Some dispute wether or not they are crap, but I say yes. It will help to spool your winch out a good ways and wash the cable. Then you will want to spool it back up neatly. You could do this by having someone spool it in while you let your body act as dead weight. Just grab hold of the hook and lean back. It will help to start out straight, but angle it some to let it make neat little wraps. Stop and check your progress every now and then. Out on the trail you can skip this unless you pull out a bunch, but make sure you when you get home to clean it up. If you do spool out a bunch on the trail, just do the spool in thing the best you can and knock of what mud your able to. A little extra time and care should take care of your bird nesting problems.