Thinking about getting a receiver hitch deer lift one that swivels. Do you use one and do you like it?

Bought one 4 yrs ago from Sportsmans Guide. Couldn't hunt(kill) without it. Works great.

Yep, bought one 6 or 7 years ago. I hunt alone a lot and can no longer heft the dead weight up into a truck or utv. (It's called getting old, dammit!) I have the hitch bungeed in place in the bed of my Kubota RTV since it's my primary hunting transport on the place. Saves driving all the way back to camp, etc. Highly recommend one and I consider it a critical item if hunting solo.

Old age was also a factor in me finding a better way to load animals into the bed of my Rhino. I didn't like the idea of having to drive back to camp to get a hitch hoist or bungee one in the bed as mentioned by Cajunrotor.

I decided I was getting to old and crippled up to be climbing in the bed of my Rhino to hook a pulley on a tree limb, drag my deer or pig under the tree, hoist the animal with the pulley, back the Rhino under the animal and lower it into the bed then climb into the bed, with the animal, to retrieve the pulley system.
So here is my solution. I open the tailgate, tilt the bed and tie the animals legs together. I now have a 4 strand rope with a loop on one end and 4 meat hooks on the other end to connect the legs together. Much easier than tying the legs.




I then run the other end of the rope through the pulley and tie it off to a boat cleat so I can drag the animal to a near by tree.




Next I tie the end of the rope to the tree as high as I can.




I then drive forward until I see hoofs at the pulley.






I close the tailgate, push the bed down and lock it in place, back up, retrieve my rope end from the tree and my animal is loaded. The pipe on the back of the roll cage with the eyelet and boat cleat stays on the Rhino. The only other things I have to carry for this system is the metal arm with pulley (needed so the rope will clear the top of the bed when it is tilted) the 4 strand rope with meat hooks and a long rope. I carry these in a bag of tools under the driver seat.

Have used this system for a couple of years and has worked very well for both deer and pigs.

They are great especially for those of us who may be getting a little older or who hunt by themselves and need a little extra help. By the way cajun it's not called getting older it's called surviving all the stupid stuff we did in our less experienced days. I have three more to complete before season

twinbubba, that is a very innovative way to solve the problem. I am afraid old age is my reason for getting a hoist also.

What are meat hooks?

Meat hooks are cheap tent steaks I sharpened on the end, bent an eyelet into the nail head end the bent into a J. Rather than spending a lot of time on the ground trying to tie the legs together I take my knife and cut a slit above all 4 hooves, like I will do anyway to hang the animal on a gambrel for field dressing, then hook the 4 meat hooks into the slits. Lot faster than tying. The picture below was my first design, I just replaced the loops in the ropes with meat hooks. I shortened the 4 ropes when I added the hooks.

Twinbubba that system of loading deer and hogs has served me well for about 8 years. I am older than dirt!

Well DLALLDER, why didn't you tell ME about that 4 years ago and I wouldn't have almost killed myself trying to load that 180lb hog into the bed of my Rhino by myself.

While I build game hoist, however I installed a winch in the bed of my Polaris for loading HAWGS and deer. you can find it at my website.

I like TwinBubba's rig even better than the rotating receiver hitch hoist that I'm using. Should be a heck of a lot lighter and easier to rig up than the heavier iron I have to deal with now. I'm gonna blatantly steal your idea, TB!

Cajunrotor, glad I could be of help. If you have any questions about my setup or want more pictures PM or email me.

Meat hooks.

The older you get the more you appreciate a receiver hitch swivel lift. Got one about six years ago and everyone loves it. You no longer have to bother someone to help get game in the back of the truck and your back appreciates it to.

Turn your head sideways and check this out. Mine was made by a buddy, breaks into two piece. All the working parts are on the top piece. THe bottom that goes into the receiver is hollow tubing, with two pieces of angle pieces of angle metal put together inside, making the part the goes into the receiver very solid. I have used this to lift a lot of stuff, including easily retrieving a deer over a fence. Use all the cable you can get, I have about 50'. 100 would be even better. You never know how close you wish you could get to that big boy you gotta get out of there.

Mostly just drag them out with 4x4 ATV, then pick up with Kubota and FEL.

I am SO STEALING your meat hook idea though!
Thank you for sharing that.

Vern1, glad you can use the idea. I have gotten so many good idea from this forum, I'm glad I can return the favor.

I got one of those hoists made by Mr Holt a few years ago and it works great:

https://sites.google.com/site/bholtoutdoors/game-hoist/game-winch-options

A buddy of mine liked it so much that he bought it from me. I then had Mr Holt build me another one, but he custom painted it maroon for obvious reasons (hint: note my user name!). It is solid as a rock and matches my truck.

Monarch has them on special right now for 159.00. Talked to them earlier this week. Have one and they are really well built

Ag, Appreciate it, you helped me sell another one. That's all for this season. Hope you have a productive season, thanks again.

Burns

That was me Mr.Holt. Its just what I was looking for!!!

Thank you very much, hope you enjoy it and MERRY CHRISTMAS, Billy.

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