I've got many a rabbit in similar traps. I tend to use guide sticks / brush / stuff to lead them to the loop. works on raccoons snooping around the chicken coop / yard. I'd suggest not using one that lifts them off the ground if you have say animals like cats that might be pets running about. Don't ask.
yes i know i normaly use 1/16 air craft cable with a washer lock but this was just for educationl to see the trigger.
I have built tons of these but have yet to catch the first critter except for a house cat. I have caught several squirrels in simple wire snares of guitar strings set on a reclining pole laid against a den tree though. Do you remember the coon trap in Where the Red Fern Grows?
In Where the Red Fern Grows, the protagonist needed a raccoon hide to train his hound pups with. His grandfather used an auger to drill holes in logs and placed aluminum foil into the bottom of the holes. He then drove a pair of fence staples on angle either side of the hole and the coon reached into the hole and grasped the foil and couldn't extract it's paw from between the sharp staples. I have seen Masai catch baboons in termite mounds in a similar manner. They used rock salt in the hole. They would then feed the baboon salt all day turn it loose and it would make a B-line to the nearest water-hole. That is how they locate water in the Kalahari.
Bishop, I appreciate your interest in primitive weapons, it has been an interest of mine since childhood. Knapping points from stone, building atalatls, bows, spears, bolo, slings, flippers, blow-guns, hand-cannons, black powder arms, swords, it has always been my assertion that every single advancement of man was birthed from the development of a weapon. The simple hammer was conceived with no nail in mind, but rather the ability to defend the dead carcass you just dragged back to the tree or cave. Even our Space Program got it's origins in putting a bigger gun in the sky and naught to do with benevolence.