Long 12' chain and 3/8" rod grapple, spent most of an entire morning getting a big boar out of a tall cottonwood in creek bottom. Crazy how high it got with three feet and that much hardware on his fourth foot. Had another made it across the creek onto other side where i did not have permission. Had to go bang on a door and explain what happened.. owner was good about it luckily. Probably were just anomalies in numbers of successful grapple catches but was last grapple I ever put out for anything.
Also had a big boar pull a 10" concrete full block (not half block) up a creek bank and out into a wide open bean field before he stopped out there for some reason. Last heavy drag i ever used on coon sets, too. That anchor worked for coon for years but the one time it didn't was my last one I used ever.
I know many use grapples with 100% success but for me it was the couple times they didn't work that stuck out most in my memory.
Around here, I am convinced a big boar coon is pound for pound one of strongest animals we can trap in this area. They can literally run up the side of a big tree, grab with all four feet, rotate their back feet a complete 180 degrees (a key feature for climbing up and down).
I stake them all now solid and short chains, lots of swivels, and don't give them any nearby brush or anything to grab onto to power out. That is land sets, otherwise if in water I try to use drowners or stake em solidly in shallow water where they can't grab anything and let hypothermia do its thing since their fur is not waterproof.
Jim
