What is the easiest way to prepare a rabbit snare with minimal tools?

Though I have never been hunting, neither have got into a situation where I had to bank on wildlife for survival, I had once imagined and practiced a very basic snaring technique, without involving an animal in real. But, this technique that I am going to explain is NOT necessarily the best one to implement under extreme circumstances.

Things you need:

• Ideally a wire or a Strong thread and/or shoelace, preferably a nylon thread of you have.
• Some rabbit bait
• A knife for fine craft work

1. Hunting is a skill that involves fine craftsmanship, understanding the surroundings and the mentality and habits of animals. Look for the places where you are most likely to find rabbits. You should be looking for their droppings, tracks, rubs, scratches, signs of feeding, shelter or burrow entrances, food and water sources, etc. Select a place suitable for setting up the trap like the one I have drawn in the picture. (Kindly neglect my bad work with the Paint tool)
2. Pick a tree or something similar that can give the kind of a recoil action when the latch is disturbed, so that the loop shall swing in the opposite direction and above the ground (+ a rabbit's height).
3. Fix a base deep in the ground. Make a notch on it to latch the trigger in it as shown.
4. Craft a trigger which can be latched into the base as shown. This may take some time.
5. Tie a string (you can use a shoelace) to the tip of the small plant. The plant should be tough enough to bear the weight of a rabbit.
6. Make a loop of wire and tie it to the trigger part. Practice the loop part multiple times as this simple knot is too crucial to fail.
7. You may have to put some obstacles around the set up so that the animal is forced to be diverted towards the setup.
8. Finally put the bait in front of the setup such that the rabbit will have to pass through the loop. So that when he necks though the loop and move ahead, the latch is popped, the trigger is lifted and the rabbit is hung.

This set up may fail in case of strong winds and other physical disturbances. make sure the you don't put one such set up on a cattle trail as that would injure the cattle.

Lastly, a humble request, on a personal note, though hunting is legal in many parts of the world, try not to hunt for no reason and just for fun, be humane with your hunting techniques. Don't trap an animal for fun and in a manner that it would torture them physically. God forbid, but, if you at all are really into a situation where hunting is the last resort for survival, make sure that you kill them quick, after-all its a life that you are taking, don't make it slow and painful.

posted over 9 years ago

CC BY-SA 3.0

WedaPashi‭

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The best place to snare a rabbit is on a trail. Find an area that is overgrown and thick. Look for areas like this

http://www.instructables.com/id/Snaring/step8/Game-trails/

In my experience, baiting rabbits is very hard.

I don't have a good knot I use for snaring. I typically make snares before I go out to the woods, but in a survival situation this is not practical.

Here are two good snare videos.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YANo1IWJZNI

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS0KI573vIk

posted over 9 years ago

CC BY-SA 3.0

thomasw_lrd‭

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