If I have to drive in a pilot hole I will drive down rebar stakes.

Thanks for all the input gents.

Larry I always pound in a pilot hole for cable stakes especially the berks. I carry a super stake driver for pilot holes.
For bullet type stakes I didn’t need a pilot hole.
Jim

I used wolf fangs for years.

A pilot hole is a must. Or you’ll be busting drivers weekly.

My size constantly grew, at the end I was using a 1” concrete bit. It sounds to big, but if the grounds hard enough, the fang will still find plenty to grab ahold of. Not to mention the hole “silts in” so you still end up having to pound the anchor down a fair bit.


I’ve since gone back to rebar for probably 90% of what I do. It’s just all around easier. It actually ends up being less weight to carry from the vehicle to the set not having to carry a drill, bit, driver, etc.

You got me thinking about rebar now Boone. Anymore I reach for a long chain and grapple hook....like Larry and others shoulder issues.

Long enough chain and single rebar not bad option. Biggest upside is you can pull up. At least here if it’s frozen deep enough you have to drill you’re gonna spend three times as much effort to drill anchor the anchor back out, or cut off or wait til spring to retrieve.

If the ground is that hard or frozen, I'm probably using a mattock, a grub-hoe on one side and a pick on the other, to dig my trp bed. Then, when the trap bed is done, turn the mattock over and with one swing, drive a pilot hole with the pick. That'll get me at least 6" of pilot hole, which is past the frost usually. Ofter hard ground is only hard for a few inches as well. I would drill a pilot hole if the ground was too frozen or hard for this to work. Recommend bosch drill bits for the drill.

Trying to avoid pounding anything in the ground lol. Might not be feasible, but I believe there is enough info here to give me a reasonable shot at something easier..30 odd sets in a day pounding stakes or cables is tough on the joints.. I'd like to increase that number and take the impact away from my body..

Appreciate everyones input!! And I'd absolutely love long chains and drags, but it's wide open country down yonder and I feel more comfortable pegging them down..

I switched back to long chains and a single rebar two years ago now.

For my operation and ground it’s just the best option.



And I tell ya, with the coyotes reluctance to work a catch circle here this past year, being able to easily pull and move a trap to the outside of a circle has put probably another 30% on the ground for me.

I know if I had to go to all the work of pulling and planting a new anchor I’d have likely been able to talk myself out of moving! Haha

Boone, have you ever tried just adding a longer piece of heavy chain to the trap at the catch circle..instead of pulling the stake?
Works for me here... even with disposables. I tried that back in the 90s...worked well...I had some BIG CATCH CIRCLES...lol
I use a heavy quick link to connect new chain to the existing chain.

I’ve thought about doing that many times.

But I always kinda figured by the time I dug a new bed and scratched a trench in for the chain, I’d be at about the same amount of work of just moving.




I still haven’t ever caught a coyote with an unburied drag, so not burying stuff just doesn’t sit well with me.

Curious...how long of a long chain with single rebar??

gcs, IN SOME OF MY TRAPPING GROUND...where the ground is soft...peat ground...36 inch 1/2 inch rebar I went with 5 ft of heavy chain.
In harder ground, semi clay, kind of mixed gravel...24 inch stake with at least 18 inches of chain...multiple swivels of course.