I want to start running snares in an attempt to lower the bobcat and coyote population. We are low fence in Jackson county. How would you guys recommend me setting the snares? Sometimes I see the deer go under he fence. I don't want to snare a deer.

Thanks

had a raccoon caught in a snare and went through the fence three times.

In my opinion running snares is indiscriminant killing. On the place I leased before we bought our place a govt. trapper came out and set snares for hogs and predators. They caught hogs, coyotes, foxes, coons, porkypines, A "chupacabra" or mangey yote, and more fawns than you can shake a stick at. I bet more than the yotes and bobcats would have killed on their own died in those snares.

Our (govt) trapper snared a deer last year. IMO, don't snare larger openings-if you think a deer can get through it you might be better off skipping it.

snares are great. I love snares and firmly believe they are the second most effective way to control coyote populations next to poison.

you have to use your head and not set snares during the fawning season, you can catch deer in them but if you set them around the fawning season you can reduce it greatly.

I've personally never snared a deer. I have only snared bobcats, coyotes and a pig.

This ^^^^^^^^^

Snares work super, the location of the set is key. Set low enough (where coyotes like to cross), the chance of a deer, even a fawn, is nearly nothing. Also, you can get snares with "deer stops", basically keeps the loop from closing completely (generally aimed at the foot, so that would be a pore place for a yote anyway)

I have never caught a cat that I can remember with a snare, but quite a few in leg hold traps.

If you learn it correctly, you wont have to worry about catching deer unless you're "belly crawl"! Just throwing some up and you guarantee yourself nearly anything.

Snares are a very effective tool whether they're indiscriminate or not is dertimined by the person setting them.

Not to change the subject, but as a sidebar, if you snare a deer can you be charged with poaching??

If you can't tell the difference between a place where deer are going through the fence and where coyotes do maybe you need some help before doing it.

I used snares for 10 years growing up. I caught well over 100 yotes, bobcats, coons and beavers without a single deer caught.

I've got 4 set on a section of cross fence on our lease where the pigs are busy crossing. Havent caught one yet or anything for that matter. My sets hang on the second to bottom wire but only if the strands are not wide enough for a deer to crawl through. The only tracks I've seen are hogs but I'm sure the yotes are coming through to. I've got to reduce the yotes some how, there are more on this place than I've ever seen.

From the title of this thread.....there's a difference between low fence yotes and high fence ones??

the high fence ones are good diggers. the low fence ones are good crawlers.

unless the place has net wire. those yotes are diggers too

You need to get those off the second wire! You would be better off using some wire and raise the bottom wire to 6-8" off the ground, this will raise the bottom wire and lower the top wire. This encourages deer to jump over the "short" fence and yotes to crawl under through the snare. The set has to "funnel the yote in a manner that is natural.

You need to start over IMO. Walk you're fence at the speed of "stalking" until you're eye can quickly catch yote hair on a barb on the fence, that is spot you KNOW they like to cross. BTW cross fences like you describe are great places to look, you just haven't found the "hole" yet. If the fence is low to the ground, you can also use a shovel and dig out below the bottom wire to create a path if you dont want to wire the fence. Set the snare with a 8-9" loop resting OFF the ground about a 1/2" or so. (make sure to "pre Load" the snare first, or buy them pre-loaded (basically pre-loaded is the loop is formed in a absolute circle, makes it close twice as fast and lock, can be done on a steel fence post if you know what you're doing)

After the snare is set, place a few sticks on each approach, or grass, pebbles, rock, or if it has natural grass on each side (of the approach) that is good. Yotes like all dogs, like a smooth surface to step on, so give them that option.

If you would like, I could take a photo of a set here at the house, this one spot has been good for 11 yotes in 6 years just goofing around trying to keep the #'s down after loosing all the chickens!.

I am certainly not saying "I know it all" by any means, just trying to contribute to this thread, but I have killed 100's of them things in one way or another in 40 years. There are right ways and ways to make a yote smarter and harder to catch.

Not concerned with not catching them, my concern is whether or not it is poaching. Strictly a legal matter, but guess I had better just check with TPWD.

Not a difference in yotes but a difference in strategies and location set up. Anyone can snare a high fence, just have a good loaded snare at every crawl under and come back in the morning and full the truck up. Low fence you have to have an eye for the "hole" as western said. Western's right on the money with everything he stated as well. I like to put a "chin up" stick or two in there too, whether it's on trails or under fences place a small stick on the path only sticking up an inch or two on each side of your loop to get the animals head up and into the snare to prevent him from sticking his nose under it and moving your loop out of the way. A good snare support is key too, the snare needs to be sturdy for your loop to fire correctly.

Snares are very effective. And indiscriminate. That's why many states have regulations about where and how they can be set. I've seen dead fawns in several over the years.