I read the threads on Trapperman daily learning as much as I can and don't post a lot. Now, I need some help on using drags. I have never used them but now have encountered a location in which I need to use one. This farm has a healthy bobcat population and also gets some coyote travel. I caught one cat on this farm last year in a different location. This year trail cameras have identified a main travel corridor for both the cats and coyotes. It is a farm road connecting two hay fields running downhill on a small rock cliff. Just to the north of the road is a rock about the size of a basketball the bobcats are using as a natural scent post. The ground is hard sandstone about 4 inches deep covered in some spots with dirt and others with crumbled sandstone and I am unable to drive an earth anchor more than about 6 inches deep. My solution is to use a drag. But I have no experience and am concerned on how to find one that takes off. I could relocate the rock but dont want to disrupt their normal pattern.

A friend who got me started in trapping made a couple drags for me a few years ago. I will try to post a picture of them tomorrow. They are made from rebar with #3 chain and cable. I am not sure of the weight.

My first question is what is the most likely direction of travel once caught? We are in hilly country with this pic showing elevation drop of 150 ft from barn (white square) to the far right of picture. The hay fields are cut really short and hard packed, surrounded by larger open fields on top (north), really dense autumn olive thicket to the south (yellow area) and a steep thick drain to the east (blue area) emptying into a large hollow. The two dots are current/potential trap locations. The autumn olive thicket is surrounded by thick briar patches.


The second pic is a close up of the road bed section. The road is represented by the grey line. The elevation drops to both the south and east. The red dot is a pipe dream set up in the field where I could drive an anchor. The blue dot is a big flashy dirty hole right on edge of sandstone that I somehow got an anchor drove in. Pulling it will be a challenge. The yellow dot is the location of the rock the cats are visiting regularly. I can dig a good trap bed at the rock.


My second question is once caught how do you locate your catch? If he heads to the thicket I would not expect him to go far at all. Any other direction I am not sure. And I dont have a dog to use to track it up. I am concerned that if he goes any where but the thicket the drag may not hook up. There is a small cedar tree I could prehook the drag but it is a good 20 ft away from the rock.

I appreciate any help you can give me.

They generally go towards cover but not 100%. If there's bare ground anywhere, most drags should at least some mark that will indicate which direction the animal went.

You can use a stake thru a link of the chain to force a direction of travel. Drive the stake at ~ 45° pointed in the direction you wish the animal to go. Any other direction the animal tries to go is hung up on the stake, when it swings around to the desired direction of travel the chain link will slide off the stake.

Ground to hard to drive a stake ... use a ceramic tipped masonry bit and battery powered drill.

Cats are typically going to go to the closest cover, maybe even up that little cedar you’re talking about pre hooking in. Coyotes it can be anybody’s guess. One thing I can say if you lose your drag marks after a ways think about the wind direction and walk into the wind from your set. A coyote likes to travel with the wind in his face. That’s not always a sure thing but when you have nowhere else to turn it’s helped me find a few I never would have. I believe when a coyote is initially caught it just takes off and after a bit of being caught they eventually turn into the wind unless they get hung up before that which you always hope for to happen quick. The wind trick At least gives you a direction in which to look but start with drag marks first. Why not haul in something big and heavy and use it for a drag they could barley budge like a short log? With some of that open country it would cut down on possibly loosing an animal.

I was going to recommend a log drag also, unless you are worried about adding something to the landscape will disturb the natural set location. You could also use and extension and tie off directly to that small cedar you are talking about. Or add some weight to your drags

Check your mail box

Thanks for the help. I appreciate the responses.

If the cat or yote heads straight for cover I would expect it to get hung up as quickly as 20 yds. Which is definitely ideal.
I hadnt thought about using a log but would be easy enough to setup. The location is close enough to other trees and downed tops I dont think a log in the edge of field would be much of a deterrent. How heavy of a log would you suggest?

Here is the drag my buddy made me. It is not heavy at all with a full length of about 10 ft. I have additional chain and cable I can use to tweak it.

I'd straighten that out an make stakes.....a drag is only as good as it's gripping abilities an that has very little. A hvy log for a clog or chain directly to small tree or cedar or use a drag designed by a trapper.

Not trying to be rude but reaaaalllly wouldnt feel comfortable using grapple style drags that relay mostly on catching onto brush and the like. Critter decides to go though a field or two track you screwed unless you have a dog. Good plow drags that will hook and dig into the dirt are a different story altogether

When I first started using drags in AZ I would tie about 10 feet of orange flagging to the drag. makes it easy to find, after doing that a while I switched to a temporary fastening like an exposed root that would give after a while, that way the animals had the initial shock of the catch over, so there was less bounding, but more pulling action which kept the drag on the ground, he then pulled in one direction only, till hung up, then he would tear that up and pull again. I learned to use a heavy piece of steel like a tie plate near the trap to increase weight tiring him out quicker ( Art Crane and E F Keith would use a brick close to the trap) and that with a 10 foot chain and drag would slow him down in the flats. if i had trouble finding him you could usually discharge a 22 round, listen and that will start him moving and making noise.

do not go for a hind foot catch as they can travel hooked up that way

In your area if you hook a deer he will bound once or twice and flick the trap off and you might never find it, deer are attracted to some lures and the salt in urine.

I think you might want to consider a slide away system with a one way lock

take a pick to the ground and see what you are really dealing with

some guys in az just carried cinder blocks with them and hooked the drag to that, never bothered the coyotes (coyote trapping with Smitty shows that method), one old book said you could tell a coyote trapper by the big rocks in the bed of the truck along with all the dents.

By the way, wolf dog 91 has a drag what you are using should be thrown away it is not a drag or a hook, its a problem. If you are going to use a a drag get some real equipment or you will lose animals for no reason and cause real problems

Hay Mntr. If you don't mind waiting a week or two I got a bunch of extra stabertooth drags. Would be happy to send you two or three to try out as their just sitting around. Would send you some of mine but don't have any extras

I am generally overkill on log drags, generally using one 5-6" around and 6-8' long. I've used larger if that was what was handy. I'm sure that is overkill for coyotes, but we have wolves and cougars here and if you pinch one of them you want a pretty good chunk of wood attached. They aren't going anywhere much in the brush with a log that size attached, but you'd be amazed how far they can drag something like that down a road if they decide to. No problems tracking them though . One thing, if using a log drag, you want to make sure the chain or cable is tight around it and there is no way it can be worked off the end. I usually notch it where I wrap the chain around it in the middle, so the chain can't slide up or down the log.
Drags like Wolfdog pictured are handy, grab one, attach it to the chain and throw it in the brush (or snow usually in my case), no looking around for or cutting a log and moving it, but you have to have them with you, I trap off a snowmachine or fourwheeler mostly and space is limited so I only carry a few drags and can cut or find logs when I run out.

I have used (and still do) old 8' X 6" dia. wooden fence posts cinched in the middle or slightly to 1 end. Pound a nail or two halfway in on either side of the cinch. It will hold. Nothing more natural here in farm country and I bet your coyotes and cats will not mind them. In rocky areas, a concrete weight(s) of some kind on that 10' of chain should work w/o an issue. They work fine here in farm settings and I just pitch them back out of the way and bury the 2 ft. of chain closest to the trap bed. If I can't see the caught coyote from the trap bed, I start looking downhill (easiest direction of pull by weight). Funny to see a coyote trying to hide behind that fencepost in the middle of a combined soybean field but they do try............. the mike

Wolf dog, I appreciate the offer. Our season goes out the end of the month and I will be pulling traps the 27th. Access to this farm is on a narrow gravel road and can be rough during bad weather. When I really wanted to be trapping the farm the snow and ice kept me out of the area.

I am going to try the log drag idea this evening. Plenty of logs and maybe an old fence post to choose from. The open field runs uphill pretty steeply from the trap location. Downhill will take him into thick brush immediately or through small opening into more thick brush. I just hope one shows up soon and connects.

We are supposed to get some heavy rain tomorrow followed by freeze and thaw conditions for several days after that. This is very typical for our area this time of year.

Yesterday evening I bedded a trap anchored to a log drag. The log is solid oak about 7ft long oak and 6 to 7 inches thick. Now it is time to sit back and wait.

Good luck ! See ya tomorrow.

I am a beginner, but the drags I use are just 6 or 7 feet long solid wood. Probably not the best for just straight fields, but if there is any brush it will get tangled and lock up fast.


Just saw your pic, very similar, mine are probably thinner, work well. Goodluck.