How to make Snare Traps

For a long time we’ve been watching people make snare traps on YouTube. We’ve never made one ourselves though… until today.

We know we learn things best by actually ‘doing’… so this was our chance to get in, have a go and learn. It was good fun…. and not at all hard to do. The whole thing took about 10 minutes to make.

Since this website is all about ‘being prepared’ we feel learning how to set snare traps is a good preparedness activity. After all, if we ever find ourselves in a situation where we are desperate for food, it will be WAY easier to catch game with snares than going hunting with bows, guns, blow-darts, crossbows, slingshots and/or slings. We also take into consideration that if we did not have enough arrows or bullets, this may also dramatically limit our ability to go weapons hunting.

Below are some photos of the snare we made in the backyard here in Queensland, Australia today. We also shot a quick video.

We’ve also added some of the ‘how to’ videos we have found on YouTube.

The only tools we needed were:

A sharp knife
A Mini Mini Hobby Saw from Silky Saw (side note: this website is not sponsored by Silky Saws, nor is this an affiliate link).

We used yellow braid fishing line for this snare just so the snare (including the loop) would be easily seen in the photos and videos. Our loop was not particularly good; if we were making a snare in a real-world situation, we would make the loop out of very thin flexible wire.

Cause if we were in a survival situation and only had minimal supplies, we would use whatever we had with us, or could find, make or scrounge – eg:

Cordage from Paracord
Cordage made from grass or bark (if you’re not sure how to make this, there are lots of tutorials on YouTube)
String
Anything else we could think of

Please note: We would ONLY ever set a snare trap like this out in the wild (or anywhere for that matter) and leave it unattended for any amount of time, if we actually were really in need of food. Snare traps are not a humane way for any animal to die; so we want to make sure this is acknowledged. To repeat this point: We would NEVER use snare traps unless we REALLY needed animal protein food.

We REALLY like ALL animals. Personally I don’t even like killing ants when they infest.

There are of course other ways to trap animals; including cage traps often used for animal relocations. This blog post though is focused on what could be done in a survival situation with very few resources, materials and tools at hand. Touch wood this never happens, but if you were to find yourself in an emergency situation where you are very low on food and water and/or rationing minimal food and drink, you may be experiencing dehydration and weakness (mentally and physically).

A snare requires very little energy to create and setup vs hunting for game using other methods. Same too re. foraging for plant-based foods hoping that you’ve correctly identified what you have found and that it is actually safe to eat (remember what happened to that poor young man whose experiences were depicted in the movie Into The Wild).

Side note: ‘Each to their own’ is what we say. Personally though we are not into hunting live animals, however we do not have an issue with those who focus on clean kills and eating what they hunt… or are required (of volunteer) to cull certain animals (an activity that we may participate in too, in the future).

Hunting endangered species though… well, let’s just say, that’s another topic entirely.

We were raised on farms and we have friends and family that hunt. One of our friends has also invited us to hunt with him and learn to process meat. He is a qualified Butcher. We may just take him up on the offer at some point. He has worked in Australia, Alaska and other areas around the world.

PS. If we ever had to, we would definately setup snare traps.

Above: We caught a juice bottle in our snare trap lol

Above: A very quick little video we shot on a mobile phone today. The trap is set :). Side note: The audio for this video came from the YouTube Audio Library.

Snare Trap Tutorial Videos

These are some of the tutorial videos we have watched on YouTube.

Above: This video will show you how to make 3 different simple Spring Snare Traps. We made the first one today.

Above: At some point soon, we would like to try a fish snare trap. Side note: Ovens Rocky Mountain Bushcraft have really great videos, including their 30 day survival challenge video series (which this video is part of).