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grab(s) noun A heavy hook on a chain that is attached to a log or bear trap in order to catch onto a tree, stump, or other fixed object.

1930 Pendleton Wood-Hicks Speak 87 = a heavy iron hook to be driven into a log. 1939 Hall Coll (Cataloochee NC) So me and him, we decided to go to the trap one day, and it got a big bear in the trap and he'd come off down to the open woods ... The bear was hung on the laurel by the grabs. 1976 Tyler Man’s Work 26 I guess I’ve done it all. Drove teams, drove grabs (device used to fasten a trail of logs together), swamped (cleared the ground of underbrush and fallen trees for road construction). 2006 WV Encycl 707 Moving the logs out of the woods was accomplished with a team of horses. When the day’s work began the teamster curried and fed his team and drove them to the skidroad. Here the skidding crew prepared a train of logs, fastening a dozen or more together end-to-end with devices called grabs. A grab was a short piece of chain with a swivel in the middle and heavy pins at each end. The pins were driven into adjacent ends of the logs to fasten them together. The teamster then hooked the horse team to the front log with special grabs and the horses pulled the train of logs to a landing located either along a stream or along the logging railroads.