Hello everyone, new here and fairly new to trapping, but a life time avid outdoorsman. I do traditional tanning as well, which re-kindled an interest in trapping. For whatever reason, I am compelled to try and catch as many kinds of fur bearers as I can with a snare. I have lately just been trapping muskrat, and got my first mink last week. Pretty much everything in a 1.5 long spring or a 110. Have some beaver and mink snares set out now. Anyway to get to my question, it seems to me that a standard pocket set would be a perfect candidate for a snare, especially considering how budget and diy friendly they are when you've already set out all your leg holds and body grips. I'm confused though, because I have never come across any information about setting snares in front of pockets, but to me it seems like a no-brainer. Have any of you done this? Am I missing some reason as to why it wouldn't be super effective?

I never set a snare in a pocket set, blind trail sets only.
JMHO maybe a den hole snare , I've done that , but never a pocket set.
Blind trail sets are the best.
Not hard to snare a muskrat , or mink in a tunnel under over hanging grass , muskrats , funny but if you find a trail leading from a body of water , Set the snare two fingers high 2 1/2 - 3 inches wide on a loaded snare. Dead center on the trail, even without any covering , muskrats go right in it.
I do mean a loaded snare , that fires as soon as it's bumped.
Muskrats caught , have never hurt the snare in my experience , mink will ruin the snare in no time.

Get this book, it explains loading snares and how to use them.
https://www.minntrapprod.com/The-Snareman-Leonard-Pavek-Book/productinfo/B-LP-SNARE/

Thank you for the advice and book recommendation. I've never heard of anyone snaring a muskrat, but I figured it couldn't be too hard. Glad to hear from someone with more experience. I'm familiar with loading snares, but that book I'm sure will do me a lot of good. I have 2 blind trail set snares under a bridge for a big male mink I've been tracking for the past month. Spotted him again today, 6 feet up a tree of all places. I'm going to make an arrow quiver from his cased skin. The river is very rocky, so I stacked some rocks to make a couple tunnels for him to investigate, right along the wall. Snares set within the entrance right after exiting the water, and disguised somewhat with bark and dry grass. If I succeed in snaring mister mink, I'll show the resulting arrow quiver here.

Snaring right at the pocket...most likely a futile.

Snaring approaches to the pocket is something I have done. If you have somewhat steep banks and theres a shelf thats fairly narrow or could easily blocked down, you can make your pocket then go 6-10ft on either side and set snares for the raccoons coming to the pocket. Hopefully that could free up the pocket itself for a mink unless a herd of coon come through.

You can snare anything.
Snares are deadly.

By the way welcome to Trapperman ! Good luck on your mink.
Maybe follow the bank a ways up and down from the bridge, you may find a perfect set..

going back to the budget friendly thing, with the exception of beaver/otter right now, most anything you snare at the water are cheaper than the snares.

Another factor as to why they arent quite as effective for mink at pockets is they wont always go into the pocket. they might look in and continue on so youll miss more than youd like to admit, unless you try snaring the approaches as i mentioned above.

My point there was that snares are cheaper than foot holds and conis. I don't sell my furs, I bark tan them. After tanning with that method, they could fetch a higher price than the traps easily. I eat the muskrat I catch too. I'm amazed how good and tender their meat is.

Can make a lot of snares fairly cheap.
Once set up to do so.

I was just about to ask why you think it would be futile. Thanks for clarifying, makes sense. I'll have to try the methods you mentioned.

Big money in making snares if you know what you're doing and have the market.

yeah but assuming for raccoon snares, your probably having 40-60 cents in replacement materials, plus labor in making the snares, For a snared damaged raccoon. that might bring 2 dollards

That's your choice, but never had any hide deducted for snare damage.
Even the vice president of the fur buyers association , said snares would damage hides or fur.
Yet he never deducted my furs for any type of fur damage..
I remember just one beaver having a red line around it's neck area after processing , and he never said a word.
I've seen more damage by the triggers of a body grip that somehow poked through the catch than a snare has done.
Muskrats are always DOA , and you can reset the same snare.
I wish we in Ohio, could of used snares long before they were finally legal.
There's so many places for easy sets for them.
I can't remember when they became legal , but as soon as I found out , I started using them.
Knew of people using them before they became legal , but didn't know who.
Would see some catches with the snare still on the catch at the fur buyer.
There were fur buyers on every corner back then, so it was none of my business.
Like I said it's your choice, just letting you know there's a lot of sets being passed up by not using an extra tool on the trapline.

Snared beaver aren't usually a problem, but finished, snared coon will get you deductions.