Just started trying to trap coyotes on our deer lease in northwest Texas. Set 10 traps this past weekend and used super stakes with 12” cable with pull cables attached and drove them in about 11 inches so the loop was still exposed. It was a beating to hammer them in but the real challenge came when trying to pull them out! First one I tried pulling with a super stake puller and bent the bar using a cheater pipe but never budged the stake. Hooked up a chain to my trailer hitch and tried easing them out with the truck but pulled through the ferrules on most. Also broke a cable on one. Only 2 came out intact and left a few in the ground. Should I only set them 6 inches or so? The ground is really hard and has a layer of clay under the surface. I couldn’t even drill a dirt hole more than 6 inches on some sets using a 1.5” auger. Any advice or tips would be appreciated. I’m sore but caught 2 coyotes and unfortunately, 2 skunks. I’d take advice on dealing with skunks too! My truck may never smell the same.

Should mention that the ferrules that didn’t hold were ones I did using the hammer and screwdriver method I read about on here. When I hooked onto the loop attached to the chain, the ferrules held but broke one cable.

I use chained super stake with welded S hooks and a home made puller. Out ground is vastly different from the sounds of it but I sunk mine to the swivel every time. I haven’t broken a chain yet, some pull hard, very hard at times. I used cabled wolf fangs for a couple years, broke a few pulling them, I like chains better, and a super stake driver lasts much longer compared to pogos or wolf fang style driver heads where the dirt and rocks contact the driver head.

How far to drive them in will greatly depend on your soil type. Don't make your decision based on how hard it is to get them back out. Cut them if it's too hard, they're cheap. Really hard ground I would just switch to drags just to save my elbow from pounding in stakes all day.

As for the skunks, get an injection pole if you're worried about the smell.

I went from cable to chain with the Super Stakes. I’ve been trapping my properties for years and have learned in some areas about 6-8” will hold anything we have to catch. Like you I learned after “trying” to get some out of the deck. I use an auger as well and in some places you’re not even getting 4-6” with a 20v drill.
I’ve gone to drags in most of those “hard” areas and only drive stakes where I know I can drill and pull.

As for skunk I’ve THANKFULLY only caught 3 in my life and that’s 3 too many!!

On my trapline I have everything from marsh, swamp, hardwood bottoms....to sandy pine woods. Everthing that has a earth anchor either has 18" of chain or cable, or a drag. If the ground is really hard and I have a lot of brush I use a drag. If there are a lot of tree roots I will use the cable as there have been times I can't pull out the anchor and I just leave them as it ain't worth the effort as a lot of timesI will just set on the same spot next season. There are times I have to cable to a tree as the ground is too soft to anchor. The rest get a super stake with chain.

Except for drags and cables around trees, I short chain everything, and I drive my anchor into the ground until I get to the chain on the trap, so that is a full 18". When pulling if I can't get it up with my puller I try to drill a hole next to it, and pull the anchor towards that new hole. If that don't work I unclip my trap, those I set ground with cables get a clip as I know I might loose it, and go about my business. Its not worth my back, time or sanity.

What is all that rambling about? You have to adjust to the soil you are trapping and adjust accordingly.

Earth anchors are cheap till you start replacing broken ones or ones left in the ground season after season. I still use a few here and there but have started going back to cross staking with rebar if you can get it to spin once they pull very easy. Plus rebar stakes last ten times longer then any earth anchor. Anywhere there’s trees or brush I’ll long chain to a tree or use a drag with 10 to 12’ of chain. If I gotta walk in a ways to a set location that’s where I’ll typically use a chained earth anchor.

Change to "wolf fang" type anchors and cut the cable

They are quite a bit cheaper than super stakes and not as painful to cut and leave when you need to

I was a big fan of anchors when they were still cheap enough to be considered disposable. A guy can really beat himself up recovering the darn things, and they’re expensive enough now I don’t want to be leaving 500+ a year behind.



I’m back to rebar. I double stake when I feel the need but mostly run one 24” down hard ground and a long chain.

Cheaper in the long run, easier to get in and out, and actually lighter than cable anchors (don’t need a drill and heavy bit to pre-drill, no heavy driver, etc).

Also like being able to use the rebar to punch a small lure hole or wobble it around a little to make a dirt hole few less tools needed in the bag at a set when going to anchor with rebar.

You have less weight making your wobble hole with a stake driver than carry and extra rebar stake to stake your traps. Using a bullet stake and driver you dont have to worry about the tip plugging like with wolf fang/pogo/stingray type anchors. Bullets are easier to pull with the retrieval ends.

when i started trapping i used berkshires. had no problems with em . i just cut em.

then i went to the super stakes. like em but pulling them with a bad back is no fun. they are too expensive to cut.

seriously thinking going back to berkshires.

I use the regular super stakes with 14” of #3 chain. I have broken several with #2 chain, so changed over and haven’t had anymore broken anchors. Played with anchor depth and figured out that normally I didn’t need to go over 12” anyway. I have very little deep sand to deal with. Different soil conditions to consider for everyone.

I have two "rebar / smoothe bar, bent bar and dog knot stake" caskets that I built years ago for when I was on the road trapping for all those years. It represented a significant amount of my travel truck load weight besides my traps.

Those stakes were the primary essence of dirt trapping and holding equipment where you needed. Those wooden crates took two men to load easily due to their weight. I could manage one if I had too but it was difficult.

This was many years before earth anchors were introduced to the trapping community. Bar stakes did a great job and I rarely had any jack / pump up problems with coyotes, particularly using the 2 stake cross staked system. I was using the Berkshire DBL stake plate and home made cable double stake loop ends which I eventually ended up using almost exclusively.

I too have considered going back to the smoothe, bent and dog knot bar staking system for a few reasons. Due to the reasons already mentioned. Bar stakes draw back is their weight / size and having to generally punch in two stakes in most ground conditions to ensure a good anchor / hold point.

The stake retreival is far easier using any crow bar/ pry bar type tool and a block fulcrum if needed. No more back straining and worrying about frozen ground and locked in cable stake heads. Each one you leave or break off costs you $$.

So I think this coming season I will break out the old dinosaur stake coffins and get back at the good ole days. It certainly will bring back memories of an earlier time in my life.

Make the wobble hole first with the same stake you’ll use for the trap.

Unless youe single staking or using fiberglass stakes, the driver and cable anchor is less to carry and weigh less than 2 rebars unless you're using 12 inch stakes

I appreciate all of the replies. I tried using the retrieval cable on all of them but the ferrules I used to make them weren't strong enough to hold the cable. Maybe I should have invested in one of those swaging tools but still would have needed the truck to pull them out. Two grown men using a cheater pipe on the end of the super stake puller couldn't get most of them out. We're in a pretty bad drought in that area of Texas and the ground is really hard right now. I don't see how any animal would have been able to pull them out if they were just 6-8 inches deep. A steer stepped in one and straightened the J hook at the D ring but didn't budge the anchor. Luckily found the trap a few feet away.

I still have several super stakes left but when I run out of those, I might give the berkshires or wolf fangs a shot and just cut the cable. I don't know anything about using rebar stakes but will look into that option as well since I can drive to most spots. I also plan to try and set in the same spot on several that seem to be in a good location so I left those anchors in the ground and hope I can locate them again. Thanks again!

A heavy duty driver of any flavor, which is required for hard ground, weighs more than a two foot chunk of 1/2” rebar.

OTC drivers won’t last one day on HARD ground, they may last a week if you punch pilot holes, but, than you need to lug around something to make pilot holes.

GOOD anchor drivers aren’t light!

FYI

A 24” piece of 1/2” rebar with a heavy washer welded on weighs just a tad over a pound.

Tom Stalkers good heavy duty driver weighs just a tad over 3 lbs.

i dunno, im still on my original bullet stake driver from 13 years ago. Dont deal with a lot of rock, just heavy clay, frozen clay, and baked clay lol.

I trap in the Texas panhandle every winter. It is some insanely tight dirt. It is a true beating to get a stake drove and like you said, an even worse beating to get them out. The first several years I used disposable stakes and just cut them off. This year I got lazy and didn’t make the order so I ran super stakes with chain and s-hook welded shut. I’ve got a homemade puller and got all of my stakes up but 1. From here on out I will be using disposable or several feet of chain wired to an old mesquite limb which I have done a little bit of in the past and it works just fine.

Btw, I slightly pulled a pectoral muscle and really aggravated a shoulder that I have previously already had surgery on in the process of pulling those stakes lolol

You’re lucky than.

Our ground is not the same! Drivers never last me a year, even pre-drilling.

Same here. Usually have a spare or two along just for that reason.

I do have a couple ladiesfoot prybars as backup drivers for my bullet stakes which are shorter and a bit lighter than the standard driver, i just dont use them unless I forgot the old one and I am not trapping along the river because they cant get the stake in deep enough in the sand.

Do you want to make another one of those pullers? I have a slightly bent super stake puller for trade. Ha!

Switching to chains would help. Hopefully we get some rain to soften the dirt some before my next trip. The first trip has me hooked! This is my first time posting in this forum and it’s been a lot of help. Really appreciate it.

One advantage of the chained bullet type stakes is if all your jhooks are welded, it can be really tough for someone else to pull it up! If you have issues with tampering/theft, those buried stakes can help with the theft part. If that is an issue then the deeper you drive them the better. But you’re going to pay in time/effort pulling them too! Seems like there’s trade offs for everything?

Im new to the bullets but thinking just go by hammer resistance rather than actual depth. Give a good pull up should tell if deep enough. Hate to get rebar 1/2 way in and need to drive rest of the way through asphalt to hide for set, not to mention pulling.

Till the thief your dealing with has bolt cutters delt with that before out on the line on public game lands.

I use a T-post puller and a short piece of chain to pull them, couple pumps and there out. For real deep ones I drill down a ways with a 2 inch auger then pull them.

Yep. I had a 750 I had to do some serious work to in order to reset after someone bent the jaws all up trying to pull it with a fourwheeler. There were four big holes where they had spun all four tires down trying to pull it up, but the trap was still there. I did have somebody steal two one time that were driven through a shot rock landing. No idea how they got them out, I was planning on bringing bolt cutters come pull day. There were just some drifts of snow going in there, no snow around the sets, but I had one set of boot prints going in, no vehicle tracks or multiple tracks like they made multiple trips, just two catch circles about thirty feet apart with trap and all missing.

Most of my traps have earth anchors on the end of the chain, with all connections welded, but I mostly use drags or chain off to a tree any more. Earth anchors are great though for dealing with your normal opportunistic thief. You know the kind that just grab it because they see it, not the kind who comes prepared and looking for your traps.

Oh, I've broke multiple "mighty hook" S hooks pulling with my homemade puller. My welds held, but if you have enough leverage and it is in solid enough you can snap those S hooks in half. I went to using "cold shuts" welded closed instead of S hooks, but don't know if that is a good idea, if I have to pull hard enough to snap the S hook I might prefer that to having to pull even harder. If I have any sets that are anchored now I try to remember bolt cutters on pull day. I didnt have anything once on a snowmachine and even with a 12 long six inch diameter log I cut and used as a "cheater pipe" I couldn't pull one and had to come back another day to get the trap.

…. 6” wouldn’t have worked on this dude



…. Here’s my puller