Theft Resistant Anchor System

by Tracy Truman

If you've been trapping more than one season, you've no doubt had experience with losing a trap or two to a thief. I hate thieves. Really. I've often silently prayed that I might actually catch someone in the act of stealing my trap . . . but then I figured if the Lord determined their time here on earth was over, there were probably other, less messy ways to die.

Anyway, so like most of you, I've spent sleepless nights trying to come up with a totally foolproof, inexpensive, easy-to-use system to foil even the most clever thief. Uh, the only problem is I haven't found one yet. But I have found something that is pretty close. Its not for everyone, but it may be of some use to some of you.

At the outset, you have to have trees or rocks near your sets. OK, that was easy enough.

Here's the basic set up that I use for my cat traps.

First, I get a 7-10 foot 1/8" cable beaver drowner from the Snare Shop. You can make your own, of course, but invariably someone will want to know where I got mine, so now you know.

The beaver drowner has a loop at each end. Using J hooks, I attach one end to the trap chain swivel, and the other end I attach to a 1 1/2" flat washer, like so:

The beaver drowners come with a washer bent at a 90 degree angle, but in this application, it has no use, so just ignore it.

In this application, I'm anchoring to a rock ledge. So I get my handy-dandy cordless drill with a half inch masonry bit, and drill a hole about 3" deep in the rock.

Now I place the flat washer over the hole, and use a 2 1/2" inch long, 1/2" diameter concrete anchor bolt (about $1 at Home Depot or Lowes) through the washer.

Now smack the top of the bolt with your hammer a couple of times to drive it home.

Once the bolt is driven in, take your socket/ratchet and tighten the bolt. I then smack the bolt a few more times to "booger up" the threads so no would-be thief can simply loosen the bolt.

When the bolt is seated all the way in and tightened, you're all set.

Now its time to go catch some cats.

You can use the same technique by anchoring to a tree. Like I said, it isn't foolproof, but a thief can only get the trap if he happens to be packing a pair of cable cutters, some bolt cutters or similar tools.

Hope it gives you some ideas.