I have two drags made out of 1/2" rebar. They were for coon and fox in heavy cover. Think they would be heavy enough in medium dense sage? Or should I weld some more weight to them?

I plan on making some more. Should I use a bigger diameter rebar? Talking strictly bobcat here.

Thanks

Never mind guys. I found s Tim of old threads on the subject.

Those drags will work fine for bobcats.I used to wrap them around trees myself.

Use 10 to 15' of chain on them.

Thanks again guys!

Just be careful when you check the set. Bobcats are masters at hiding in sparse cover. I once stepped within a foot of a large tom that had taken a drag half way between the set and where I parked.

I have similar drags for cats and yotes. They work great. Also have drags made from 3/4 sucker rod and cotton picker spindles, equally as good. Key point, when you come up on a set that has been set off, listen first. You will always know if it's a coyote because it will sound like you have a bunch of wild gorillas in a cage. A bobcat on the other hand will not make a sound until you (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) near step on him. hahaha, I recommend keeping a new set of pants in the truck. As Furvor mentioned they are masters at hiding in sparse cover and most of the time never go to far from the set location. I have had cats never completely get the drag out of its bed if there is cover close enough for them to hide under, and mine are usually on at least 10 feet of chain. When I come up on a drag set up that has been disturbed, and most of mine are on drags, I always just sit down and listen for a bit and really study where the catch went. Happy trapping!!

Furvor & bmccoyte

I like your positive thinking. Most of the time I feel like I'm spinning my wheels. Tonight, literally spinning them in 8" of snow and bitter cold.
Sure hope that cat runs tonight/tomorrow.

Hope you get it. As the others have said it has been my experience ( not as much as many) cats just plainly don't like to drag anything. They settle down pretty quick and plenty tricky. There are exceptions of course.

Osky

If your chain is long enough to pre-hook to something your good.
My 1 lb mini drags hole cats/yotes just fine since we hook em up and don't have to worry bout getting the critter out of site like from mr sneakum

This cat got "tangled" to a single 5 gallon bucket sized sage brush in the middle of the open space you see. She was almost directly in line with my approach from the wheeler, the set is about 30 feet to the right of the cat. As you can see she did not wrap up, just hooked the drag, made a couple of rounds back and forth at the end of the chain (note the lack of ground disturbance), and hunkered down. As I walked in I was totally focused on the set. She didn't move and I didn't see her until I was inside the "circle". When she flushed I made an involuntary little girl sound normally reserved for close contact rattlesnake encounters and set the Wyoming state distance record for a reverse flip with style points for not dumping my trapping bucket. Sorry for the blurry pictures, I was having trouble holding the phone steady, even propped on top of my pack frame.

They tend to blend!

If you can't find your cat on a drag look up in the tree's it took me 30 minutes to find this tom cat 20 feet in a tree

It doesn't take a lot of drag for bobcats,especially in sage if there aren't a lot of holes or trees to climb.If you have lions,I'd be careful how I anchor.

That's exactly why I don't run more than 6' of chain, so I don't have to look any more than head high for a coon or cat or grey....pre-hooking makes finding a critter very easy, if possible.

Dispatch 20 ft up can get kinda "challenging".

I run about 10' of chain with mostly Sabertooth reg and jr's,most of the time the cats are lucky if they get 10'.Those Sabertooth drags hook up fast,here a cat from yesterday that went maybe 7' drag was dug into the snow nothing else.

Sometimes they don't get 20 feet up the tree. They growl about 2 feet from the top of your head with enough chain to reach you. Put me down as X2 for keeping a eye out. Cats are amazingly good hiders.

I had about 12 feet of chain on that drag and i think with less chain that cat would have went 50 feet up
Yeah dispatch was difficult hard to get a hold of a swing bobcat 20 feet up lol

Had this exact thing happen right here. By the time I saw the cat I was close enough to get spit on when he snarled!! Will (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) sure scare the crap out of a guy

I always put a small piece of pink flouresent tape on the end of my grapple. I look for that and find the cat .Without that some cats could of took me hours to find .