Anyone have good suggestions for being able to check a set from a distance without having to go up to the set to see if something took off with the trap and drag. Unless necessary, I don't like having to go right up to traps to check them. I don't normally use drags, but sometimes I like them.

My drags are usually buried to one side of the trap and usually leave a stick stuck in a chain link sticking up, or if its in a fence crossing I just lay a stick over where the chain is buried and you can see when the stick is gone. Honestly though, when something leaves with on of my traps on a drag with 10 to 12 feet of chain you can tell from a distance pretty easily.

cut a sapling and prehook your drag to it once you make a catch it pulls sapling over .like a I camo flag. Passer by will never take notice to a small tree.

I saw on one of F&T TV episodes where mr. Dunlap used a wire marking flag (like the ones used to mark utilities in your yard) stick it through a link of chain near the drag and poke that flag down into the ground. Drag was placed off to side of the set but in a spot visible to where he could tell at a glance on way by if flag was still "up" for quick checks. If he couldn't see the flag...go check the set closer.
You can get bundles of those stiff wire marking flags pretty cheap at the hardware stores.
Jim

Jeff Dunlap uses a big zip tie around his sabor tooth drags. With the drag laying flat the zip tie sticks straight up about a foot. You can put colored or reflective tape on the end or use colored zip tie. Another tip that he had at our Illinois trapping convention and I hope I explain this right. You got your trap set with a drag on a field edge by the woods and you want your coyote go toward the woods and not out across the field. Take a piece of rerod/ rebar and drive it into the ground at a steep angle with the top pointing toward where you want the coyote to go in this case the woods and prehook your drag to it. If the coyote makes a run for the field. the angle of the rebar keeps the drag pinched in there when he get around and starts pulling toward the woods the drags slips up and over the rebar. Its not fool proof but it gets them guided in a general direction
Justin

That's what it was, my bad, thanks Justin.
The wire flags I saw at a convention demo one year and seemed like a simple approach.
The big colored zip ties are a great idea and you dont have to look for the flag after each catch.
Jim

x2

I also add florescent flagging tied to drag. This speeds up spotting animal & equipment, after the catch.

Another great trick is to use a dead branch as the actual drag. Incorporated into the set you will see when its gone.

All stuff that works, but if checking from that far away you will never know if the trap has been dug up or frost sprung or set off by a hoofed animal. You might also find the target animal using the new trail you have made rather than the old one,

In the end your right. But that can be a judgment call for the trapper. As for the new trail. (Not trying to be a wise anchor.) isn't that why gangsetting exists?

I have been using a fluorescent colored pipe cleaner that you can get at the craft stores. I just tie it around the cable or chain, and if you want you can even make neat shapes and stuff with them.

When checking in the dark, I have used a small stick with a reflective thumb tack (trail marker) stuck in it. Place it so that it will be knocked over by the critter. They show up easily with a head lamp.

most of my drags are PRE-HOOKED to saplings since I don't have time to look for critters

my 6' chains have a shock spring and 2 swivels in the first 2' of chain

a 2-3' twig stuck thru a link with a flag of surveyors tape on top is what I've used to be able to check with binoculars

Good info. Thanks.

I'm thinking about using some drags for bobcat trapping this year. Do bobcats ever take a drag up a tree?

They most certainly do. I've got a photo laying around to prove it if I could figure out how to post it.

Yes and down holes and crevasses too,if you had them.Limb drags hold well and they don't go far and are much less likely to climb.

I would think so as lynx do unless the drag is a large heavy log rather than a normal coyote drag.

Use a piece of thin wire. I have a spool of 22ga steel wire that would work. Cut a long piece. One end attaches to the drag, the other end attaches to a piece of flagging tape stuck up in a tree limb. From a distance, if the flagging tape is still in the tree limb, nothing has moved. If the drag moves, so does your tape.