what kind of stakes do you guys prefer? I can see the benefit of using both. Just leaving a "disposable" in the ground kind of rubs me the wrong way, and from what I have seen they are a little more work getting out vs. a rebar stake. However it wont be pretty if for some reason a tractor tire goes over a rebar stake........Do either have a distinct advantage, or is it just personal preference?

I use rebar, cause that's what I started with and still works for me. I don't set where tires will go over them. A pair of vise grips pulls them out pretty easy, unless they are frozen in, then its a bit more work. Downside is they are heavy. I walk a lot of my line and I carry stakes in a backpack.

If you just setting say 2 dozen traps then re bar but if you are setting a lot more traps use disposable stakes.

Disposables can be used a few yrs in a row if you trap the same properties, just leave them but mark them

I use drags 95% or more, since I can PRE-HOOK it to a sapling or log, and don't have to hunt a critter. If I can't then I use Hvy Duty Berkshires...or a bullet with TWO cables, one for retrieval.

I use rebar or smooth steel rods. I weld washer on the end and use a pry bar to get them lifted some, then I made a puller to take them out. If someone drive over my stakes they do not get them in there tires. I cross stake my coyote sets. If I have my stakes set with snares ,I keep them out of where they can be drove over. I use a UTV to run my line so I do not worry about weight.If I do walk part of the line I use a otter sled

I would rather hammer in 80 or 100 times than using rebar and doing twice the amount of work for the same results.

That was one of my main points without asking it; I see that a lot of guys double stake with rebar for coyotes. I'm guessing one earth anchor for coyotes is fine, because I never see anyone say they use two..............

and why two rebar stakes in the 1st place? is 1 rebar stake not strong enough to hold a coyote?

A single stake can be pumped up out of the ground, two stakes crossed aren't going to budge.

Started with rebar, use earth anchors with chain now

Both have their place.

Or you can use a single B.W. curved stake.

I prefer earth anchors. Cheap to make and less weight. I walk most of my line .

I have used both. The rebar IMO is harder to steal the trap with. I mostly run rebar for traps and anchors for cables. Have had it hold a bear.

That's true but they are pain to drive. LOl

Or cross stake with two curved B.W. stakes like he does!!!

I use chained Super Stakes and use a drill and a anchor puller to get them up. No big deal in the right ground.

This and I was using bent stakes before I ever heard of Bob. I didn't always use double stakes though because coyotes are fairly recent in my piece of the earth, and a single bent stake will hold most other critters.

The common earth anchor is way too much trouble what with pre-drilling pilot holes, then having failure to rocks and carrying around a special driver and then trying to recover a "disposable" anchor and the required pulling device- they would be OK in the right place- soft loam and near the truck.
Wood stakes and angle iron stakes can be useful too "in the right place". As can a dead-man with solid wire or chain.

Not sure why you’d want to carry all that weight and bulk.

Pogos are easy to make, weigh nothing and don’t take up hardly any space.

But hey, everyone has their own way of doing things.

At home I use earth anchors plus I have a few I made from change that stay in the ground all the time. (places I make sets every year) When I am away from home I use rebar. Coyotes are double staked and the rest single.

I suspect much of the preference depends on your soils. One considers that he has to put in pilot holes for his disposable stakes. Others mentioned weight because they do a lot of walking. When I walked a good portion of my area, weight was an issue. Now that I drive, it isn’t. In very dry years, pounding anything into the ground is a chore. But as has been mentioned on here many times, you have to decide your own circumstances and adapt to your own situation.

I'll bet over the course of thirty or sixty years rebar turns out more profitable. If you trap the same ground each year they can be left on site, whether you walk or ride a horse.

All my earth anchors are free except for the cable. So just removing the trap Is all I do.
I did go to some 1/2" smooth rod this past season I really like It but even with cross staking I had 2 coyotes pull the system. I recovered one that same day but the other one got out on the marsh and the Ice was un safe and I had to give up.
Both situations were my fault the ground was pretty wet and I should have gone with longer re bar or not set It. Smooth steel doesn't hold as well as re bar.

I double stake with rebar.

I use both but a lot more rebar. I like to move traps often and cable stakes are a pain to pull and/or rebuild.

Easier then building re bar stakes.

I said rebuild beav. Meaning I don't have to rebuild rebar because I can pull them. Plus I've been welding for quite a long time. I think I can build a rebar stake as fast as you could build a cable stake. lol

Actually I just quickly figured up costs, I have $6 in rebar and about $.80 in washers to build a dozen 24" long 3/8" rebar stakes, which are the most common stakes I use. So about $1.50 more per dozen, by the time you add in welding wire and gas, than buying a dozen wolf fang stake heads and building your own cable stakes. Now figure I'd have to cut one out of 20 and rebuild them, because I can't pull them, plus the special driver (that will also likely need rebuilt at some point) and I know I am money ahead with the rebar in only maybe a couple years.

Like I said though I use both because there are times where I need the extra holding power of the cable stakes.

Old habits die hard.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it also comes to mind!

I agree. ^^^

Some folks are slow to learn...

If I order some wolf fangs( my design to begin with) my buddy asks how many, I say 500. Then he builds me a 1/2 doz drivers along with the disposables. I don't think I will ever run out of them.

Try setting up 10 dozen DP traps and move them every three days and see how long you stick with those pogos. lol I only got to do this one season before the prices dropped but I still have the DPs (plus some) and enough rebar stakes for them all.

You don't move the anchors just the DPs.
When we could road trap I would go out the week before the season and drive in 2 anchors at each culvert and trail. Opening day run and gun and never had to drive a stake. When the location went dead I just removed the DP or 160 and moved on to better locations. And of coarse the anchors were already In place.
I just used a short piece of 3/8ths flat stock with the cable attached to It. Then I just would fold cable flat against the flat stock and shove It through the stake swivel on the trap. Took about 4 seconds to place the trap and get out. Traps pre baited and pre set.
As far as I know all those earth anchors are still In place.

It takes nothing to hold coons so earth anchors would be over kill.

You'd spend more money in gas prestaking than its worth, plus finding that little loop of cable would be a nightmare. Trails change every year so then what? Rebuild, more $$$$. Not every one has a free source of stake heads.



Correct, that is why rebar is the best choice. Hated to have to explain it to the guys calling us slow learners.

So you never scout an area before you trap It? Scouting and pre anchoring just makes sense If your going to be efficient at your trade.
It must be different In Iowa. Because here In WI most of these trails are In the same place every year.

No need to scout an area I've trapped for 35 years. The trails may be in the same area but maybe 2 feet away rendering your stake from last year useless. Finding the pre staked anchor would take a lot longer than just pushing the stake in when you set the trap.

Well you don't have to worry about something pulling up a earth anchor! We've had two things so far pull up rebar stakes. A coyote and a bobcat. The bobcat was caught at a skunk / possum/ coon set and pulled up an 18" rebar. The coyote was caught at a predator set and she pulled up a 24" rebar. My personal preference are earth anchors! Buy a T-post puller or a super stake puller to get them up!

I use a lot of 1/2" x 24" rebar stakes, and double staked in my dryland trapping, single staked for mink or coon. But I use them for everything. Rebar with a washer welded near the top.

I don't own a T-stake yet, but am toying with building a pile of 24" to 30" stakes for water trapping.

Yup, rebar is great for dp’s but so is tying off to a tree limb or a small anchor of some sort. Lots of options.

But for most other land trapping the earth anchor really shines.

I bet you can too. And it's reusable for ever.

Beav the next time you come with a idea ,,,,
Could it include heavier gauge steel to make them out of.

Curios how long of a chain you were using on your set the coyote pulled.

I wouldn't trust an 18" long rebar in anything less than frozen ground no matter the set.

I never got Into the commercial part of It. Mine are made out 14gauge steel.

15" Chained Super stakes for Agg. ground, 1/2 double rebar for gravel rocky soils with a JC Conner chestnut. I always pull the super stakes unless they're froze in then I open the S hook and mark them and pull later. The right Puller makes it much easier. I tried fangs, didn't get along well, IMO super stakes drive easier. There is no one do all anchor, for all terrain and soil types.

Agreed^^^^^^^^

I use a single rebar stake or a drag, I run long chains (30 inch) on my traps and don't have any trouble with stakes being pumped out

The beauty of disposables Is any one can build them and you don't have to go out and buy a welder. LOL

Who doesn't have a welder? I guess those guys just slap the cable stakes together and carry them in their purse to the sets. LOL

Half of my rebar stakes use a nut with no welding, some were built in the '80s and have never needed any maintenance. The other half use a nut that was welded and are no difference in using. I don't like washer tops, because they are hard to pull, when the stake is bent.

I'm betting more Tman members don't have a welder then do. And I'm betting It's a substantial number.

Welder ain't needed I used to weld for living and my stakes ain't welded.

I know your system works but Welding Is easier and a lot less work.

But for the most part I'm going to use disposables because they are free and light weight and easy to haul around. And they hold well In most types of ground. Ad for me they are totally disposable.

I've got some awesome friends that weld cheap, agree that the nuts are way better than washers. A pair of vice grips on the nut, twist pull and go.. Trust you'll pull the disposable when a farmer gets one in his tire..

Why would anyone foolishly argue against the Beav’s method that works and is free?

Since I don’t get any staking method for free I use a mixture of what works best for the situation.

Except for muskrat traps, all of my foothold trap and dog proof trap chains end with a 3/16” quick link. I have ready to use double stake swivels and single stake swivels which have 3-5 links of American welded straight link chain attached. I always carry a wrench and screwdriver to tighten the quick links - finger tight is not sufficient.

220 and 330 bodygrip traps all have a chain or cable extension that ends with a single stake swivel although many times they are wired to a tree.

Foothold and bodygrip muskrat trap chains end with a Hagz bracket for use with a fiberglass rod.

On water sets for beaver I use long rebar T stakes at the shore with a 1/8” cable drowning wire and a weight.

On water sets for mink and raccoon I use medium length rebar T stakes.

On baited cage traps for raccoon I use 24” rebar T stakes pushed through the cage.

On land sets I usually pre-drill for stakes because it saves my shoulders and wrists the extra pain caused by pounding in stakes.

I use PCS disposable stakes where I have no intention to recover them - usually for dog proof traps.

I use super fang chain stakes with cable attached to the fin where I plan to recover them.

I use cross staked 1/2” x 18” rebar where I plan to recover them. I weld a nut on the top of the rebar because washers get bent too easily.

When land trapping, I always have handy a 46” stake puller because I do not leave stakes of any sort in agricultural fields. The puller is very stout and pulls anything I want to lift. Sometimes I use an auger to drill next to stakes to ease pulling them.

I do not anchor any trap other than a 220 or 330 by wiring onto or around a tree. I trap on private land and many places are certified tree farms. A damaged tree would lose permission at that farm and maybe others.

I talked to several farmers where I trap and I showed them my anchors and all of them said they saw no problem with me leaving them In the ground. They said they were more concerned with re bar stakes being left behind.
But with all these no till farming practices I don't see much of a problem with anchors being left In the ground. So far I have never been run off any ground I'm trapping so I must be doing Ok.
Getting stakes out of the ground no matter If they are set up with nuts or washers. It's pretty easy to snap the vise grips on the stake It's self and twist It out of the ground.

Can you actually trap without one.

I think it would be a terribly hard thing to do.

I can get more of them in my purse then you can get rebar in yours.

I have always wondered if leaving cable or disposal stakes would ever cause issues in messing up farm equipment.

Mac

There may be a problem with using them where they harvest potato's since they are digging Into the earth to harvest them..

If they get plowed up they just lay on the ground or get buried deeper. In most harvest cases the cutter head never gets any where near the ground.

But If you have any doubt remove your anchors.

Fellas

Up to this point I have used rebar and drags for my traps. This coming year I find myself in a situation. I will be trapping on public grounds. I am scared of having a trap stolen. Is there a staking system that holds in the ground better to thwart 2 legged predators from taking the trap?

If I welded every j-hook, a thief would generally have to have a vise grips, hammer, and or a wrecking bar to extract a stake from a double staked trap. Or a bolt cutters.

Good to know, and it puts my mind at better ease-thanks much.

Switched back and forth for twice... rebar for me now.

I have over 500 rebar stakes if you'll just come get them.
1/8th cable / Wolf Fang head / MB Crunch proof / Double ferules both ends for me !

To bad you live so far away i'd come and get them they make good drags

January frozen rock solid ground here you will not get an earth back no matter what puller you use unless you start banging away next to it with a pick ax.
I can drive rebar in fine, and rebar pulls much more easily when I'm done. yes rebar is heavy and a pain to lug around, but I went back to cross-staking our coyote traps with rebar for a reason. I pound a nut on top no welding and they have served me like that for decades.
I do use disposables for coon DPs, snares, and water sets. In late season I have to make a pilot hole before driving in anchors on dryland sets or they either bend or wont drive in at all.
This past December it was pure mud here for a month and anchors were the ticket for all sets. Then the big freeze hit and switched to rebar.
My t stakes mostly secure and stabilize cages now.
Jim

Lt - pm sent.

I would like the rebar if you are serious.

Thanks.

Sorry to change subject, Georgia boy. What are you guys using to connect chain to say a super stake?

Super stakes with 7x7 1/8" 18 to 27" depending on hard ground or marsh

Or 30" stakes for water animals

I'm with son, having just started trapping and walking most of my traplines, I prefer earth anchors. If I could trap roads or drive within a few yards of my sets my opinion might be different.

Chain stakes till the ground freezes

I've been using pogo's since Dan Reich came out with them, in fact he sent me a Pogo driver and some pre-made anchors to try first. Haven't used any thing else since then. Back then I was walking my line, it was great sticking a dozen of them in my back pocket and go without all the weight of rods, yes they were hard to pull, but so were the dog-knot stakes I used to use. Never had a trap stolen, because most sneakem's don't carry cable cutters with them. Since I'm pretty much trapping the same area year after year, I just flag them and reuse them the following year, or dig below ground level and cut them off.