Deer stop vs BADs

Had my first chew out from a coyote in an Ohio legal “snare” recently, and don’t much care for it to happen again. I’m sure it will, but I want to minimize it. The CRs I have now have deer stops at 2.5”. Seems to me I’m be far better off to snip them off and install BADs. My thought is that it would at least give me a chance to get them choked down before they can chew out. With the deer stops that seems unlikely. Ohios rules state I need one or the other, not both. For those with more experience with either, is my idea okay or is there a better one?

I prefer deer stops on coon/fox snares. That's it. Everything else gets bads

Thanks. And I forgot to mention, my only target is coyotes.

Just to explain my reasoning for the deer stops on the coon/fox snares. Those snares generally get positioned at heights that are about perfect to potentially catch a deer by the foot. Coyote snares are generally high enough off the ground so chances of foot catches is about zero unless the snare was already knocked down .

If you have an option the BADs are the way to go IMO. I use them on my coyote snares even though I have to use a deer stop too. Deer stops won't always release a deer that steps through a coyote snare they'll be caught too high on the leg. They also won't release livestock that may escape and find the snares. A 2 1/2" deer stop won't stop you from killing coyotes their neck ain't that small, but it sure does seem tough.

Whatever happened, looks like he wasn’t there long. We got a lot of snow last night, but even the brush was completely undisturbed so he wasn’t fighting long.

I would switch to 1x19 to stop chew outs. I don't think the deer stop or BAD would have changed the outcome of a chew out. I could be wrong though.

Your right. BADs or deer stops won't eliminate chew outs. Once I went to 1X19 I haven't had another chew out.

Everyone seemed to be out of 1x19 snares with locks I could legally use this winter. Next year I’ll have stuff ready early, but for whats left this year I want to minimize as best I can. I’m hoping they get themselves cinched down tight enough that they don’t have as much time to chew on the cable.

No such thing as an illegal lock in Ohio unless you can find one with built in spring

My interpretation is different. I’m certain that using cam locks could get us a ticket. You could try fighting it based on word play, but I doubt you’d prevail. And I don’t see anything about kill springs not being legal. As long as they don’t assist in closing the snare.

No need for word play. The definition of relaxing lock is crystal clear. A lock that stops closing when the animal stops pulling is a relaxing lock.

Kill springs are basically only legal for nuisance trappers and it's pretty limited.


(YYYY) "Relaxing lock" means a lock that stops tightening the snare loop when the captured animal stops pulling against the snare

If thats Ohios definition of a relaxing lock, fantastic. I’ll start using cam lock snares tomorrow. I’ve never seen that in writing, is there somewhere I can find it?
Regarding the kill springs, I’ve read the regulations over and over and can’t find anything that even suggests they can’t be used. Where am I missing it?

Kill springs would be a mechanical device that assists in closing the snare.

All this stuff is in the Ohio administration code(OAC). I haven't looked at the reg book in years as it's only a summary not the actual rules. It just highlights the important stuff.

http://codes.ohio.gov/oac/1501:31-15-09

And the definitions...
http://codes.ohio.gov/oac/1501:31-1-02

We don’t have a choice in Iowa, we have to use deer stop. I would love to have the choice of using BADS only.

Just in case my terminology is incorrect, this is what I’m referring to below. They don’t assist in closing, they only apply pressure after the snare has already closed. Thats my interpretation at least.


https://www.snareshop.com/mobile/prodinfo.asp?number=SPQKS

It would still be closing the snare. Not really measurable but still it's closing



(f) It shall be unlawful to have attached to a snare any spring loaded or mechanical device to assist the snare in closing.

In Iowa we have similar wording... "MECHANICAL SNARES
It is illegal to set any mechanically-powered
snare designed to capture an animal by the
neck or body unless the snare is placed completely under water."

It does not apply to killsprings (unless they have a trigger on them). They are totally legal. It does apply to RAM type snares and they are only legal submerged in water.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but you may want to look into it further.



~ADC~

Going back to the relaxing lock definition precludes using springs of any type of snares. We've got enough problems with people using snares where they shouldn't be without adding kill springs to the problem.

That doesn't sound right to me. It sounds more like you think they are a bad idea, but are uncertain if they are indeed illegal. Can you clarify? Are you Ohio DNR, I was thinking you were for some reason.? ???

Nah, I'm a director for the state association. Id certainly be using them if I believe they are legal and nontargets weren't an issue . There was a big fight to get our snares legalized as it was, well before my time as director, Hal was one of the big movers on this as well as others.
Used to be we had to get additional permission from the landowner to use snares on their property.

Nuisance rules spells it out a bit better and it's clear that you need a nuisance license doing a nuisance job to use kill springs. That came about a few years ago with some nuisance companies wanting to use those for groundhogs in urban areas where they didn't want to risk cages.

Not saying you’re wrong, but my interpretation of the written regs is about opposite of yours. There is no mention of kill springs, they play no part in closing the snare. RAMs would be illegal. And I think most anyone would agree that a cam lock is not a relaxing lock. If Ohio’s definition of a relaxing lock is as you say, where can a person find that? That would be important info to have.

I posted the links to the rules above. And copied the relaxing lock definition directly from those .

I have both on my snares though neither are required here. The locks on caught coyotes were nowhere near the deer stop when cinched down so they are not even a factor for coyote catches in my experience.
BADs however can be. Ive had lots of different makes and styles over the years and they are not all built the same. Some can fail at considerably lower pressure than the stated rating...and vise versa some should have failed and didn't. Neither is foolproof but I'd wager BADs are more effective than stops for deer catches any day. Placement matters too. Fence crawl under for me have proven to be a no no and BADs dont matter in those situations in my opinion.
Be careful and use common sense for placement. Goes farther than any stop or BAD can.

Sorry, I completely missed those links. Honestly their relaxing lock definition defies logic, but its right there in black and white. I’ll be hanging some cam locks today. Thanks.

I would agree on all accounts. Except crawl unders. For the most part I avoid them, but I have some that are all but deer proof because of their location and heavy brush. But I know they aren’t common.

I’ve also found out the hard way that neither a stop or a BAD, or both, will serve their intended purpose in some situations. So my way to “protect” the deer is to avoid the deer. But I still have to stay legal.

I caught 4 deer last year. In 3 cases the BAD did what It's suppose to do. The 4th One we knocked down and got the CR off of It and It went on It's way. All these deer were fawns.

In Arkansas we have to use deer stop at 2.5 inches. And a 1 piece lock both sucks. Wish we could use a cam lock. I have never had a coyote to chew out. But almost had a coon too. Then I went to 1x19 cable.

If you have time to build your own snares look into spools of 1x19 cable you want plus the locks. You can build the snares to the exact dimensions and legality you need.