back out) pole snare a coon by the neck and it pulls out seat belt hold with the pole and it is yours.

In ADC I could care less if it is a neck catch, seat belt or a hunch catch. matter fact if I have to put it into a cage to take it away I WANT A SEAT BELT OR Haunch catch so I can get the pole snare on it. back 40 or fur I want a neck catch but then again any catch is fine as I can't skin if it ain't caught LOL

Jonesie, I really hate to disappoint you but; although my experience with snares is limited and also legal in our state, my success with them has been above average. I've been reading your advice to the readers and to be honest with you, it is, in my humble opinion, something that they get for free and really should pay for.

I'm sure there are a bunch people that are as good as you, but putting all this knowledge into understandable words is a blessing!

P.S. Do us a favor: After two or three sentences, skip two lines. I know the post will be longer but a lot easier to separate. Does anyone disagree?

I look at this way. Any and all information I can get, the better I like it. I imagine there are a lot of guys who would rather gloss over things, but I get on here to try to learn and understand why and how someone does something different. I would be a complete fool to think I know it all. I get a lot of younger trappers in our area who want to learn from me and I offer all the advise I can. But I also tell them I don't know it all and tell them to get on here and start asking questions.

Sorry Paul and others, I was in a rush and missed a lot of punctuation and sentence flow. You should see Bob Noonan with my stuff, it is easy 2 hours of talking on the phone.

This one thing I Know and truly believe. This is not just talk, I know there are many many people, that know much more than I in the ADC fields.