Best Open Country Drag?

Thinking about swapping over to a few drags. Will be in sandy cutovers , and semi open places with 8 ft of chain. Thinking about NO less than 3 lbs. So what is better. J C Conner's Tracker Drag or Saber Tooth Drag???

Conner's drags are very good, no experience with saber tooth. I would add length to your chain and more weight to the drag in that type of area.

OK . Thanks, cpizzicharlie. Which J C Conner drag in 4 lbs? Tracker Drag? OR Tracker Pro Forged Ridgid Drag? Have #7 chain in 100 ft rolls. 12x8 = 96 ft SO thats why I am going 8 ft per drag.

I use drags of 2 or3 types some sold by ogorman, sabertooth. Homemade mechanical all have 10 foot of chain and trap all have 18inches to 2 feet of chain on them.

I looked at O'Gorman's = Magnum Armageddon Drags , But at 217 a dozen plus tax thats 2604 dollars for 144 drags PLUS shipping

JC makes great drags...I like his 4 lb.ers forged. Use long heavy chain on them.

MChewk. I have #7 chain . Its rated at 800 lbs vertical 3200 lbs pulling. I have several 100 ft buckets of this, IT will fit a 5/16 th quick length threw the chain . What length chain are you running on your JC drags? Is it open country?

I like JCs forged point drags.

I really like the old Wimberley drags.

Just how open of ground we talking here? And how hard?

Sandy. Lots of cutovers. Logging stagging areas. Red sand. Can often bury the trap with your hands in the summer when dry.

Clogs hard to beat. Great attractors and make them fairly heavy as not to make it far. Place b4 intended. I use fence Staples to attach

Flint Hill fur . I dont know that those would work for me? Im on 15 day coyote contract jobs. I have 3 binds of traps in the back of Toyota Tacoma that hold about 200 MB - 550s total. I Think I can get 10-12 dozen drags under tool box, so size is an issue for me, when hauling gear for 200 miles to job.

The sabertooth has worked great for me it hung up about 40 yards from the set in an open hayfield one thick grass clump and he was done

I looked at Sabertooth from FNT. But now I find out that its only 2.65 lbs. I was thinking more NOW about the JC Conner drags at 4 lbs . But I have see some videos on the sabertooth drag, it look good too. Still uncertain what to buy

Why not anchor?

Is there a reason you need to use drags?

I like 8 ft plus what I have on my trap rig... usually 18 inches or more
Longer and heavier chain is better
Truthfully I pre hook up my grapple in thick cover then make my set
Others use heavy cable and conch off to
trees it all works you just to find a system you have confidence in

I do Anchor most of my trap. Josh at Fur Shed Fab has made me some Fox Hollow bullets on #7 chain. I pull my traps with Toyota Tacoma. I dont have time to pick up my line and move to another contract, buy hand pulling traps. Just way to many. 150-200 traps. My contract coyotes jobs are large tracts of land. So pulling up traps is done with trucks. ALso , their are spots 30 -40 yards of the roads that drags on traps are just easier to set. In the south, you often have loader piles. Thats where there is lots of dead log piles. LOTS of coyote sign around these places . But you have to walk out into cutover to get too so drags make more sense here. SO , i feel like going to drags would be benifecal in some places. 100 staked traps and 100 traps on drags might be perfect for 35,000 acre job.

MChewk, I have my MB-550s on 14 inch of #7 chain with a FoX Hollow stake. My plan would be, to just attach a 1/4 inch quick link , to that a leave bullet on it. So I would have 9 ft of chain plus whatever, MB 550s chains measure . That would be around 10 ft total im thinking from D ring on MB-550 to the drag? This way I can just haul around stake traps till Im read to attach Chain and drag when needed, or where ever the Best spot calls for it

Or a sterling swivel and a j hook.
But great idea ^^^^^^

Thanks . Red mt . My end goal maybe to have 100 or so 8 ft chain with drags on them and leave them at the lodge in south alabama. I have 1 lodge that I do 3 propertys from. So I will be at that lodge for three 15 day contracts. I also have two more 15 day contract about 25 miles down the rode. So 75 days plus out of 1 location. I could see my self leaving 100 drags under the walk a round porch at lodge. I already have 60 MB-550s there in a box right now. Few more drags under their would be OK with the people i work for

Steeltraps, If your using drags close to brush piles and trees and coon get caught they will go inside the pile and some climb trees even with a lot of chain. I've had it happen more than ounce As you Stated, I leave the chained super stakes attached and just use a link to attach the drag at the super stake. Quick, simple, efficient.

trappergbus . Where i am trapping at , I have caught few coons. Lats trip was 14 days 27 coyote 8 bobcat 6 grey fox and 2 small piglets. BUT = Knock on wood. I didnt catch a single coon. Place I trap are cutovers, and large 10 acre plus greenfeild in or around them for as far as you can see. Miles and miles. Plus I trap alot of divide ridges . That were the coyotes seam to be. Im setting on location 95% of the time, BUT sometimes im off the exact or Micro location by a few yards of feet, that I would like to be on. That my reason for wanting afew drags

I’m no expert on drags, but have caught a fair number of coyotes on drags. I run 10’ of number 3 american chain , plus whatever length is on my trap. Usually an additional 18”. I use sabortooths predominantly. Everything works the way it’s supposed to MOST of the time. Problem is it’s not 100% always guaranteed to be hung up insight, or leave a good drag trail. I lost a coyote this year, that I looked for three days. It’s a bad feeling, it’s bad for the animals, and it’s a bad image for trappers. My neighbor called me about 2months latter and said he found a mummified coyote hung up in his fence with my trap on it. At least I got my equipment back and got some closure on what happed. Distance from catch site to hung up was approximately 400-500yds. The coyote was backfoot caught. I will say the vegetation in the area is river bottom and extremely thick. How did that coyote take over 11’ foot of chain that distance, I’ll never know. Only can speculate. I also had one take the same setup around a hundred yards. So my only advice is don’t scrimp on chain length, or drag weight. I will be adding another 5’ of chain and possibly welding some additional weight to my sabbortooths this summer. Good luck

Yotegiter , how big is #3 chain? AS in = can you get a 3/16 th quick link threw it? Im useing #7 chain with 5/16 th quick links threw them, on the drag end And 1/4 quick lengths on some. Thought about small chain like #3 or #5 IF you can get 1/4 quick link threw them. I have several 100 ft rolls of #7 im going to use up first though

#3 chain is what came stock on your mb 550s

Got it, thanks. Dont know why? But i thought #2 chain was what came on MB -550s .

Perfect, good luck sir. Gotta be on location...

Thanks trappergbus. Turkey Season is FINALLY over in Alabama!!! Headed to Coffeeville, South Alabama for 10 day coyote contract on 6300 acres Friday . JC Conner drags should be here by then, SO i may get to try them out.

I really like the tracker plus drags. top of the line stuff. both points dig in

One thing that nobody mentioned is one thing I would not want to be with out. A good dog.

Mac, I can clearly see the value of a trapping dog. But im usually 200-250 miles from home.My 2012 Toyota Tacoma is Alread jam pack with all the things i need to go out, and trap for 14 days. SO for me , a dog would not a option. Plus , I dont know how the people I trap for would react. Dont know if I had a million dollar lodge = if I would want a dog in it, or around it? So basicly a dog is out for me, but still good advice for most.

When the tracker drags were designed theft was superhigh. The drag allowed the catch to get away and hide. The sabertooth drag was designed to pin coyotes down in the open. I have both sabertooth and jc conner trackerdrags. Both very well made. But if I was trapping with drags and no way to prehook the drag. I would run the sabertooth. Get one of each hook it up and take off see what does better in your area.

me personally, i wouldn't publicize it on the internet and i wouldn't be driving around with more then your legal limit of traps in this state. at 10-25 bucks per trap that could be a hefty little fine.

JetCat - personally . I think you should LEARN the law. The amount of traps has ZERO to do with the amount of traps I have in the ground!!!!!! 150 traps is the limit per day. I have to HAUL the traps to the job. THEN set 150 on the line. I even HAVE place where I have left 60 MB-550 traps. LEARN the law. I could ride around with a 18 wheel full of MB-550 traps, that does not mean I am exceding the 150 traps a day law.

Section 9-11-254

Scction 9-11-254 Read it well. Permitted to set OR have set in any ONE DAY more than 150 traps. Its a common misconception that you can only set 150 trap OR have IN POSSESSION 150 traps. NO where does it have in the rules that you can not have more than 150 traps in possession.

Steel traps
How did your drags work last week

Never caught one in the drags. Just the staked down traps . But i like the looks of them

At least you have some rain free days this week.

How many sets a day do you get in when setting up a job. I assume it's rasier on return trips, having a basic idea of where to set or look for sign.

I can set up to 70 traps a day in Clarke County sand. Thats day light to dark. I ran 90 -100 traps on 6300 acres. Was a maintance type job. Trapped it for past 4 years strait. 2 to 3 times a year. So I can set it up pretty fast. Because i usually catch same coyotes in same general area. This time it was 9 coyotes in 7 days. Only problem was 3 out of 7 days was rain. SO i rain a whole lot of flat sets and post sets. Where I was working was high ridges and white sand. So it dried out well. My average is 10-14 coyotes a 7-10 day trip. So 9 with all the rain still pleased the land owner. Caught 2 female, that you could squezze milk off their titts . So i think their maybe so dead pups , latter some where

Yep, young female I caught this morning had milk in back teats so Im hoping at least 2 pups got their death sentence too.

Wish I had time to run more traps, usually get 1-2 dozen out and run before work.

OK ill ask again what is a optimal weight for drags minus the chain most commercial drags are in the 2-4 lb range but I hear a lot of guys say heavier! I've made a few in the 12 lbs range but they are brutal to pack in!

I went with 4 lbs JC Conner drags on 9 ft of chain. Cant wait to see how they work

SLT, I think you'll LOVE those 4lb.ers....Tony do what I do leave them in the field or close by...check with landowner first. But my guys say they don't care...just keep them away from machinery.

That's a great idea but I like wasting money redipping them after every season. Leaving them wouldn't be a problem I could always hang them on a fence or tree! Had a young guy tell me how well concrete blocks was working for him on the predator line! So I left a few with 10' of 1/8" cable on them in strategic locations

Use a cement block. Place the block on top of the chain so you don't have to bury It. Place the bait In one of the holes and your good to go. The coyote may drag It away from the set but It won't go far.
You guys make every thing so complicated. LOL

How did you end up liking the JC Conners?

I am slowly converting over to about 80% drags and my favorite drag so far are the Expand-A-Pan Ugly Drags. Waiting on Chip to fire back up production of them so I can order several more dozen.

Coyotero7 Just Got in from 30 days of coyote trapping. Two seperate jobs of 15 days per contract. Caught around 50 coyotes . 10 to 12 on drags. Saber Tooth drag = FNT sales about 99 dollars a dozen . Weight? about 3 lbs Run on 10 ft of chain. I did not like the JC Conners drag for open country. Sold them to a friend . he loves them. After having one go 300 yards plus in a cutover i was done with JC Conners drag. Saber Tooth drags is the best open country drag, I have found. About 45 yards is the fatherest I have had all but one go. Had one go about 75-100 yards Strait down a hole. Shot in head with 223 and went and got him , big 4o lb male .

Coyotero7 I will be leaving = when it drys up? Friday Saturday or sunday ? For 10 day job on 5000 acres will used 80% drags on that job. Will post up catch picks ON drags IF you like?

I would like to see the pics! Thanks!

I just got pivotal drags from a guy. So far I'm liking them I need to send you pics ST

Tough to beat the price of JC Conner drags. His margins have to be pretty slim with those things. I bought a dozen 2lbs drags for me and they all hung up quick. Perfect angle on them and they are plenty sharp. I just ordered a dozen 1lbs drags since they will be easier to pack up steep hills to rim rock. I have all my drags on 8’ of chain. Of course I’m not using them in open country so this info probably won’t help. Just my experience with his drags.

Sounds good. The Tracker 4 lb drag was Tougher to bury in red clay than the Saber Tooth = that also had alot to do with my decision to buy 12 dz Saber Tooth 3lb drags

Good luck on your job! Yes, let me know how they do again for you. I was mainly curious about the JCs but I think you have answered my question.

Seriously you need to get ahold of some of the Ugly Drags if you can find some for sale. I have yet to have a coyote go further than 15 yards w one. Haha.

That would kind of defeat the purpose for about 90% of my drag usage.


I’ve really gravitated towards a lighter drag on a bit more chain. 2 lb drag on 10-12 foot of chain works well on our hard gumbo.

3 lb Saber Tooth drag and about 10 ft of chain is all i will ever run

This year I bought 2 dozen of the 3lb JC Conner Pro Pivot Drags with forged points and really like them. More compact than some of my other drags and they lock up quick. Coyotes can’t seem to get them very far.

That #7 chain is the ticket my man. I don't think I'll buy anything else. Why not have something you count on to do ANYTHING you need?