DP trap stakes

I’m going to weld 3/8” rebar trap stakes. Question is how long to make them? I will be in some sandy soil and clay at times

18 because I will NOT single stake a DP. Especially around creeks.

I once bought some traps with stakes welded to the chains but I changed them almost immediately. A weld is rigid and I like having a swivel there for obvious reasons.

I use 18" stakes for DP traps but usually in black loam or heavy clay.
Actually I prefer to use Berkshires with twisted 20ga. Wire

I use 24" 3/8" rebar. Just be sure they can't climb a tree and pull the stake. 1/2" nuts make good tops. I do not like T tops as they tangle and spin too easily.

Or the T pops off

1/2 -13 nuts make good stops

if you don't have a welder you can just slip them over the rebar and beat them down not had any come off

16 or 18 inches and I double stake them , soil here is very sandy

I opened up the claw on a eastwing framing hammer with a grinder to slip around the 3/8 rebar out near the end I can still pull nails but it pulls stakes very well and drives them well

leave about 1/4 inch of rebar above the nut before you hammer the nut down , the rebar mushrooms over the nut and it isn't going to come off. weld would be nice I just didn't have one

I would use 1/2 rod, 3/8 is not good enough ,u don't want coon pull stakes , I use 2 ft long in 1/2 rod or earth anchors on dps , in sandbar in late season or kinda a island in creek I used 30 in t bar I'm 1/2 rod, I only use 3/8 rerod on land connibears in frozen ground or occasionally in thaw ground,, usally use earth anchors on 220 s but sometime 3/8 stake , I wouldn't feel safe with 3/8 rod in 18 in long in lot soil , definateky not in sand or anything other clay would I use 3/8 , pull stakes by coon, we have big coon here maybe u have dinks

how about two 18 inch 3/8 with a double stake swivel , you will give yourself a hernia trying to pull that of even sandy river side soil on a sand bar I would reach for the longer stakes two 24s

I like earth anchors so you don't have to haul rebar around. Fender washers hold great even in mucky mud and sand.

3/8 rebar weighs .376 pounds per foot

1/2 inch rebar weighs .670 pounds per foot

two 3/8 by 18 inch stakes weigh 1 1/8 pounds

one 24 inch 1/2 rebar stake weights 1 1/3 pounds

I just went out in my garden where there is no vegetation and the soil is so loose I just pushed the two 18 inch stakes in to a cross stake swivel I put my scale on and pulled up I was at 100 pounds before is started to move any

if you have firmer ground or any vegetation holding the soil it is going to go well more than 100 pounds strait up lift that is going to have to be one huge coon

A lot of areas I set DPs have more moisture in the soil, so I cross stake two 3/8 inch by 16-18 inch stakes with a nut on the end. I use a vice grips to grip the stake and twist out when pulling. I have never had any stake even moved or ever dug around.

Bryce

I have had coon pull 2 an on cpl occasions a 30 inch long 1/2 rod out deeper water in sand , I cross stake if any trouble, this was foothold on drowner, I have limited use for 3/8, sone t bar for 160 s on kb stands or few land 220 s a long 3/8 t bar shove in good or nutthead 3/8 in frozen ground to anchor 220, I rarely use 3/8 for top end stakes on drowners, mostly 14-16-18 inch top end stakes on sliders , 3/8 to lite duty , I seen some coons what left them on fence that pull snare stake hook to them that some vendor was sell , someone set out snares on 3/8 or real short rod hook to snare an coon pull an perish on fence , found remains it , more once

I made them 24” long. Can always cut them down later if needed. I’m surprised how many people cross stake coon traps.

JT

cheap insurance

especially if your trapping a place where you can push the stakes in without getting out the hammer

Yeah me too. I use one 1/2in t bar 24 inches through the swivel in most situations. Unless it goes in too easy then 24in pogo but that is rare.

LOL,,not if you know how to weld.

Perhaps , but I've bought a lot of tbars that popped on off center hits.

Just put some cable on them with a loop at the end, wrap around a tree and feed it through the loop. Its a lot faster than staking and I've never lost a trap or animal

That would probably work if you had trees. Or at least had them where the coon trail is.

True guess that's never been a problem for me, I get as close as I can and use fish oil as a trailing scent but if you don't have trees it obviously isn't going to work

some of us live in a nearly barren corn/bean field area.

berkshires on cable. never lost an animal pretty good dirt around here tho

I just use pogos on my dp’s. A lot lighter than rods.

Berks and cable on all of mine, never had an issue. I use 24" cable in case of soft ground i go deeper and not so much on hard ground,, and they hold fine.
I trap a lot corn, bean fields, and creek banks.

I used cable stakes for part of a season. I suppose its ok if you only trap a couple weeks or only use a couple or three dozen DPs, or you just don't move them around much but I was using several dozen and moving them every three days or so and pulling them cable stakes added a lot of work to the process. That is why I switched to rebar like I said, 24" 3/8 rebar stakes with nut tops. Never lost a coon but I don't set in mud with them either.

Bullet stakes with the retrieval ends really makes moving DPs easy unless you got a lot of tree roots...

I use 24" -3/8" rebar for mine whenever possible. With a washer and nut top. Bulkier and heavier than earth anchors but much easier to pull and move quickly. Soil types make a big difference of course. I prefer staking away from anything they can get tangled in, and as long as they can't get purchase pulling straight up I haven't had an issue. In fact, there were a few instances after a thaw or heavy rains where after a catch the stake was basically sitting in a wallowed out hole with no vertical resistance at all. Of course I pull and move it somewhere solid afterwards in such cases.

X2

This is what I use.