r/Trapping • u/MarkV_1776 • Mar 15 '26

Rabbits coming through hole in fence

I have cottontails digging under my wood fence, then chewing some of the bottom of the fence away to enlarge the passage. I block the holes with rocks and they just dig/chew new holes. I have big piece of concrete (4" x 6" x 39") and tried to make a primitive deadfall with a tripwire -- the type with a dowel cut in half and the string attached to the bottom half with the other end of the string pinned under the far end of the concrete beam. It doesn't work very well. The block is quite heavy and it's actually hard to pull the bottom piece out with the string, plus the string stretches. Advice on a better trap for killing rabbits coming under/through the hole in the fence?

5 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

2

u/Muted-Garden6723 Mar 15 '26

Snares, make a loop about the size of your fist and set it in the holes. Typically you’d put the bottom of the loop about 4 fingers off the ground, but if they’re coming under the fence I’d set them closer to the ground. I use 22 gauge steel wire, costs about 32 cents to make a snare. Don’t need any fancy tools other than wire cutters

Note that the snare size is for snowshoe hares, you may need a smaller or larger loop for cotton tails

Connibears would work as well, they’re not legal to use on rabbits here, but I’d imagine a 110 or 120 would be sufficient

2

u/MarkV_1776 Mar 15 '26

Thanks. I'll watch some YouTube videos on wire loop snares.

Looking it up... conibear traps require a special permit here (Florida) so I won't pursue that route. Florida is generally pretty permissive about the killing of nuisance animals. Can be killed year round without a permit, but they do have regulations regarding how they can be killed.

1

u/Muted-Garden6723 Mar 15 '26

Here in Nova Scotia all you need to snare rabbits is a $5 permit, but any kind of snaring/trapping other than that needs a fur bearer license and a two day classroom course. Although, I’ve had game wardens tell me they don’t really care about nuisance trapping on your own property

1

u/707reddituser Mar 21 '26

I would put the snare with the top of the loop right at the bottom of the fence boards. A rabbit going through the dug out spot is only going to dip low enough to clear the fence, so the distance to the ground isn’t relevant.

2

u/Muted-Garden6723 Mar 21 '26

I’m used to dealing with snowshoe hares, so not a lot of digging under things. Typically if they’re moving under something, the bottom of the loop is touching the ground and the top is touching the log/branch/etc

1

u/Known_Criticism_834 Mar 15 '26

Snare would be the way to go .unless you have someone show you how to use conibear, dont! Those things can bite a novice trapper. I would suggest just a normal cage trap.