Why did they used to put such a big ring on the end of older model traps? Seems like it would have been harder to stake them.

Easier to carry

It can actually be used as a drowning lock !

Keith

The big ol ring? I can see there’s a little L lock on some of em

So had To go cut a limb in the yard to show what I'm talking about . And yes this was actually a method. If you get the old herb lenon dvd you can see this being used . In some old books as well
And remember Thai is a micro version in reality you'd use a bigger limb.
Anyhow guys would get a a long family straight sampling that had a few branches coming off like this. And again bigger..like a inch or more in diameter

Would proceed to cut all the limbs but leaves about an inch or so left where the lib was , just enough so the ring so slip over ... See where this is goin ?

It would then be driven in and set just like you'd use a drowning rod. When the water critter is caught they go down the pole ,just like a modern rod but they right slides over all this lil branch ends .


And when the critter tries coming back up..


Think some also used nails driven in at a angle like this too if I remember right

I see! I think that’s in one of my old books.

Some of the old trapping books I have mentioned using nails driven into slider/drowner poles. They were often used to hide catches from Johnny Sneakum.

Keith

There was a lot of ways to use the old rings for staking, uses for drowning rigs. One of the simplest ways I seen for the drowning rig with wire is simply make a loop in the wire in deep water. Once the ring drops into the loop, it really couldnt come back up the wire.

I remember oldtimers talking about walking sections of creeks cutting wood stakes and shoving them thru the ring as they needed them

For small critters you can just drive a wooden stake through the ring, just remember to make sure that the top of the stake is too big, or has a fork in it, so it can't come off the top. Also for bigger land critters on a long chain, you take a loop of the chain, slide it through the ring, then put that loop of chain around a log drag and pull tight. Fast and easy, shouldn't ever come loose, but the few times I did so I didn't trust it and used a quick twist of tie wire to keep loop of chain snugged up. All pressure is on the chain and pulling it tighter with an animal jerking on the chain, so there is no force applied to the wire, I just put it on so that the loop couldn't open up with the chain slack.

Many of the newer traps that have a big ring on the end of their chain, it is put there simply to look like the old traps IMO, they are too chintzy for me to ever trust to hold a staked animal. It is a handy place to run a chunk of wire through though for boiling traps or hanging them in bunches during the off season.

BINGO Wolfdog!!! Nailed it.

Better drive a nail crosswise on the bottom or you'll be standing there with your stake in your hand

Oh yes! Good thinkin!