Transporting heavy game the EASY way

[T.R.]

Why risk twisting your back or a heart attack dragging heavy animals out of the forest? We use a wheelbarrow which is an ancient Egyptian invention - a combination of the lever and the wheel. My daughter is shown with a huge muley that was taken within the Black Hills of western South Dakota. 30-30 of course. We both struggled to load the beast but wheeling it was easy.

TR

 

[Kingcreek]

I've used drag tarp, game cart, and Honda Atv. Anything is better than just dragging or carrying the animal out. It would be a little tough for one hunter to get a deer into a wheelbarrow.
Once had a very large older barren Illinois whitetail doe drop into the side of an old quarry pit after a good arrow shot. I had a grandfors hunters axe in my pack. I used it to cut saplings to build a "ladder" by wedging sections against stumps and still had to field dress it on a steep incline and separate the carcass into a front half and a back half to get her up and out. Used my safety belt to keep from sliding down while working and had to tie the doe off too.
My favorite recovery story is from a friend of mine that shot a deer just before dark with an arrow that hit a little far back. He tracked that deer in a big square around a 40 acre timber and up and down ravines and across fences and after 2 hours found the deer dead by the tailgate of his parked truck and 75 yards from where he shot it.

 

[Patocazador]

Anything with wheels helps. I hunt with a bicycle sometimes to get back away from the crowd and after killing and gutting the deer, I place the gut cavity over the seat, tie the front legs and head to the handlebars and just walk the bike out with the deer on it.
The hard part is loading the deer on the bike if I'm alone which is usually the case. By tying the bike to the side of a tree, it makes it a lot easier to load the deer.

 

[FL-NC]

I use poly-pro rope. One piece goes in a cross-shoulder loop on me, then a snaplink connects the second piece, which is also a loop. This is routed through the tendons on the front legs, or you can noose it around the critter's neck. .

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

My idea of easy transport of game is with a John Deere Gator

 

[Kingcreek]

Years ago when hunting the black hills my cousin was late getting back to deer camp. We were just getting organized to go out looking for him when we saw his Honda trail 90 bouncing headlight coming down a firebreak. He had a 3x3 buck lashed to the seat and rear rack with its neck over the handlebars and head lashed to the front rack and he was riding high astraddle the whole thing.

 

[sage5907]

Your pictures bring back memories. 40 years ago when my wife and I first got married I hauled a buck out of rough terrain with a wheel borrow just like in your pictures. I tied a rope on the front and around my wife's waist and she pulled and I balanced the load. The load sets so high it is hard to balance. After that I bought a tree lounge tree stand with attaching wheels. It wasn't worth a dang as a tree stand but it works good to haul out a deer and I still use it today. I can pull a deer faster when it is loaded on the cart than my wife can walk in rough terrain. She spends too much time looking at her feet and she won't walk anywhere she can't see her feet. When I get to moving I don't slow down and It's really great when I can go downhill.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

I tied a rope on the front and around my wife's waist and she pulled

I know the response I'd get if I suggested that to my wife.

 

[Patocazador]

I tied a rope on the front and around my wife's waist and she pulled and I balanced the load.

Did you use a whip to keep her moving?

 

[JeeperCreeper]

I hate wheelbarrows on uneven ground. Great way to slip a disk.

But using some kind of game cart with wheels can make life easy, terrain willing

 

[MCgunner]

The last pig I shot, I couldn't get the thing up on the rack on my Arctic Cat. SO, I tied on to it and drug it out with the Arctic Cat. I think my sore muscles have healed after a couple of weeks. Pigs can be a pain, literally.

 

[.308 Norma]

1. McManus Comedies - My First Deer - YouTube

 

[Choctaw]

My idea of easy transport of game is with a John Deere Gator

Kawasaki Mule for me.

 

[.308 Norma]

Years ago when hunting the black hills my cousin was late getting back to deer camp. We were just getting organized to go out looking for him when we saw his Honda trail 90 bouncing headlight coming down a firebreak. He had a 3x3 buck lashed to the seat and rear rack with its neck over the handlebars and head lashed to the front rack and he was riding high astraddle the whole thing.

I've done that a lot. It's hard to get a mule deer tied on the rack on the back of a Honda trail 90, especially if he's a big one. Besides that, it gets pretty darned wild when you're going uphill in low range with a deer on the back because the darned front wheel won't stay down. I've worn a scar on my right shin for a half-century now from one such experience.
It's okay though - I'm proud of that scar! And it brings back memories of a great hunting trip.

 

[MCgunner]

Reminds me of when I was a kid, a neighbor friend's horse got out. We chased it on my CT90, him on the rack on the back with a rope intent on roping that horse. DANG, I'm glad we never got a rope on that thing with the scooter. LOL!

 

[Varminterror]

I've done a lot of different work with wheelbarrows over my life, and I wouldn't describe ANY of it as the "easy way."

Horses, mules, bikes, game carts, sleds, ATV's, motorcycles, minitrucks, UTV's, Jeeps/Willy's... I'd even be prone to say packing on a frame in multiple trips is easier than a wheelbarrow.

 

[Patocazador]

Some terrain doesn't allow for a wheeled "helper" like cypress swamps and thick forests. For the Florida nasty places I use a deer drag harness. It weighs next to nothing and can easily be put into a cargo pocket. It works surprisingly well too. And it only costs about $6-$8.



I pulled a pair of does (one at a time) ~ 400 yds. out of a huge palmetto thicket 4 mos. after open-heart surgery with one like the one pictured.

 

[MCgunner]

I've this thing I've used a few times, still around here somewhere. I bought it from one of the catalog stores in the 90s before we got internet, was called the "Deer Sleigher". All it was was a slick sheet of plastic you tied the deer up in. It was slick, low friction on grass, works rather well. I always used a dirt bike to drag stuff with, though. I once drug 4 small pigs out on it. Mud was a problem, though, got a deer all muddy with it once with the knobby on the dirt bike spinning up. Took a while to wash it all off with a hose.

 

[.308 Norma]

"Deer Sleigher". All it was was a slick sheet of plastic you tied the deer up in. It was slick, low friction on grass, works rather well.

I've never used one of those things myself, but I seen a couple of guys pulling a large buck back to their truck using one. It did seem to work rather well.
One thing similar that I have used a couple of times sounds strange, but really works - a $5.00 plastic sled like you've probably bought several of for your children over the years. It would be awkward to drag around in the hills with you, so you have to leave it back at the truck and go get it after you have a deer down. And it's a one-time use, but what the heck - you can pick a few plastic sleds up for five bucks apiece towards the end of sledding season.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

I have seen guys use ice fishing sleds like this. They work well to move deer when there is snow. They also fit in the back of SUV's

 

[troy fairweather]

View attachment 796966

View attachment 796967

Why risk twisting your back or a heart attack dragging heavy animals out of the forest? We use a wheelbarrow which is an ancient Egyptian invention - a combination of the lever and the wheel. My daughter is shown with a huge muley that was taken within the Black Hills of western South Dakota. 30-30 of course. We both struggled to load the beast but wheeling it was easy.

TR

i have slid down a hill in the snow on 2 or 3 like a sled . better then failing on your gun.

 

[Mn Fats]

Some whitetail seasons up here in Minnesota, a wheelbarrow would never work. 2 ft of snow on the ground doesn't fair well for wheels. Let alone the terrain i hunt. A sled like poacher posted (Fine figure of a man) is something I forget every year. Instead, my dad and I drag our bucks or does by rope in the winter. 2 men, 5° out. Couple football fields drag. Pure sweating by the time the food gets to our truck. Every year we have a snowmobile or a four wheeler on our trailer with the pickup parked on the road. And every year my old man looks at me after its gutted out and says "we'll just pull it out by hand". Guys 30 years older than me and refuses the motorized option every time. Hope I age that well.

 

[entropy]

We used a front end loader to carry my Dad's NW Minnesota moose back to the farm we were staying at. Tied my 'noose' tow rope (real heavy duty one) to the scoop, the moose's feet were about 6" off the road. We used the rope and my 3/4 ton Chev to get it to the road, my uncle and I held the rack up while Dad pulled it to the road. The DNR guy showed up 5 minutes later, and our host showed up 5 minutes after that.

 

[Ks5shooter]

I have one of these, nice and small but pulls like a bear.I put a 2in hitch on the back and an atv specific hitch haul on it. Have never been more than a couple of feet from where I dropped a deer.

 

[Sav .250]

Snow on the ground............now there`s a hunt.
Back in the day, I used to pull those puppies out. No ATV. No game cart. Just tied a rope on the horns and got to pulling.
Those days are long gone! Now it`s ATV time. I appreciate it more because I remember the old days.