kodiakhuntmaster

What do you use to stake your leg hold traps down? I have been using a rubberized steel cable to attach to a nearby tree, and it isn't working very well.

"Hey ya'll, watch this"

Howler

Kodiak, I'm not a trapper, but a friend of mine is the local animal damage control guy, and he recently showed me what he uses to stake his leg hold traps. I'll try to discribe it. The actuall stake part of this set up is about 6" long steel. The bottom of this piece is pointed to be driven into the ground, the top of it is larger, so that another foot long stake can drive this piece into the ground. There is a ring welded on this 6" piece, about 2/3 of the way down on the actual stake. He then hooks a piece of cable about 14" long onto the stake at the ring which is welded on. At the other end of the 14" long cable, he attaches a swivel, at which point there is a "s" hook that attaches to another swivel which is the end of another cable which is attached to the trap. The idea with this 6" stake that is driven into the ground is this, when it gets pulled on, the bottom of the stake trys to come up first, which in turn wedges it into the ground. You'd have to break a cable or dig it up, it just won't come out of the ground. I'm not sure what this set up is called, but if you want to know, I can find out. Also, I could find out where you can get them, or if he makes them himself. The leg hold traps here in Colo. are required to have rubber jaws, so he uses swivels in his sets. He also uses a spring in the set up, I think he called it a surge preventer, or something like that, so that when a critter jerks on the trap, the spring prevents them from jerking thier foot out of the trap. Hope this helps. Good Luck!!!

selway

plain rebar with a washer on top 12 inch on fox coon stake pumping coydogs cross stake with 2 rebar. Howler got a good idea but the ground freezes here. some people use a triangle of steel about 4 inch with a notch for driving the angle your trap chain gets attach to the middle and another chain gets attach to the corner when driven and you pull on it trys to come up flat the other chain is on the corner and is for pulling it out when you move. a small car jack with a notch for the chain link is good for pulling in frozen ground

you can use your pepper spray my 12 gauge with 3 inch slugs works fine

kodiakhuntmaster

Howler, I've seen those before and they are suppose to be great, But as of right now I don't have very many traps and it would probably be best to stick the the basic all around stake until I get more. I'm still learning how to trap, and I still don't know what all the dyes and waxes are for lol. I have mainly only trapped rabbits in boxes before now, and preditors seem very complicated by comparison.

"Hey ya'll, watch this"

opposumboy

kodiak, I always made my own stakes. Take 1/2 rerod and cut it to 16" lengths, weld a nut and washer on the top, and if coyote territories weld a triangle on the end ( an old combine cutting blade works great). If trapping fox and coyote you deffinately need to dye and wax your traps. The idea is that the dye is like camo to help the trap blend in and the wax seals the trap from foriegn odors. Remember to wear rubber gloves and boots at all sets. Many places sell a powder dye that you boil in water(works great) I always used walnut shells when I was starting out. Just get a bucket of black walnuts and boil them down to gush. When the water gets black boil the traps in it for a few minutes until the trap is black and then set the trap in the melted wax. For wax canning wax works great and is cheap. Put a nail between the jaws to insure wax gets the inside of the jaws. Let the trap drip dry. When dry the wax should be a thin layer not thick.
Good luck and let us know how you do.