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drag rags

hear me out. i was considering using a drag rag on my next hunt because the rut is in full swing.

seems to me if a buck picks up that scent trail, you have a 50/50 shot of it heading toward your stand.

is that flawed logic?

I personally never want my stand access in the same place where deer travel. That seems flawed to me.

that’s a good point... i hadn’t considered that.

Yes it's the perfect time for a drag to your stand but the big boys are pretty much eye contact chasing now usually the drag followers are young bucks

Roger Yenn gave me a container that had the rag inside. You put the doe in head on the rag and unwind the string inside the container. I had a long handle attached and would drag it a couple feet to my side. The very first time I tried it I got to my climbing stand that was hooked up to a tree. I hung the rag about 15 yards away in a bush. I had just pulled my bow up and was getting set when a huge buck came. It was just barely light. He went right to the rag and was smelling it. It wasn't light enough to see my sight. He hung around for a while and left. After that I managed to kill bucks over the years with it. They always come in like a beagle with their nose on the ground. Been ground blind hunting a lot lately and forgot about the drag rag but it does work during the rut.

I love dragging a scent rag during the rut. The hunter specialties rig is by far my favoriterun. Try to cross (not follow) nearby deer trails to divert a searching buck your way

From everything I've read and experienced you need to start your drag from your stand. If you start where you walk in the deer hit it amd head towards where you started. The scent trail they take is toward the most powerful smell. I once laid a track from a tree I hunt and I started there, went around a small swampy area and when I got to the end I saw another tree that looked good to set up in. So after a few hours had a nice fat doe come in hit the trail and put her nose to the ground and followed the scent line15 yards from my tree, lesson learned.

When I hunted whitetails out of a tree I used a tennis ball on a string, saturated with scent. Kept it in a small Tupperware container. It worked, but the only mature buck I killed using it was a 24" muley. Supposedly the bouncing ball more closely mimics hoofprints, but not sure that matters.

I have had very limited success with drag lines and no longer do them . This is for private property in SE Iowa.

we use them from last week of Oct thru Nov.. I have no idea how many I have had walk right to my rag & killed.. I've had every size you can imagine but my best kills with "nose on rag" have been 110s (3). I now pass that size. I "should have" at least two P&Ys but I "got excited"".. I think something was wrong with my bow or somethin (not). The one in the photo is lip curling over my rag at 15yds. He got a pass but a few years ago I would have killed him (the 3 I mentioned are this size). I start about 100 yds from my stand, pass in front of my stand another 100 yds the other way & then double back on that same trail. I add a few drops every yard or so & heavy the last 30 yds.. Few more when I place it "where" I want to shoot (usually 15 yds). I don't care what other say, it's worked for us 60 years..

I personally think its a really dumb idea. Have you never had a deer cross your ground scent and freak out. Now your wanting to add another foren scent and expect deer to react positively. Yup dumb dumb dumb. Ok prove me wrong guys.

Scrappy....do you trap?

Ive seen them follow it right in. Ive seen em walk right over it, nose to the ground n keep goin like nothing was there. Ive never seen them blow out because of it. But my experience is limited, havent used one in years. Like ohio said, Its like anything else. It could work, or it could not work depending on a million variables

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