Making Anchor Stakes For Trapping
Up North Journal 07.03.11
Recently one of my Pro Staffers here at the Up North Journal and myself decided to take up trapping. We didn’t want to put a lot of money into this in the beginning, so we are making a few of our items to save a little money. Besides making your own gear is fun and adventurous as well.
We found that buying anchor stakes for our traps was going to cost us over $2 a piece at our local sporting goods store. We did a little math and found out that we could save about 30% by making them ourselves, off to the hardware store we went.
We bought two ten feet long pieces of 1/2″ rebar, ten 1/2″ hex nuts, and ten thick flat washers. Next we had to cut each piece of rebar into five – two foot long pieces. A good hacksaw does the job along with some good ‘ol fashion elbow grease! 
This last part takes a welder and some knowledge of how to use one! I took one of the hex nuts and placed the rebar on top of it and welded them together to form what will be the stop on top of the stake when it is finished. Next I flipped it over so the hex nut was now on top of the rebar and then placed the thick metal washer on top of the hex nut. I then welded those together for the finished product. This flat washer gives a slightly bigger surface to hit when driving the stake and it also makes the stop atop of the stake bigger as well.
It didn’t save a ton of money, but we did have the pleasure of making some of our own equipment for this upcoming season. If you’re looking for some way to save a little money and your just getting into trapping like us, this might be a useful way to put a little money back into your pocket for other supplies!
Hello, I’m Mike Adams the co-owner and co-founder of Up North Journal. My oldest son Mikey and I started Up North Journal back in April of 2007 as a weekly podcast that focused on what we did outdoors each week. It has grown into a medium sized media outlet that now has 11 staff members that includes everything from audio, video all the way to outdoor journals.
Our staff members contribute to this publication so you will see stories from Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Alabama, Iowa/Kansas and Alaska’s Arctic Circle! We love to hunt anything that the law allows and we also spend quite a bit of time on the water fishing whether it be frozen or of the liquid variety. You might see some of us at a local 3-D archery shoot or at some outdoor event at some of the local outdoor stores or you might even see us in the woods! Feel free to look around our website www.upnorthjournal.com and take a look around. Also make sure to stop by and visit our sponsors websites as well. Hope to see you in the woods or on the water!
