Sweet new Game Drag

Huckleberry75

Huckleberry75

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A buddy of mine has started building a game drag and they are awesome. He sent me a couple to test drive with the warning that if I can break it (under relatively normal use), he will buy me a steak dinner. He hooked it around the ball of his truck and on a flat parking lot was able to move it (yes, it was in neutral). The ones in the picture are prototypes. The finished ones will have a wrap and rubber end caps, but I think its perfectly fine just as they are. The loop is large enough to fit a deer or antelope neck with no problem. The handle might be a touch small for dragging elk, but it would be better than nothing for that. I am ready to get one out in the wild and haul some fur with it.
 
About 30 years ago I cut the handle end off an old water ski tow rope leaving about 5 or 6 feet of rope attached. Made a loop big enough to pull rope through at the cut off end and have used it to drag deer with ever since. Until reading this thread I never thought about using it for coyotes but I will now!!! Thanks!
 
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Looks nice and heavy duty. We make our deer drags using this same design but with a piece of plastic conduit, small length of rope, and dog leash style clip tied on at the end of the rope, then clip that to back the rope to make the loop.
 
Nice. If I drug a deer more than a few hundred yards in the terrain I usually hunt, I'd have half a deer worth of hamburger when I got to the truck. Mine usually come out in quarters on my back.
 
I've been using a Cabelas "Deer Sleigher" or years, its a big heavy duty plastic sheet with holes up the sides. You lay the critter on it then lace it up like a shoe and it just slides along. I've dragged a bunch of deer, and 4 or 5 smallish bears by myself thru some pretty nasty, rocky country. Thats a nice looking drag,would have used it 40 years ago, but at 67 I look for the easy way.Does give me an idea for turkey or coyote on a smaller scale.
 
They look really nice, but I see a couple problems with them. I used to make snares also. Cable doesn't stay tight so if you relax the pressure on it the loop will open and lose grip on the coyote. Cable doesn't wind tight so they are kind of bulky to carry/pack. The metal handle is slippery and very cold, when you pull it compresses the insulation in your glove and the cold from the handle goes right through. Cable kinks, you usually have to toss a snare after you've caught a critter so you might have to replace the cable a lot. If you loop around the neck brush gets caught between the cable and the neck, looping over the snout and a half hitch on the lower jaw and it will slide through the thickest brush without hanging up.

I make the same style drags for myself and friends but use a piece of 1" dowel or heavy broom handle and about 10" of good para-cord or longline cord. The cord wraps around the handle and is compact to carry, either in my caller bag, pocket or back scabbard. They are really cheap to make and I have one in every one of my rigs, no need to make sure I have one along they are always there. You can just let out enough cord and leave the rest wrapped on the handle. There is enough cord to wrap it around your waist if you have a long drag or are on skis or snowshoes and need your hands for the poles. You can drag multiple coyotes with one drag, tie one on the end and do a couple half hitches around the second coyote snout just far enough up to have one follow just in front of the other. The wood handle is warmer and les slippery.

You can see the handle by his tail.

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this one has a red handle by my knee.

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dragging elk? apparently you haven't been around many elk kills, because a guy ain't dragging one very far. Most guys quarter them up and carry them out, much easier then dragging, unless of course, you have an ATV. And even then, would be better to get the elk in halves, or quarters, and haul it out.
 
Originally Posted By: songdogdragging elk? apparently you haven't been around many elk kills, because a guy ain't dragging one very far. Most guys quarter them up and carry them out, much easier then dragging, unless of course, you have an ATV. And even then, would be better to get the elk in halves, or quarters, and haul it out.

Assuming does certain things to a person...I would recommend that you stop.

Where I hunt, with the snow and most of the time it is down the mountain, it is feasible. Not necessarily preferable but feasible and we have done it on several occasions to get them to the truck, tractor or ATV. Where terrain permits, we take turns dragging,otherwise we qtr them up and pack them out. Obviously your mileage may vary and I wont assume that I know what your hunting area looks like.
 
Give me six inches of snow, a good buddy, and a solid stick and rope from which to make a two-person yoke and we'll drag an elk a long ways, especially a cow without antlers to get tangled.
 
This old deer took two young bucks(20 somethings, one a college rugby player) in pulling harnesses plus two old f-rts on either side of a four foot pole lashed to it's antler to get it out to a road(no snow) and we had to stop and rest every fifty yards.

A biggun

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Great pulling harnesses if you've got a couple of youngsters that like there uncles

https://www.cheaperthandirt.net/product/...=All%20Products
 
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I have shot Elk and you aint dragging one anywhere. Why drag a coyote? You going to eat it, sell the skin, or enter it in a contest?
 
Not sure how this thread got so derailed with an elk. As for coyotes, many folks sell the fur and you have to have them present for contests. I will at least drag the kills out of the hay pasture so either they can be dropped in the appropriate gully or so that they do not end up trashing out a swather or hay baler. Just trying to be respectful of the land owners that are kind enough to let me call coyotes.
 
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Originally Posted By: ThomCI have shot Elk and you aint dragging one anywhere. Why drag a coyote? You going to eat it, sell the skin, or enter it in a contest?

Lots of people skin them. Why not drag one?
 
Made mine similar... used paracord and 3/4"or 1" PVC. Very light weight. Stuff the paracord into the PVC so it doesn't become tangled in my pocket or pack. Definitely not elk approved. LOL
I would post a pic but not sure how to do that at the moment.
 
I dragged a few elk back in my Wyoming days and it isn't any fun. Much easier to just half them and use the ATV.
 
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