I roll up the tail and lock the handle down on it. With a shorter tail make a smaller roll so it is thick enough to fit tight under the handle. Longer tail bigger roll.

Thanks for sharing that ! That looks like a slick little device.

http://wrapadoodledoo.com/photo-gallery/

Video on Youtube !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W65JUiKN2o

Dad had a loader delivered the other day, and the guy who delivered it had a velcro loop on the short tail on the ratchet to tie up the tails of the straps.  Pretty slick. 

Something like this ?

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17t.jpg (55KB - 841 downloads)

I get these things from Farm & Fleet that look like big huge kitchen food wrap "twisties". In actuality, they're heavy single stranded copper wire (maybe 10AWG?) that are covered w/a soft spongy coating & have buttons on the end to prevent them from disintegrating. I've searched on F&F website, but can't locate them. They're in the automotive section of the store on the shelf right next to the ratchet straps. Anyway, just take one of these huge "twisties" & run it thru the hole where you've rolled the loose strap & then "twist", just like you would if you were using plain wire. Then, when we return the ratchet straps to storage, the twisties keep the non-ratchet end of the strap nicely rolled. I think they're a couple bucks apiece.

That's my favorite method of securing loose ends. If I don't have twisities, I just use the daisy-chain method. Works fine, but doesn't look as cool.

I roll it up then stuff it into the handle and lock the handle down. If theres too much to lock into the handle then It's usually thick enough to stuff into a stake pocket.

You can also roll it up, then wedge it under the strap before tightening it fully. 

I carry a bag of 12 inch zip ties in every vehicle, never know when one will come in handy, with the tail of a strap I wrap it up and zip tie it to itself, leaving enough slack so I can retighten the ratchet when necessary. 

which I am not though I can make it work sometimes if I keep my patience, you can fold it up over and over so you have about 15-18" length. Make sure you won't have very much wrapped on the spool, and then you can suck the end of the leftover folds into the spool.

Sometimes you can do what cutncrop did.

There's also a way of tying them that works pretty good. I can usually make that work. Problem is when you have a 30' strap and only need 10' of it but don't want to cut it. 

The best way is to just install winches on your trailer. No extra to deal with then.

The others have pointed out a ton of good ways of handling the slack but I also find that keeping a couple of shorter ones around comes in real handy. If you've got a bunch of used ones around, pick a pair to cut that're chafed farther up the strap and you've done yourself a favor as well as having a couple of handy shorter straps.