Posted By: warrior
Puzzle me this, snare miss. - 03/12/22 10:47 PM
Definitely a catch and a miss.
Backstory, a little rule bending on some flood control retention ponds. This on in particular is the lower pond in the unit and is currently being lowered, over four foot in the last 24. Drains into the head of Utoi Creek if we have any War Between the States aficionados.
So, these beaver are traveling beaver bouncing between the four ponds, mostly overland as the drains between them are mostly culverted under an old golf course on this former federal installation. Well I found the "crossover" from this lower pond to creek skirts the large concrete overflow/sluice gate then crosses a hardtop goes under a guardrail and along the top of the concrete spillway before turning to rejoin the creek.
Well here's where the rule bending comes in. Dryland snaring is a no go in Georgia save for beaver only within ten feet of water. So I set the trail along the top of the concrete tying off to the handrail. As you can see from the photo I'm well within ten feet vertical of the water
The snare in question was hung from the left hand vertical. As you can see from the catch on the right I have a good catch circle before he decided to end it all. The left none so I figure it went straight for the high dive and it wasn't the hanger as no other snare marks on it.
Working theory, neck snared inspite of my always hanging for a one or two foot inside the loop catch and never had one by the neck alone. Being neck snared only when it hit the end of the wire it slipped right on out. At least that's my best guess. No floaters in the creek as there is a grate fence where the creek exits along the fence in the background. If there were a floater it would have still been on the property.
BTW, I could've set 330s but dryland 330s even I'm hesitant even if ten foot still applies. Long chain footholds possible but restricted to coyote sized as ten foot doesn't apply to footholds. Only thing I might have done different is provide a longer leash to let them swim but I really need them cold upon arrival as there's other loud noisemaker restrictions at that location that aren't so easy to rule bend..
PSS
This is the same location across the creek yesterday prior to hanging wire.
I counted twelve does total in that bunch with a medium sized eight on the hill in back to the left. Surprised it still had it's headgear this late.