anybody use drags for bobcats ?

Once looked all over for a trap on a drag. Caught a bobcat in one set and could no find the other. A game warden brought my trap with a Bobcat a hunter found in a tree with my trap and cat. This was in UP many years ago.

I used them all the time.The only cats I caught in staked sets were incidentals

Unless you use a fairly heavy drag be prepared to look up in the trees for your cat catch.

Not a good plan if you are in mountain lion country.

I’ve caught hundreds of bobcats on dragged traps. I wouldn’t do it unless I were in brushy country. I would also think twice about it if I were going to get any decent snow or rain. Sometimes you really need the drag marks to follow.

I caught my first bobcat last year on a drag. She was about 20' up in a small jackpine. Luckily she didn't go up the large white pine as that one was much taller!

I use drags all the time. I have 4+ dz trap/drag setups. I cant get a stake in the ground. Alot of places its rocks. I prehook most of my drags.

Pre-hooking and maybe wiring a rock to the chain reduces a lot of the going up problems.

I’m more likely to cable off to a tree when I’m......in the trees. Lighter option packing in.

I’ll also add that perhaps out of every hundred cats, I’ve seen one or two go up a tree.

Boone’s suggestion of cabling to a tree is a great tool. No staking or digging anything but a trap bed and nearly no extra weight. Underneath a tree keeps sets protected from weather, can keep sets from freezing, and give a good place to display flagging.

Here in the Ozarks. U about to have to use a drag. Very very few places i can get a stake in the ground. And i like it because my trap bed and dirt hole still in good condition. One reason i prehook so they cant make it to a big tree. Other reason so i dont have to go looking for it. Right now i am trapping a 5000 Acre hunting club. I setting along the roads. I also trap the national forest. I trap out of my truck.

Sent you a PM..

I pre-hook mine if I'm using them. They usually don't even make it out of the set area. They don't seem to fight like say a coyote, usually, not always. I have watched one get a run on 10 foot of chain right in front of me and pop right out in front of my eyes. I make sure they don't have that much running room anymore.

I have good dogs and good drags i mostly use drags on cats
Especialy on public land

Use them all the time, metal and some natural long tree branches. We do trap in mt lion country too.
Pre hooking them works well. We had a bobcat take a tree branch about 100 yds to a standing tree but didn't climb it.
We are trapping mostly open ground with some creek bottoms.

I use drags on most of my cat sets because a lot of our cat country is too rocky for stakes. I've also found a lot of good cat areas without anything to cable off too. In the past this prevented me from setting right on sign and forced me to trap areas close to with that I could cable too. A lot of times I can pre-hook my drags in a bush that i wouldn't be able to cable too. That cats don't get those drags off very often. But sometimes I do have to just lay the drag on the ground. For these ones and iffy bushes I pre-hook in, I put orange survey tape on the drag. Cats can hid right next to the set and you still wont see them. I survey tape gives them away.

I run drags on most of my traps, been doing it for 10 years and I've had one or 2 cats go up a tree. My drags are pretty heavy though, and I'm usually running 10 to 12 feet of #3 chain. Just don't forget to look up when the drag mark suddenly disappears, and like TravC said good dogs always help.

He would hook up and change directions then be off again.
Found him.

Use them for cats here in the river breaks where the trees are thick, a good drags are worth the money. A good cat trapper down in Arizona use sticks he cut on the spot for cats.

Down here it is great fun to use them as long as you carry a few thing in your bag. A chain mail suit and a set of climbing spikes are a must, and once you get them out of the tree/large thick bush a catch pole comes in handy unless you are too busy seeking medical attention.