Fellow Trappers,

I have decided to experiment with a few different styles of commercial grade, cable stake anchors (Berkshire's, Super Stakes, O'Gorman Spears, Pogo Anchors and Iowa Stakes) this year for the first time, and have vowed that are not going to be "disposable."

Kindly minimize your critiques of the brands mentioned. I have come to realize that they all undoubtedly have their respective merits, and will determine my favorite with respect to my soil types, application, anchor strength, driver adaptability (homemade or dedicated,) etc. My focus here is on how to best get them back out of the ground efficiently.

I plan on making an objective assessment of which type is most suitable for my trap line soil types. Also realize that any "retrieval" method has the potential for being labor intensive, after the fact.

Aside from physically digging them out with a tile spade and pick axe, what methods of retrieval have you found to be the most efficient? For you creative, welding engineers, do you happen to have photos of your homemade "lever" tools incorporating the most mechanical advantage in your design?

Open to any and all suggestions to shorten my learning curve, save my back and old bones, and that would allow me to take the stakes back to the shed to use again next year. Your considerations would be most appreciated. Thank you.

Regards,

Jonathan

Ill try to post some pictures of my homemade cable puller tommorow.

bumper jack to an old oldsmobile is what I use.

Knowing what type of area you trapping would help. If you've got a 4 wheeler, and are able to ride it up to the set, I'd recommend using it to pull'em. How's that for saving your back and being non labor intensive?

I have seen this thing work in some very tough conditions ! Made by a experienced Coyote trapper.
http://www.minntrapprod.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=2639

PM sent.

Everyone has different kind of ground to work in. Which means something might pullers work well with different anchors and some don't.
I get most my anchors back by stomping a tile spade down along side the cable. Then I hook the top with a pick and pull it toward the spade cut. I get most of the ones I used pulled out this way. I still have a few where the cable snaps or some other part fails. But I get most of them. I'm usually not far from the truck so carrying the spade and pick is not a problem.

Mac

itty bit and I share the same puller old bumper jack is hard to beat

Hi Ray,

Thanks for your response. I wrote to Lil' Bit, asking about these same basic questions.

I have a couple of those old bumper jacks. Their utility as "puller" seems very logical and practical. How did you rig it - weld up a length of chain with a small hook to pull up vertically, or alter the rocker on it to catch the cable or swivel and use the base plate for the pivot?

Regards,

Jonathan

Thank you to all for your contributions thusfar.

Jonathan

From my experience with Pogos and Super Stakes, here are my choices, in order of preference:
1. Leave them...
2. Someone else pulls them...
3. Winch on the front of the ATV...
4. Old style Bumper Jack. This probably makes the most sense for you. Get one at a junk yard. I drilled the part that grabbed the bumper and add a 1/8th cable loop to which a small chain hook is attached. Hook it up and pump them out, click-click, click-click, click-click... No real effort, just time...

If you're in heavy roots the only choice is to leave them!

Heres the pics I promised. It works great. The hook is off a tie down like you would use to tie down a load on a small trailer, etc. It has a big nut welded to the handle of the long bar with a clevice through it. I like the clevice so you can remove it and get hooked up to your cable or swivel then hook it back on the puller with ease. Check it out and post any questions about it.

If ya walk a line any type of device is more weight to hump. I walk 99% of my line so I quit carring any devices. I use a "t" bar 1/2 in. rebar stake 2 ft. long and drive it in 3 places around the set and work the ground loose with circular rotations. Grab the trowel,dig a little dirt and out she comes. Mine are down 20 in. on chain. Just my method. RD

My intent for this post was to not only to amplify my personal edification as to how best retrieve cable anchors with no previous experience in doing so (to shorten my learning curve,) but thought it may also be an opportunity to log experiences from trappers across the country in different soil types using cable stakes, knowing there are undoubtedly many others making a similar transition from rebar to cable anchors, and that the results may be fodder for an archival reference.

The original post was all "newbie" - don't really know much at all about getting these things out of the ground! Thought perhaps it would have elicited more responses than it did from the 334 folks who looked at it.

I more than appreciate the efforts of those who have shared their methods and experiences with the retrieval tactics that have worked for them.

Kind regards,

Jonathan

Jonathan;

New trappers may be on the fence when it comes to stakes or cable anchors but the majority of experienced trappers have made their choice, long ago. The debate raged in many, many posts. Their is nothing new about cable anchors. Most are well decided for their land trapping. Some are split using stakes for land and cable anchors for water trapping.
Soil conditions vary, even for an individual. I may drive a Pogo 3' in a needle grass marsh and 15 minutes later need to drive a Super Stake 14" into a 100 year old, oyster shell, road-bed.
I choose cable anchors and I leave them where I drive them, Period, end of story. I made 200 today and will do another 200 by the fall. It's a rainy day job. They are disposable and a cost of doing business. Others drive steel, aways have, and always will. Both have advantages and disadvantages and both systems work.

Based upon your question, and the timing, you will only hear from those who use them and then, mostly, only those who spent time and energy to pull them, at some point.

Finally, many of the folks who normally contribute on this Board are either on their way or at the NTA National convention, the largest Trapper get together of the year. I read posts all the time without comment, especially if I have nothing to add or don't know anything about the topic. I stopped posting all together a year or so ago and took a break from all the Bulletin Boards.

Can you post a pic of a cable anchor and maybe how they work?

They all work basically the same.

Pogo Cable Anchors

Making Cable Anchors

Jonathan, I apologize in advance for not having any pictures, but I will explain as best I can the device I use. I have a 4' length of 1" square tubing 1/8" wall thickness. About a foot or so from one end I attached a 3/8" clevis shackle by drilling a hole through the tubing big enough for the cross pin to go through. I also attached a chain slip hook to the clevis. Basically, it looks a lot like larry king's (above) but I attached the clevis differently and closer to the end and I also don't have the "T" portion on mine.

Now in order to use the puller in a wide variety of areas I took about a 12" piece of 2x4 and drilled a few 1.25" holes through it so the puller will fit into them. You stand the 2x4 upright and use whichever hole gives you the best leverage. Hopefully this is understandable, but please ask questions if not.

Josh