Capture Nets
Moving animals in Minecraft has always been a chore. You either push them across terrain, tie a lead and hope they follow, or cram them into a boat and pray they do not escape at the first waterfall. Capture Nets throws all of that out the window. This lightweight utility add-on lets you scoop up a mob, carry it in your inventory, and release it exactly where you want it — no herding, no leads, no boats.
What Capture Nets Actually Does
The concept is refreshingly simple. Right-click an animal with an empty net and the mob is stored inside. Right-click a block with a filled net and the creature is released on the clicked face. That is the entire loop, and it works beautifully.
The net is fully reusable. There are no consumable charges and no durability loss, so you can relocate an entire barnyard without ever crafting a replacement. Each net holds one mob at a time, which keeps inventory management clean and predictable.
Full NBT Preservation
This is where Capture Nets separates itself from crude teleport tricks. When you capture a mob, the net saves the entity's complete NBT data — not just the entity type. In practice that means:
- Your named pets keep their names after release
- Pink sheep stay pink
- Tamed wolves still belong to you
- Baby chickens stay babies
- Modded entities with custom data extensions work transparently, with no special compatibility patches required
If you have ever lost a beloved named axolotl to a sloppy transport method, you understand why this matters.
A Tooltip That Tells You Everything
The net's tooltip reports exactly what is inside, including the mob's custom name, its color, variant, or breed, and a "baby" marker for juveniles. Expect entries like "Contains: Bessie · Pink Sheep" or "Contains: Whiskers · Calico Cat." Modded mobs without a registered variant adapter degrade gracefully — they still display name and entity type, just without the variant prefix.
Supported Versions and Loaders
Capture Nets targets Minecraft 26.1.x and ships for both Fabric and NeoForge, so you are covered whether you run a lightweight Fabric setup or a heavier NeoForge modpack. If you are unsure which build matches your game, the foxygame.net launcher is a convenient shortcut here — it detects your installed version and loader automatically, then offers Capture Nets as a one-click install from its curated add-on catalog.
What Can and Cannot Be Captured
The rules are straightforward and clearly documented:
- Allowed: any passive or neutral living entity — animals, villagers, golems, allays, axolotls, and modded creatures
- Blocked: players, bosses such as the Ender Dragon, Wither, and Warden, plus anything in the MONSTER mob category
A future reinforced net tier may unlock hostile capture, but for now the net is a husbandry and transport tool rather than a combat gadget.
How to Install Capture Nets
Installation follows the standard add-on workflow. First, confirm you are running Minecraft 26.1.x with either Fabric or NeoForge already set up. Next, download Capture Nets and drop the matching JAR file into your mods folder. Launch the game once so the mod registers, then verify it loaded by checking your mod list. If you play on a server, every client and the server itself need the same build to avoid sync issues.
For players who prefer a hands-off approach, a launcher that handles dependency resolution and auto-updates removes most of the guesswork. Just make sure the version you grab matches your loader, since Fabric and NeoForge builds are not interchangeable.
Built for Modpack Authors Too
Capture Nets publishes the item tag #capturenet:nets, which contains every capture-net item shipped by any mod. If you are building a husbandry block, a custom recipe, or any feature that should accept "any capture net," read this tag instead of checking for specific item IDs. It is a small design decision that makes the add-on far more cooperative with larger packs.
Final Thoughts
Capture Nets is an early release, and the roadmap is honest about it: reinforced tiers, datapack tags for per-pack entity blocking, and an optional extended tooltip with health and owner data are all planned. Even in its current state, it solves one of Minecraft's most persistent annoyances with elegance. The recipe is cheap, the net is reusable, and the NBT preservation means nothing gets lost in transit. If you move animals with any regularity, this belongs in your load order.