I was wondering how you anchor traps?

I anchor my foot holds with chained super stakes. I anchor my dp's with 1/8 cabled super stakes. My trapping partner uses 1/8 cables and wolf fangs for anchors. He cuts his cables every year and leaves the fangs buried. I pull my traps with a stake puller.

We had a (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) of a time in frozen ground. His wolf fangs drove easier than the stakes. I also had a (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) of a time pulling those traps and popped over 20 J hooks. The good kind of J hooks not the cheapies. He stood there watching me work myself to death while he cut cables and was ready to roll. I also have to wait until the ground is soft if I want to pull the traps mostly. He can cut cables and run anytime. We ran about 85 sets together last year. He said it's the best $100 he ever spent.

So this year I am fixing hooks, re-anchoring traps and cleaning out the anchor holes. He simply puts on a new hook and clamps a new cable with a wolf fang and is ready to go.

I am thinking of buying some wolf fangs at least for my dp's. I don't really see why a 3/32 cable wouldn't work if you plan on just cutting them every year. Do you think 1/8 cable is necessary? On foot holds I am not sure if they wouldn't work as well. We trap coyote, bobcat an fox. We are in SW Missouri.

So what traps anchors do you use? Do you cut cables or pull them? Is 3/32 cable good enough. Thanks

I use drags, cabled bullet stakes with retrieval ends and cable extensions.

Frozen/hard ground is always going to suck for disposables. I just dont drive them as deep when the ground is hard.

I run Berkshire or homemade E/As and I always cut and run, all on 3/32
I make a piolet hole with a drill and a 1 inch auger bit, saves a lot of time

Used chained super stakes and wolf fangs for years I’ve now started going back to tried and true cross staking with 1/2” 18” long rebar. I’m not far from my truck k9 trapping and with today’s markets I’m even closer to it haha! So carrying two pieces of rebar weigh no more then a driver and if making a dirt hole I’ll just use the rebar to wobble in a hole before staking so not even carrying anything more then hammer, sifter, trap, and stakes.

When I started trapping coyotes I went to regular Berkshires & 3/32” cable, annealed nuts hammered and was a “clip & go” trapper. A few years later I went to making my own pogos with 1.5” washer, same 3/32” cable & nuts and remained a “clip-&-go” trapper. I dealt with frozen clay ground every winter so I used a 1” masonry drill for pilot holes and for making my set holes.

I never had a coyote harm a 3/32” cable stake and never had a 1.5” pogo pulled even though I’ve got video of coyotes pumping the bejesus out of them in yellow sand!LOL Years ago when I snared I used a 10’ extension on a 5’ snare connected many times to a 3/32” pogo. I wanted the coyote to get a real good lunge and running start to chinch the loop up quickly to the 2.5” deer stop. Never damage done to my cable stake or pulled one!

You will get as many answers to this question as there are soil types, land types, weather conditions, times of year, quarry you seek and #'s of traps people run/encounter in the U.S. Using anchors in slightly frozen damp soil is OK for a 1-2 doz. traps that you leave in place for a few weeks in the winter. Hard frozen soil may require drills or rotary hammers to put in and take out if you choose to anchor (even with a stake) in place. You are hearing from some of these guys that set those 2 doz. and that covers their "addiction" for the year. Then you are hearing from guys who will start in October/November and quit when the weather dictates better times for them and they might tend 50 - 100+ sets. Or they are fortunate to move to better areas where weather is less taxing on their themselves and gear. Or some of the above guys tough it out under some pretty strenuous conditions. It boils down to YOU being satisfied that your trap will hold YOUR catch where/when you trap and be as mobil for movement as YOU will accept. Foot traps, on land, for me are DIY expendable conduit anchors OR wooden fence post drags. If soil and weather combine to cause me too much time/greif then I can still pick up and move with little time (and money) spent retrieving a trap. For DP's that I have been using since 2001 when the Griz Gettrs' hit the market,,,, I have tried a lot of combo's. First stakes then anchors, some DIY concrete drags, etc., etc... We have few trees close to the locations here so cable hooked to a tree was not an option for me. After a few years of back and forth fastening I finally went back to 18" X 3/8" diam. smooth rod with a NUT welded on top of a washer for swiveling ease. Not unusual for me to have 5-6 DP's set at 1 spot so ease in pulling/moving after a decent catch was a big item on my list. This is easy for me put in and take out all the way into December and even January if we have weather conducive to coon movement. Carry a few "Sandhills Triangles" in my pocket (that Tom Krause made public back in the late 70's) for the rare spot where 2 stakes are needed. Hope this will give you an idea or two to make your fur harvesting a better experience. ................................. the (adaptive) mike

I used to use chained super stakes and a 1/4 quick link but decided its not worth the effort and fuel to go back and pull when ground thaws. so now I use super stakes with 1/8 cable and a quick link and leave em in the ground ,if I ever trap there again I already got a anchor if not it cost me 3.50 to trap there once. I just open the quick link when I pull traps for the year.

I run chained super stakes, and have been switching over to running all #3 chain on the anchors, with every connection welded. I our weather conditions, I get pretty much all my anchors back when we pull in mid January. I thunk last year I broke 3 or 4 chains out of 50 or so sets. I have a puller made up for if I can't drive right to the set, but if I can drive right to it I pull them with the truck. Even with a few inches of good frozen ground I usually get them back. Once in a while though ill have to leave one sit till the ground that's, bug not often. Takes time and money to rig up new anchors every year, and I don't like to let money sit in the ground and rot if I can retrieve it, even with a little bit of elbow grease, and reuse the next season

You sound like you’ve came to the same conclusion I have. I don’t pull anchors anymore. Our ground is just to hard and most road beds around here a limestone. I use a combination of custom made drags, 10ft 1/8” cable tethered to a tree or fence post and as a last resort 3/32” cable and a Wolf Fang that I do not pull I cut and go. 3/32” is fine no need to go 1/8”. I’ve held animals over 200lbs on 3/32” cable with zero issues.

I started with rebar.

Went to pogos, berks, chained super stakes, and finally wolf fangs.


I’m back to rebar.

“Disposables” that work in my ground are just to darn expensive to be truly “disposable” anymore.

Disposables hold well, and thats part of the issue. They go in hard and come out hard.

I don’t carry stuff any distance so weight isn’t an issue.

And in fact, rebar actually ends up being lighter to pack to the set from the vehicle, no heavy driver, drill and bit to pre drill holes, etc.

Good informative post!
The more I trap the more I lean to long chains and grapple/drags.
I live in farm country lots of trees and heavy vegetation.
Wife aka "The Mike"...still use my Sandhills Triangles when I don't use my Jakes.

Agreed.
Mike and Mike,
I bet the majority here have not heard of Sandhills Triangles. Getting older by the day.

Mac

About 50/50 earth anchors and rebar.

Alot has to do with the ground type.

Rebar goes in and stays, just leave a chunk of chain on to connect to.
Got some beat in cracked rock never coming out.

I use 3/32 cable and wolffangs on my dry land sets and rebar for my water sets and conibears.
I pull about 75% of my wolffangs. The other 25% are in rocky ground and I cut and go.

Same here. Back to all rebar.

The problem with Wolf Fangs or that type of earth anchor in frozen ground Is when you drive them In and you can do that, but they don't turn and will come right back out. If you get past the frost line, you're Ok.
If I don't pre stake before winter comes along, I will go to using re bar.

At that point, they don’t need to turn! Lol

I use wolf fang type and cable

I can pull most up with a little effort and a improvised trap puller
If they are too hard to get out I clip the cable and go
Have used tractor loader but usually cable breaks or fang gets folded in half

No frozen ground here

And I make my own stakes, buy bulk fangs, cable and ferrules. Can make the length I want/need

I trapping just north of you. I use combo of 3/32 cable and wolf fangs and finned super stakes on chain for all my canine traps. Use a NoBS puller and it makes quick work of pulling or it breaks the cable. Never lost a super stakes.

I either cable off to a nearby tree or use re rod for my dp’s.

With the amount of rock we have in the area, the wolf fangs get bent up. Just put them on an anvil and beat them straight and reuse.

Made that earth anchor journey years ago, and circled back around to rebar.

Simple, effective, easy extraction, and it lasts basically forever....Really like drags as well, but they are easier to steal vs. cross staked rebar.

To be fair though, the big advantage of drags are no noise (thieves) or physical exertion pounding stakes, and set location preservation.