New snare treatment

Do any of you spray your new snares with a flat paint? If so, how did you like the results and did any of the paint cake up on the snares. Did you get the new oil off them before treating? If you don’t use paint what do use and same questions about results, caking and removing the oil off before treatment. I always used the baking soda method but I want to blend them in better.

I do. Rustoleum makes a camouflage specific spray can paint that is flat. I use the sand color because it blends well with our tan prairie grass. Paint doesn't cake as long as you just mist snare. I just hit the lock and about the first 12" of cable.

I get the oil off of them by soaking overnight in a 5-gallon bucket with scentless dawn dish soap. Take out and rinse the next day, let dry, and then paint.

Of course, none of this really needs to be done to snare animals but may give a slight advantage in certain scenarios.

black and wax same as your traps.

I like Rustolium spray

then hang outside to air out before season or do it traditionalsimmer in log wood if in season

Is there a reason you prefer black?

I have caught a fair amount coyotes In CRs and never did a thing to the CRs

Blends in perfect with the background

I have painted a lot of snares and conibears with camo spray paint, one LIGHT coat and I do nothing to prep the cable.





I like formula one in brown as well. One thin dip, do nothing to the cable prior...

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After...


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Then after that....

We can't snare in the Communist State of NY but I often cable footholds to small trees for coyotes. I just boil them in oak leaves and they take a very nice brownish cast to them that blends into the ground cover very well.

Paint all my snares.

What color? I set mine mostly in sage brush desert with the light brown weeds and sagebrush being the primary colors to blend into.

Critters are color blind.

They might be colour blind but they can see real good. They pick up contrast much better than humans.

For sage brush country I prefer Rust-oleum camo in the KHAKI color. But other dull colors will work.
Dark colors are ok in the Forest, not in the open country.
I mainly spray paint the lock and spring area. then very very lightly dust some of the cable with paint.
My cables & ferrules are all ready dull from the Baking Soda and or Sage Brush treatment.
Coyote snares when painted are hung in the summer sunshine.
Even with good snares. You will need to blend and breakup the loop outline. Coyotes have great eyesight. I like snares!!!

"Coyotes are not color blind, they see most colors in a grayscale and can see most shades of blue. If a coyote was truly color blind, they would see in color, but not the correct color. Coyotes have two types of color receptors in the eyes, while humans have three types, this is what accounts for the difference in how coyotes see colors vs how humans see colors."

https://wanderingoutdoors.com/what-colors-can-coyotes-see-you-may-be-surprised/

Remember, it's not how many you catch that determines if you want to camo your snares, it's how many you don't catch.

Some type of camo tan/sand since thats the general gist of our winter colors. Khaki tan rustoleum is mostly what I use. I don’t do any of the greens, to dark. Dulled gray cable blends pretty good by itself in heavy sage.






And critters may be mostly color blind, but they still see shades, and a dramatically darker (or lighter) shade contrasts and is easily spotted even in gray scale. Any contrast also augments any movement there might be, making it easier to see as well.

In a perfect snaring situation, good cover, tight trail, etc, there’s no need for paint. In a less than ideal situation, open trail, sparse cover, snow on the ground, etc, the paint may make all the difference in the world.

Match the background as best as possible.

Simmer in water and baking soda.

Flat black but don't do them solid paint. Coil the snares and run lines across them. This way there isn't a solid outline when the snare hangs.

This is how I've done it, with a dark brown or green (or both) but I am trapping mainly in the timber. I don't use a lot of snares, but done this way they are mottled when you uncoil them and really blend in when hung. I had some dyed like Boco does and they worked well in the brush but I thought the camo effect you get from painting them coiled blended better yet.

* Something to consider . . .

Anytime you coat snare cable with anything , and I mean anything. . . you (could possibly ) impede the speed of the lock closing .



Now, what does that really mean in the grand scheme of things, you ponder ?
Because, after all, you catch animals.
Still, snare long enough and you will see catches that are not quite how you envisioned it.
Catches that are way too far on the neck are quite often the result of a lock DRAGGING
( A split second, can effect where on the neck the animal is caught.)
Other reasons could too large of a loop or a loop at the wrong height.
And in real time, ( ie : the speed an animal travels ) a catch too far back on the neck is often times NOT a killing catch.

Now, if you live in a state when you can't use entanglement, killing locks, choke springs, and are forced to use a CABLE RESTRAINT,
does it really matter ? The animal will be held alive , right ?
Well, yes and no. . .
Regardless, of what you use, or how you set it, right behind the ears, is where you want that lock to be !

You want a lock to spring forward the second an animal hits that loop.
Learning to 'properly load cable' will allow you to do that !

But how fast that lock closes will also depend on several other factors :
One of which is, the type of cable used ( All cable is NOT created equal )
Is the lock equally matched to the cable ? ( Important )
And lastly, (which is where I started) how is the cable treated ?

A lot has been written on treating snare cable and I will add , at the risk of argument :
' If you're boiling snare cable to remove the factory oil . . .
Son, you're buying the wrong cable !

Snare cable should NEVER have oil on the outside of it, to start with.
Ever hear of Dry Cable ? Any idea what it is ?
Where to get it ?
Half the people selling it to you don't know either !
Boil cable , regardless of what you use , or how you use it and the boiling process will remove the oils INSIDE the cable,
which if you use ALL of it that season, then it won't matter much, but keep those snares a SECOND season and you will start to see
RUST in the cable, especially at the bends. . .and that will end up costing you animals over time.
The cable will start to rust from the INSIDE OUT !

Now coating cable with dips, (which most are really just a water based latex paint) or spray paint will, as I said earlier, CAN slow a lock down regardless of how thin you use it.
If you coat it enough to take cover the shine of the new cable , it will slow a lock down, even just a fraction.
Seems fast, you say.
Then how fast would it be without it ?

Today I stain cable, using the tannins from wet oak leaves.
It stains it. Doesn't COAT it. Stains it. No boiling. Shiny brand new cable, right off the boat from South Korea !
If done correctly, it will stain it the COLOR of a fallen Oak leaf !
Ever see one on the ground ?

Here's a fact, few are willing to adjust to.
Shiny snares will catch animals. Lots of animals.
It will miss a few too, especially sharp coyotes that will detect it,
I personally want my cable to blend in with the environment.
Like a vine that grew there.
Staining is how I do mine.
But animals, for the most part, don't know what a snare is.
They're animals !

Now in closing I will leave you with this :

Once while at a seminar (where we both were instructors) I ask the largest seller of trap and snare coating if he felt his product was actually needed to snare animals.
His reply ?
"No, but if people will keep buying it, I'll keep saying it will "

Enough said !

Good advise.
Do you just toss the snares into a pot of water & leaves for a few weeks to stain or what’s the staining process without boiling?

I have found that
a quick 5 minutes or less boil with baking soda will remove excessive lubricant and shine, then a quick boil and soak in a light logwood crystal solution will provide a good twig/bark colouring look as in this picture, with the lower snare being the soda treatment versus the logwood soak. You could probably substitute walnut hulls or tree bark for the colouring agent. Snares treated in this way are scent free, work just like untreated snares and generally blend in very well to the background bush, from the coyote’s point of view.

No, it done by using a pile of WET Oak leaves , not a pot of water.
You need the tannins to BLEED on the cable.
That's what stains it !
Watch what happens after a rain, when a wet leaf falls, then LAYS on your vehicle.
Look at the paint, just in 24-48 hours.
The color of the leaf is bleeding out and will leave an imprint.
That's what stains the cable. The color is bleeding out. . .
If that doesn't make sense, pick up the phone and call me and I'll explain it.

* Cold soaking
Now that is done USING A POT OF Rain water
No heating.
Black walnut and similar hulls, will stain 7 X & cable
Now that's 7X7 Galvanized, NOT 1X19 or stainless.
Also ,Cider Vinegar will take the shiny finish off of cable as well as ferules and locks.

Makes sense, that’s the camo for my truck…lol. Is it worth it to collect leaves right now before everything’s covered in snow? Or would the color be leached out from the fall rains/snow melt? Could probably spread a damp layer in a cardboard box, lay the snares, and cover with another damp layer for a few days.

bctomcat, thanks for the snare pictures. I also have used the same methods for coyote & bobcat snares.

On the top snare, Soak Method, the lock and ferrules are still too shiny imho. A little shot of camo paint on the lock area would help it blend in better.

The bottom snare, Boiled in Baking Soda, has a nice dull look to it. This method has worked very well for many western trappers. I like snares!

I do not remove anything from my snares. I build them, load them, paint them, store them, use them. I spray paint my snares with flat camo paint, usually camo brown on the bottoms and tops of the loops and khaki or green on the sides. A light coat of paint, but enough of a coat for coverage. The extension cable end just gets whatever color paint it gets.

If I am building a good number of snares, I’ll line the locks out on a board, prime them, paint them, then put them in my box. I even usually paint my earth anchors. Necessary? Absolutely, positively not. I do it to keep my locks and anchors shine and rust free. If I end up using a beaver snare as an extension anchored snare, I don’t want to have a shiny fang just sitting there. It doesn’t take long to do. They still fire well.

Good information and ideas.