Cable on earth anchorsmy

going thru my cable stakes i pulled. Most are in good condition. But some have a loose wire and strainds on some a bit loose. Wondering if I could get a lil more use or if I need to cut the cable and put wolf fang on new cable. When do the rest of you do that?

I cut them off instead of pulling, so I may not be much help. I’d be pretty skeptical about reusing them if they have started to fray. What size cable?

Cut them off.
I’m going through my cable staked traps now and inspecting them closely. If I have any doubts they get cut off and replaced.
Dollar or so for each rig and now consider the value of the trap and or caught animal...not including the possible bad P. R.

Toss them or cut off bad portion and re-attach anchor to good portion. Speaking from experience, those loose strands will result in broken cable and your trap will be gone. Especially if ground is frozen it will wear that loose cable through quick.

Its roughly 40 cents to replace the cable. Do it.

Guys a bit off topic but have to ask...cablestake rigged up with a single end stop aka ferrule or nut...have you experienced any failures? And what is your preferred rig? Thanks

MC, I have used both of those end stops with no failures. I'm probably odd man out but for my soil conditions I use the 15" standard berkshires with 3/32 cable. I pre-drive or pre-drill a pilot hole. I like them because they are fairly easy to pull. They'll pull out folded up but I just bend back and use again. If compromised I just toss but usually get used 3 times. Initial and 2 others. Don't push it for a 4th run. It goes against my grain to just cut and run. I don't like leaving junk behind but sometimes they'll break off (break off point is always the tab on anchor the cable is connected to) when pulling and sometimes they won't budge in hard ground. If they won't budge I just cut.

Thanks silky....I’m gun shy now...had two break off in frozen ground...single stop.
Going back to double ferrules end.

MC, sorry I missed the single end stop ferrule. All mine are double end ferrules. I've never had the doubles fail on me.

You know me neither....got to playing around and experimenting with the single stopped ends and paid the piper.

Would depend on size of critter and size of cable.

maybe swap over from coyote traps to coon traps for example

plainstrapping 25, switch to a coon anchor if any doubts about your anchor cable like BTLowry suggests. You can even get away with it as an added end to a water drowner if you do some stream or pond trapping. MChewk, I've done some (hundreds) and any failures (including snare connections/ends) for me have been the crimper's fault for both end stop and doubles (even after crimper adjustment). So to remedy that, I have went to crimping and hammering the aluminum ones (if I get the time) or just crimping a steel # 6 or # 8 annealed nut for a single stop (1/4" inside diam. for a double). Not many entanglements in a lot of spots here so a coyote can hit that cable end (connection) pretty hard................. the (original) mike

BT most of my cable is either 3/32 or 1/8
Guys a few bits of information that I should have added...first pounding in disposal stakes in hard frozen ground has caused broken end stop issues...and when pulling these single end stop stakes has lead to broken off stops. Never had issues before I went to single end stops...hammered on. I believe it is the fact that it is the single stop and not a double ferrule.
I won’t do that again.

Most of my super stakes are all chain, I have 1/8th cable on the bottom third of some also. Some cable gets rust after the first season where it's attached to the super. they get replaced. If I had a welder, they would be all chain. Some off my chained supers are 10 years old without any issues. I prefer #3 machine chain; I've broke #2 a few times when pulling and have had double Ferrels fail when pulling too.

Darn hard frozen ground!

I’ve had double fail when I still hammered them on. But never an animal related issue, always when I was yanking on them with a puller.

Since going to a swager, I haven’t had one fail. I’ll fold a wolf fang in half before swaged double ferrules give up.

Traps are way to expensive these days. If there’s ANY doubt about the integrity of that cable, replace it!

Further to that point, crimped double ferrules have 2x the strength of a crimped single stop. Only time I use single stops these days is on adjustable drowners. Even for single stop applications on I use the double ferrules. The price of the two components are the same and it really simplifies my snare building process.

Good input Boone and SniperB...not sure what I was thinking...probably getting lazy and thought one would be good enough...WRONG!

When in doubt, replace the cable. Cable is cheap compared to the trap. I use a bench swager and crimp the double ferrules at least twice. Have never had one fail with a critter and only once or twice trying to pull through frost'.

After years of making anchors with 1/8” cable hoping for some longevity, I’ve decided to change up. I rarely get 3 years out of my 1/8” cable and I think it’s just the fertilizer in the ground around here. They seem to start rusting at the bend in the wolf fang or on top where I pull them out. Of the ones I’ve used a third year I would no way use them a fourth. As of now I’m replacing anything sketchy with 3/32” and replacing each year.

All that being said I have considered going to chains with the wolf fangs. I’ve seen guys use the welded S hooks for a fastener and I can’t help but wonder if a welded lock washer wouldn’t be a better fastener ?

Might want to experiment with stainless cable. Bit more expensive as stainless is more expensive and you need copper ferrules instead of aluminum

That’s why I’ve been thinking of chain , I’d hate to invest in the SS cable only to find out I can only get 4 or 5 years out of it.

8 or 9 years on chained Finned S Stake , Still running them again next year. Chain is cheep when it comes to trap cost and last longer .