What to look for in cable cutters to release dogs from snares?

AKSkeeter

AKSkeeter

Well-known member
Any recommendations for a pair of cable cutters that can cut snare braided wire?
Looking for less than a pound in weight, less than $70
Hopefully never have to use them, but best to be prepared.
How about Channellock 910 9" Cable/Wire Cutter with Compound Joint
---Made in USA
  • Hardened M2 alloy steel blade inserts
  • Cuts most wire rope, steel and stainless steel rod up to 5/32"
  • 8:1 compound action for maximum cutting power with minimum effort
 
I’d look at knipex compact bolt cutters too . Look for the ones with a wire notch . I think I paid 55 for them a few years ago. Sound like the channellocks
 
I carry a pair of diagonal cutters. Haven’t needed them yet. A Leatherman tool would work too.
 
My impression is the cutters need to be designed for braided wire.
The hardened steel is typically , harder than the regular wire cutter section on most multitools is meant to cut.
And some other tools such as my big bolt cutters crush and splay out the mesh of wires, but to not cut them effectively.
The cutters on tools designed specifically for wire rope or braided wire look like:
Cutters Designed For Wire Cable
 
I always carry a large pair of channelock diagonal cutters. I doubt a leatherman or regular pliers could cut a snare. The dikes I have are really beefy and I bet they could do it. From the list you posted I like #2, I think Knipex are the highest quality out there.
 
You need something along this style. A leatherman would be nearly impossible to get between the snare and your dogs neck if pulled tight.
 

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AKSkeeter said:
Any recommendations for a pair of cable cutters that can cut snare braided wire?
Looking for less than a pound in weight, less than $70
Hopefully never have to use them, but best to be prepared.
How about Channellock 910 9" Cable/Wire Cutter with Compound Joint
---Made in USA
  • Hardened M2 alloy steel blade inserts
  • Cuts most wire rope, steel and stainless steel rod up to 5/32"
  • 8:1 compound action for maximum cutting power with minimum effort
Click to expand...
Go to some of the trapper supply websites.
 
Has anyone ever run into a snare while hunting? I don't think that snares are used that much in SD but I could be wrong. I have run into some Conibear traps. Had a friend's French Brittany get into one a number of years back. Got the dog out without any problem.
 
Yes sir, found a snared coyote in a thicket when walking a ditch in Montana this year. Seen several snares in Iowa. Haven’t seen one in ND yet, but did see marked traps. Spoke to the trapper and he told me how he marked his sets, how to get his traps open and how he bought traps that were less likely to brake bones if your dog was caught. Learned a lot.
 
I shared an experience I had in a different thread. My 4 1/2 year old hit one but did not get caught. Almost simultaneously my 1 1/2 year old did get caught but didn't struggle so no cutter needed (I did have a lineman's pliar with). Long story short, you definitely run into them in north central ND. Some have been marked with a sign like a posted sign at the most likely entrance to a slough others just had flagging tape. I put a cable railing in my house a few years ago and wish I had thought about that cable cutter I used. I will begin carrying that. It looks identical to what Powder Horn listed. There was some other related discussion in my thread that I appreciated gaining knowledge from. I think it was titled "Scary Moment".
 
Rogue Hunter said:
Go to some of the trapper supply websites.
Click to expand...
From researching trapper websites, it appears there are 4 favorites among trappers:
HIT
Felco c-7
Knipex
American Cable Cutter from the Snare Shop

I am also purchasing a beeper collar I can remotely control to quickly locate the lab if she dissappears
in dense brush or cattails and there is a possible problem such as snared.
 
BRITTMAN posted this, looks like it would be the ticket, if the cable was so tight you couldn't easily release it.
FelcoC7.PNG
 
remy3424 said:
BRITTMAN posted this, looks like it would be the ticket, if the cable was so tight you couldn't easily release it.
View attachment 2827
Click to expand...
Yes the these all have the design as above:
HIT
Felco c-7
Knipex
When looking at cable cutters, specs such as
  • max cutting of 5/32 or greater rope wire thickness
  • C7 style cutters . Other styles of cutters cannot easily cut the cable off a dog if its tight..
    The C7 design pulls the cable into the jaws so you get it up against the skin of a dog without breaking the skin.
Cut inside the snare loop. Never behind the lock.
Cut behind the lock could result in a scared dog trying to escape with the snare still around its neck.

 
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Buy the best cable cutter you can afford. Not a story I care to talk about but I'll tell it anyway. About snares. My sister had a large mutt dog that liked to roam ( yes he should have been kept an eye on when out) . One evening she let her dogs out o do their thing before going to bed, when she called them in all but one came in. She called for him for over an HR. Early morning she woke up and went to see if he was at the back door. Nope. See didn't see him again for over a MTH. Drove all over looking, called everyone around the area. Walked the woods,fields every place she could. Finally about a month later she opens the door and there is her dog. Skin and bones, his neck area completely void of any skin, a ring 4 inches wide completely around his neck gone! Nothing but raw muscle. He'd been hung in a snare for who knows how long or how he even got out. Anyways rushed him to the vet and the were able to pull enough skin together to stitch him together due to severe weight loss. He lived after he was nursed back and finally died of old age. Couldn't imagine what that dog went thru.
 
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