I snagged several in the mountains here, I immediately removed the four coils and went to anchoring drags to trees. Some of the random sign I saw was from very big bears.

Slim's bear was a in a #2 modified bridger chewk!

otter2 that chain is case hardened if I remember correct, you gave me some of it and had to stand on bolt cutters to cut it even though it's itty bitty chain lol. Id not worry about anything breaking that stuff, good to have as it's alot lighter than #3 chain.

Yea, theres Bear over here in my part of the world..My part of Kentucky is a whole lot different than Matt's..

here is my setup on drags i made them after the govermet drags desighned bye a gov trapper here in new mexio years ago a freind of mine showed me the angles they need to be at to dig and flip if the grounds to hard ill buary them to the side in areas of hard soil you can dig to the side of the backing and bury it there just tamp the ground if you have a drag and are concerned about it hitching bury the point closer to the backing I typically bury it on the right side and face the T side to the trap it helps keep that offset tine from hitching if going from the backing. I find it quicker to bury it close to the backing instead of digging a deep hole in some areas you will spent allot of time doing so in soft soil, sand hills it’s not a problem. If you have a preference of putting your trap offset or further back it can be problem but ya might try it. I got allot of hard soil and rock and caliche on this cap rock I use allot of drags on it when there’s enough cover I use mostly drags here or in the rougher country i realy like em and tend to stick with them heres some pictures of my drags an dhow i buary them in hard soil.

nice post Trav..

"I have a question about using drags in bear country, if you guys don't mind. One of my best and favorite places to trap is just loaded with bears. I just started using drags last season, have had good results and no bear incidents YET, but I'm sure it's coming to me sooner or later. Would I be better off staking solid in high-bear areas? My thought is that most bears pinched in a staked set would pull right out (biggest trap I'll be using is a 1.75 coil), whereas one on a drag could go a long way (as CLT said above). Any thoughts"

If I was trapping where the bears were a real possibility I might run the drag chain out and make a wrap around an existing small tree that has a bit of spring to it. I would suspect that the first lunge would set old Mr. Bear free.

I ran extension chains to trees.
ps GH 2 is terriffic on bears

Trav,are those pipes filled with anything for weight?I also weld a swivel like that on most of the drags I make up.I started with D rings welded on and ran short one day and got to thinking why not a swivel,had a couple bags of Crunch Proofs so I said what the hey.It works pretty slick like that and another swivel don't hurt.I put a few extra chain links on there and then weld the J hook shut,then all ya gotta do is hook up to your 8' of chain with a big quick link or a lap link.

Am I the only one who uses lap links anymore?I never here anyone mention them really when talking about this type of stuff.They are an excellent connector,probably one of the most foolproof and strong there is to choose from.They tighten on themselves under pressure and there is no threading like on a quick link to get gummed up.They are strong enough to be reused also,unlike S hooks or J hooks.Just curious really if anyone else uses um...

Man look at that soil...looks like it'd be nice to work with...blend.

Asa Escanaba show is July 13-14th. Dealers set up on thursday the 12th and doors open to public on friday 13 and sat 14th.

Got enough leaves and pine straw around here to hide a drag if it worry's you, most times I do that is to keep people from seeing it though not critters.

Mike, take a trip to the southwest sometime, make sets leave them out for a week and if nothing is caught your traps look just like they did when you took them out of the shed, lol. Was strange not having any rust spots anywhere or sticky mud stuck to something. Id get plumb lazy working out there! OH and you don't have to remake sets every other day because of flash floods either, lol.

Maybe one day....When I trapped S.Indiana the soil there was a reddish clay and seldom did I have rust on a trap. Used lots of cedar needles to blend...made the set invisible.

clt thats the heavy sucker rod its like a heavyer roundstock its easy to get here sometimes free from the oil wells
never tryed pipe i like the drags semi heavy

on this caprock some spots we got it others we dont but it is nice to blend with a whisk broom can make things hard to find

Ahh,ok...

ttt id like to see more if anyone else has something to share

I alwasy liked to carry drags on the waterline too..When making mink and coon sets..Id just use a long chain and drag then wrap the drag up in some brush or roots(small drags of course)..A lot of our creeks are very rocky and loamy..makes for bad staking conditions..

drags need a half loop on the back of them so the chain doesn't hitch on it

Great thread!
Got to agree with most of the points so far.

How about timber drags?


Cheap, available on site and fully custom depending on the site - can be lighter/heavier, shorter/longer, with or without limbs to leave marks or hook up quicker. Also saves on weight since you only need to carry a sharp axe or tomahawk.
Downside is that they take time to cut and may not be legal or desirable to cut timber on site.

I have used sections of logs before.There are a couple things with using them though,nothing punky or rotten,use enough weight and you want them long enough to get tangled up.