Need to make couple dozen stakes. What I been using is 1/2" rebar 18 to 20" long for all my traps. Now with adding DP trap was thinking try 3/8" dia. Last November was so dry was not able to drive 1/2" stakes 18" deep in some spots. Would 3/8 be easer to drive in dry soil or more likely to bend. Ground is not rocky, just hard . Also what length you guys use for coon?

Use the 1/2” x 18” and get a bigger hammer . I use 3/8” x 24” or 30” in water but would not want to try driving them in dry hard ground .

I made some 3/8” stakes one time and bent pretty much all of them. I have a lot of rock in the ground though. Maybe give some 3/8” a try but I would suggest sticking with 1/2”. Cut them on an angle to give them a little bit of a point and maybe try a bigger hammer.

All my DP I added 3-4 ft of chain and a snap.. Always a small tree or root or clog nearby to hook too..

I use 24" long 3/8" rebar stakes with nuts welded to the top. No troubles at all with them. If the ground is hard or frozen I use some shorter 20" ones made the same way.

Make some earth anchors…make’em 12-15” and drive about 8” in the ground for DP’s. Coons ain’t pulling it up. In wet areas where you can push it in and pull it by hand, then all the way down (12-15”). They ain’t pulling those up either.

I started with those, quickly changed to rebar. Those are too hard to pull out of our ground and I move DP's a lot. Rarely do I leave one set over 3-4 days before I pull and move.

8-10” is all that’s needed, lol. Coons don’t pump, they run side to side. Most I can pull by hand afterwards. Now it ain’t exactly easy, but put for legs and back into it and they come up. Hate when I hit clay…the drill has to come out for those. If I hit clay, I go 6” maybe. Ain’t had a coon pull a DP yet. Even cabling around a tree and they wrap up in the surrounding brush hasn’t lost one yet.

3-4 days? You catch them all in that time?

No, but I've caught the cream off the top by then, I'll move them to more productive locations. I'll recheck some of those locations for fresh sign later in season and reset, but 6-8 coons per location gets the majority of them.

I want to know where in MO you are not hitting rock…must be up north

I use earth anchors on mine too, but you sure don't want to leave them if you can pull them by hand or coon can and will pull them. But we have a bigger coon than you do.

I use a drag heavy enough that a coon can't really drag it very much. Logs, and whatnot. There's always something laying around nearby, so I don't need to bring a hammer and a bunch of heavy stakes.

I have tried every type of anchor for DP's I know of since I started using them in 2001. In farm country/fields with crop and cover areas/edges, rebar (like ADC has said) is much better for catch and pull. If its wooded timber with saplings, you can't beat a snap swivel for connecting to Ma Nature's small trees/log drag. Anchors are good and HD but usually take that extra few minutes to pull. Read an article about a guy who used them with CHAIN DROWNERS about 20 years ago. Too much gear for a DP in my view unless its a special spot (high vis) with a lot of coon. My take......................... the mike

Pike, and Lincoln county. Silt loam that turns to quick sand during winter months. Only rock is usually something Indians brought in. What part of MO you reside?