Carrying drop lines in the woods

[Johnjenner]

Has anyone come up with a quick and easy trick to carrying 36 inch replacement drop lines in the woods? I’ve tried using a rope and that doesn’t work. Also, tried putting them in my vest and that seems to be a nuisance. Any other thoughts?

[maple flats]

I carry them in a firewood carrier and often pull that in a plastic jet sled.

[maple flats]

Generally I bundle the drops in groups of 25 using 2" wide packing tape to hold the groups, then I open a group and use them until the group is used up.

[maple flats]

When I get a firewood carrier I order any in the $20-25 range that have open ends. Once I got one with the ends closed about 6-8" high, it was not as easy to use. Just look up firewood carrier, several will come up. I never trusted any in the single digits like from Temu, I just thought they wouldn't be sturdy enough.

[JoeJ]

I made a long loop out of 1" wide tie down ratchet. Pull out the strap from the ratchet, cut the hook off, cut the strap 102" (my strap ended up at 96") long and then tie the strap into a long loop. Wrap the strap around your pile of drops three or 4 times and then hang the strap around your neck. After you fill the loop, you can retie the strap loop smaller if necessary to fit around your neck correctly. I used two of these straps, one for regular tee drops and one for end line plugged tee drops. One loop of drops hanging on the left side and one loop hanging on the right side. You can comfortably put 30 -50 drops in each loop and have your hands free to install the drops. Just pull a drop from the loop and as you remove drops from the loop, the strap loops self tighten on the drops.

You can slide the strap loops up or down along the drops to make them hang correctly on your side.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

I use a 2" wide strap placed across my chest. Wrap it 2 or 3 times around the drops and it works well. A guy I used to work with in a larger bush used a small woven wood ice trap basket that would carry a lot of drops. I found it to be rather bulky and didn't care for it but he could carry a lot of drops in it.

[SeanD]

I use the thin 6" bungees to wrap a bundle of about 30ish. It works well to get where I'm going and when the bundle is full and I slide out the first 10-15 or so. Then it gets loose and they get wobbly and start to slip out, so I double wrap the bungee to keep going, then triple wrap, etc. Eventually, I wonder if I'm spending more time picking up the loose drops and wrapping them back up than getting work done.

The problem I haven't solved is the one you are asking about - how to carry them around functionally with the two-handed tool and everything else. Kind of a PITA. I've tried around my neck, through the shoulder strap of the backpack with the tools, inside my jacket, or through the tool belt. All stink. I end up just carrying them in my arms, setting them down somewhere along the mainline and working my way out to the laterals.

I think the ideal setup would be something like a quiver. Same goes for the two-handed tool. The only thing that works is putting it in my backpack for the walks out then carrying it in my hand when I'm working the lateral. Then I have to set it on the ground when I need two hands to wrangle the drops out of the bundle. I've tried a spring clip to keep it on my tool belt, but that hasn't worked. It would be great to have a way of hooking the tool on my tool belt so that it can be easily grabbed but doesn't fall off walking through the trees.

[gbeneke]

I think Sugerbush supplies used to sell a holster for a 2 handed tool that fit on your belt.
Doc

[toquin]

Dewalt makes a holster.Get the sled for drops and other supplies

[umpwood1]

I use a Cracker Barrel large, 2 handled, flat bottom grocery bag. Works great. They’re heavy duty, plastic. Easy to get the drops out of. Like others, I’ve tried everything. This has been the best. Regards

[Kh7722]

We connect the spile into the cup on the tee so it makes a loop. We will then bring them into to woods 100 at a time on a rope connected with a carabiner to each mainline. From there we will take 15-20 off rope and put on my arm. We will attach to laterals, haven’t had any tangle issues yet. Works very well.

[johnallin]

I make up drops up and tape together in bundles of 10, not looped to the cups though... throw them in the back of the Gator and head into the woods.

I'll grab a bundle and have at it... but Kevin's "loops over the arm" method is better as I need to set the bundle on the ground at times,as I run out of hands.

Time to get the 2024 NE Ohio Thread going and see if we can beat the 128,511 views 2023 thread had!

Who said Ohio didn't make a lot of syrup? Let the games begin...:cool: