I do most of my trapping in corn/bean fields - usually with a ditch or fence row nearby. I've been considering the use of drags or clogs this year when the ground gets too hard to pound a stake. But I've always figured they don't work too good in wide open bean or corn stubble fields. If the coyote or fox headed for the brush I figure they'd get tangled up pretty quick. But, if they head some other direction, they could be out of 1/4 - 1/2 mile away before they find something to get the drag caught in.

Anyone use drags in Midwest farm country? Do the coyotes carry a drag far away from the set? How are they used most effectively?

I've tried and learned....yotes will take right across open if they can. Heavy clogs is what I use if to hard for stakes. They might take a 50lb clog away from trap bed but not moving very far.

how do drags work in froze ground stubble fields? they don't. I suspect you already knew that.

rebar 16 inches long cross staked. usually about half way in your out of the froze ground.

Well, I wondered if a trapped coyote would always head for the nearest cover. But I guess there's never an "always" when it comes to wild animals.

Even if I get the re-bar hammered into the froze ground, I've had terrible luck trying to get them out.

I'm probably not likely to carry many fifty pound clogs to the areas where I trap either. But who knows, I may occasionally find a site with a useable clog laying around nearby.

I'll gurantee I won't carry any either. Cut a dozen an put in truck an haul to your area u can't put a stake... I doubt ground in Indiana freezes hard enough to not get a stake in. Get a stake puller it will save your back and plenty of time

My stakes are 1/2 inch rebar with a 5/8 nut pounded on and welded. Carry a box wrench. Put it on the nut and turn the stake a couple turns. It will come right out. This is what I use for a trapping hammer. Claws to dig bed and pull stakes , hammer head to pound them in.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...213ef368b&pf_rd_r=XVGV61KMN8CJ85HHVD

I’d imagine a freedom brand saber tooth would work just fine.

I doubt ground in Indiana freezes hard enough to not get a stake in.

im not far from you. ive never had any trouble getting stakes in.
getting em out sometimes is a different story.

Get a cordless drill and a 12 inch or longer concrete bit. Pre Drill then hammer your stakes in.

Osky

I am in the Northern part of the state and I can pound a pointed 24" rebar in with a big hammer. I have never had trouble getting them out. Get a big set of vice grips, snap them on the top of the stake and move them back and forth to break it loose and then pull up as you move it back and forth. Works every time for me, I have never not been able to get one out. I am not talking about a 6" pair, get a big set so you have leverage.

Yep drags here only worked for me in heavier cover, but my issue was my land access was small tracts and if a coyote got some distance away I could be retrieving on ground i didnt have access to. Got all kinds of stories about drags and most are why I dont use them here anymore
I trap coyotes in mostly plowed ground, flat picked bean fields, low grazed pastures, etc. And in December and January here the ground is rock solid frozen and I dont care how long a chain or heavy a drag or gambrell I used they could take one quite a ways. I had coon take gambrels up trees too, and that's no fun to retrieve them.
I usually just didnt like looking for them in the dark when I typically check our line. I like them now just staked where I made the set. Had a couple hang up on drags way out in open for everyone to see when they drove by, too. The original set was hidden along a weedy fencerow and I should have staked them right there in first place.
You can drive rebar in solid frozen ground OK, just need a good heavy hammer. I cross stake all my coyote traps and it works fine in hard frozen soil.
Some sets I make today I catch them in open but use cable sliders to slide them to the other staked end in or near cover to hide them. But they are technically staked. I dont use drags or gambrels anymore. I trap really open flat country around here. I'd bet they would work well in areas with more cover though.
Jim

Drags do work well in the right cover. But even in the right cover things can happen. Had a coyote hang up in some brush last year and manage to get out. Went ten feet and hung up again. Two wrecks of tore up brush and ground but no coyote. That coyote was smart enough to stay out of brush after tangling twice. It had gone a good 1/2 mile when I caught up to it and was still not tangled. Just wore out. I ran up and stepped on the drag to catch it. Ground was not froze or tracking would have been a lot slower process. Was in a very sandy part of the world. Not good farm dirt with grass and other vegetation to clog up the drag points. If the drag had been skipping over the top of frozen ground it would have went more than a 1/2 mile. Most coyotes would have tangled a third time but that one learned faster. I mostly use drags here in Kansas for cat sets. They have a stronger instinct to run into cover and don't fight a trap hard like a coyote. Drags work in brush. Not in trees or bare ground.

Vulpes94, Those are fine drags and work well in habitat drags work in. They DO NOT work well in every situation though. If you want to try them in crop stubble do yourself and the animals a favor. Don't try it when the ground is froze. Try it when at least the drag marks will be easy to see. Your going to go hiking.

^^yessir I I've been there. Caught a yote that got hung in sumac with a heck of a circle. He got free some how and went down a deer trail 30yrds thru all sorts of entanglement but managed to get in the meadow....then through a 5 wire fence crossed a major hiway through the fence on other side an finally Tangled in a lil brush next to a pond. Had there been no snow on I don't believe I would have found him. A hard lesson learned

I hope MChewk sees this he has a good story about drags in corn stalks .

They don't work. They do make things easier for trap thieves though as there are not any stakes to pull to slow them down.

Clogs are in the 50 pound range. One set up is 100 pounds. 10 sets is 1000 pounds wearing your pick up out. Unless you preposition, and then wait till spring thaws when the farmers are out chewing up your expensive traps and running over big hard 50 pound objects with their 25,000 dollar tiller and 150,000 dollar planters, they do not seem like good public relations work with the people who let you trap.

I'm the farmer and I Kno how to clean up after myself

Metal grapples don't work for me here. Other drags do though.

If you can't pull stakes, yeah, a stake puller, or use one of those flat pry bars about 14" long for pulling nails. You can usually start the stake just with the bar, after it's up 2-3", put your hammer head under it and get another 2-3". By then you can most times pull by hand.

You almost need 2 drags and a tracking chip in stalks. The (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) things will clog up a sharp pointed drag so you need a blunt one. The blunt on however will not leave you a single clue as to which direction to start your long AZ walk.

Badgers are slow and low to the ground so they are easy LOL. They will leave you many small crop circles for your long journey. They catch the drag, circle a few times, then free themselves to do it again and again.