I had thought about anchoring footholds to a tree with cable. I have been told that this was a bad idea because the animal could twist around the tree, but how would that be any different than using a drag that got hung on a tree, log or a root?

thanks

I do it all the time, particularly when trapping in snow where I want to reduce disturbance in the snow when blind setting trails. I set it up so the coyote can freely move around the tree.



In this photo you can see the cable on this coyote I caught yesterday.


And another caught in blind sets on a trail the coyotes were using on the way to a deer carcass.

I pre hook drags to saplings 99% of the time.

looks good, how do you set it so the coyote can move freely?

Big trees not a problem. Saplings, not good.

Works great.

Trees can get real expensive if damaged.
Chances are someone owns them.
I try to be respectful of others property.
Sure some are junkers,
sure many don't know the diff, or care.

of course we should all be respectful, but these are my trees

Depends on what your targeting. Coons an cats can (at times) gain more leverage in a tree being able to use them claws an gravity. I've had multiple pullouts with a trap over a branch in a tree but it's impossible to predict an it just happens. I anchor off to smaller trees with base the size of baseball or so if possible. I've got many places there is solid rock so no anchor and fairly open so a drag is a no go.

I know with coon it can be a bad idea if you got too much slack. Got cable on all my dps for tree anchoring. Works really slick, unless you give them too much room. Had 3 pull out of them in one day. Now I tighten it up so they can't reach nothing in surrounding area.

I short chain dog traps with double stakes or Pogo anchors usually. If a coyote were to be caught in a trap cabled to a tree, I would think it would make it even harder for it to pull out if it wraps itself around the tree. It would just give it less chain to get running starts. Dogs usually just lay down when they run out of chain. I’d be careful not to hurt someone else’s tree as already mentioned.

Some good discussion here:

https://trapperman.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/6636888/1

I have never caught an animal using a tree as the holding device so I have no experience to relate on the matter. I have always worked to avoid staking near anything that can work as a leverage device or aid in pulling etc. To me a coon with 3 sets of claws embedded in the bark of a large tree has way more leverage advantage then a coon trying to dig good holds in dirt, but I may be really missing something.

Bryce

I use mostly snare (cable) and have had twist outwhen ive used larger trees. But with snares there is only one swivel in the middle. And when they wrap to that point they can twist out. With the swivel on the trap that worry of twistout should be eliminated.

But if in a foothold and they wrap tight would they get more leverage to pull out?

With snaring smaller trees are great. Wrapped up tight and dead. Sometimes a pain to undo but not going anywhere. And usually the area isn't all tore up. Just be sure that the tree is good and solid. One friend found out the hard way twice. Dumb mistakes. Rotten tree and a very flexible tree.

ALSO if it matters there is different degrees of damage done to the trees.

And some will do this ( coon )

I caught1 there the day before, did a remake, and that's what I found the next morning.

In wooded area, it is not all that uncommon to 'cable off ' to a tree and then fasten a trap and /or snare.
I do it in rocky areas where it is difficult to get a stake in, cable stake or otherwise.
I use 1/8th inch cable in lengths of 12 ft to 25 ft.
I've never had a problem doing it, but might add that my snares and traps are heavily swiveled.