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Knowing how to snare a rabbit or hare not only provides the chance to harvest some free-range, tasty protein outside of big-game season, but also the potential to help save your life if you ever get lost in the woods. Just be sure to check the regulations in your area to determine when, where and how you can use snares. Here’s how to catch a rabbit for your next pot of stew.
- Look for a well-worn trail going into moss or through the bush. Keep an eye out for spots where rabbits have gnawed off tiny shoots and twigs to keep the trail open; also look for piles of droppings.
- Cut a piece of snare wire about two feet long and twist a small .-inch eye in one end—six or seven twists will do. As for the type of wire, go with brass. Stainless steel is great, being non-degradable and super strong, but it’s illegal to use in most provinces—it can hold bigger animals than might be intended, which is obviously a problem if abandoned in the woods.
- Using a sawing motion, pull the wire back and forth against a tree limb or sapling. This both straightens the wire
and removes human scent. - Pass the unaltered end through the eye to form a loop just big enough for your fist to pass through (roughly four inches in diameter).
- Cut a stout, three-foot-long sapling or tree limb, shove it in the ground next to the rabbit trail and secure the snare to the stick, approximately three inches off the ground, so that the noose is in the middle of the trail.
- Place twigs or small branches on both sides of the snare to camouflage it and to funnel the rabbit into the noose.
- Check on the snare the next day and every few days afterwards until you decide to remove it.