Retrieving deer far away from the truck?

Have a good walk to my stand at my new lease as I can’t drive my truck any further. I don’t own a 4 wheeler and would hate to buy one just to retrieve a deer, although that sure would be nice the older I get.

So after field dressing a deer what is the best way to drag it back to the truck? It’ll be up a slight incline with some ruts/ rocks in the trail/road which make it impossible for any truck to drive down. I’m sure I could prob find a small path in the woods when I get to the bad parts of the road.

go buy a game cart or sled

'Beat me to it while I was copying a Cabela's link. 100 bucks. I have one I've rarely used, but when you need it, you really need it.

>>Game cart

I have a game cart. Learn from my experience: If you are going to store it outside, don't buy one with plastic wheels.

I use a 7 Cu Ft yard cart

Field dressing originated as a way to reduce the weight of an animal for transport and it doesn't take long once you become good at it.

I always thought it originated as away to keep flesh from spoiling.

That too, but less so in colder temperatures.

My first experience with field dressing was when I was a teenager just learning how to deer hunt with my future father-in-law. He had taken a young buck and we were about a mile from the nearest road. It was years before Honda would introduce their first three-wheeler in the U.S. after finding great success with them in the rice fields of Japan. I hate to think how much harder it would have been for the two of us to pole that deer out of the woods had he not field dressed it. At that point, reducing the lift was the primary goal.

I’ve got a game cart your welcome to use if your close to me, shoot me a pm if you need to use it for the season or until you get one. Your welcome to it

The great flood of 19’, I didn’t dress though. She weighted 102, wasn’t to bad

1/4 it and back pack it out, making two trips if you have to. I used a cart on a 3 mile in and out hunt and the cart was more trouble than it was worth. I've carried two out, 1/4'd in a back pack after my experience with the cart. Heavy, yeah but stop and rest if you have to. I bought a great pack, Badlands. Get the weight close to your body in a well fitted, properly adjusted pack and you'd be surprised how much you can haul. A cart up hill, it's an a-- whippin.

Agreed, depending on the terrain....a cart could be more trouble than its worth. We use 'freighter' back packs for Elk in remote areas.

Always thought about trying this. How hard was it.

I wouldn't drag a deer 10 feet. Bust it down into quarters and bring it out on a pack frame. Last year I took a 6 pt off public land at Lake Meredith and I packed it out in one load over 3 miles. Packing is easier and quicker than dragging and the meat stays cleaner.

I'm with you pack it. Qtr’d or whole.

That's what son's are for.

I use a JetSled that I bought from Cabelas (Bought a couple from BPS too). It helps to drag a deer and also nice to just attach to the trailer hitch on the Gator and drag it in.

JR

I have used a deer cart, and found it to be a PIA. One of the places I hunt has an area that is not vehicle accessible. I quarter the deer, and carry it to the truck in a 5 gallon pail, taking two trips. It is a short walk. If it was a long distance, I would get a pack frame. Don't forget to keep the head. I also carry a plastic tablecloth (from Dollar Tree) to spread on the ground. No need to gut the deer. Clean, easy fast. There are some videos on youtube that explain this well. Good luck. Save your back.

The best is a Jet Sled from Shappell, or one of the knock-offs. I have the regular sized on for deer/antelope, and an XL for elk. They stay clean, slide easily, can drop a loop around the trailer hitch on the ATV/UTV and pull back to the truck. They fit in the bed of the UTV, and haul hogs to the dump great. If you have gear in the back you don't want dusty or wet, just flip it over and keep covered. Powerwash the blood out in a hurry.

I have a 2-wheeled cart that I use in Kansas for WIHA's where they have flat corn fields or roads you can't drive on, but that's about the only time I use it.

Mostly used for ice fishing (where you can ice fish) we take one to Wyoming each year elk hunting works great for getting them back to camp.

This might help. I think wheels make for a quieter approach to your stand unless they squeak.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqhL3WqWrNU

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...c=0&_osacat=0&_odkw=hipster+cart

Or do what this bloke does and turn your deer into a backpack

By the time I would have done this ,I could already had it half way to the truck.

If I can't drive to them I don't shoot them. I am too old to be packing out a deer.

I own one and these things are great.

Not bad. Bigger than average 17” wide 11 point. Head and all, I made it.

I was messing. you posted right after I posted It's my preferred way to do it when I can't drive. Think 18 was all the rain, I had to pack out 4 WT’s and one pronghorn. Not sure i can do a big WT whole though, pretty impressive pack out

Same

Ol Thumper, that is very generous of you, but I found out my buddy bought one years ago too that he never uses I am going to try.

I am concerned about the terrain being a little rough for it, but I’ll try it out. If not I might try and pack it out if I get lucky enough to shoot one.

I’ve done the cart, and also the sled. If the terrain is fairly flat, cart works well. If there are laydowns or rocky terrain, the sled is better. This is the one I current use:

https://www.amazon.com/DEER-SLEIGHR-Magnum-Game-Sled/dp/B001CJI7XA

Have hauled a bunch out of the mountains in Oklahoma with this sled.

If you're in good enough shape you can use paracord to tie all four legs together at the ankles, then hoist up and put them over your shoulder like a carry strap, grab the head/horns so the head doesn't flop around and carry it out. I highly recommend dressing it out first to get rid of the extra weight.

I have used this method to carry out many deer in the past. But since acquiring the 8N ford tractor (the original ATV) retrieving game has become much easier.

carry your cooler and com-a-long in and do the work on the spot.

https://www.calcuttaoutdoors.com/pr...sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic

I have drug way too many deer, way to far over the last 55+ years ... the older I get, I have my set ups closer to access with a vehicle these days, either truck or SxS.

one year I was hunting private land in northern NM that adjoined NF ... I kept hearing some weird noise and went to investigate. There was a guy with an old Army jeep with a huge winch on front with about 1/2 mile of cable that he was winching an elk up the backside of a very steep drop off. He would winch a bit, then have to walk down to untangle elk from a tree/brush, but he eventually got it up to the top where he could quarter it.

Actually that same year, I took a big 3x6 MD that I drug about 2 miles downhill with a foot of snow, which made for relatively easy dragging, but the last 200 yards was uphill to a logging road, I had to get my BIL and his BIL to get it that last 200 yards to the road to load it.

For this same reason, I call it quits earlier in the evening than I did as a younger man when I would stay until the last bit of daylight was gone. I just stopped hating them enough to spend time looking for one in the dark, much less dragging it some distance to reach the ATV.

How far is your walk in, one way?

The two wheel carts work well if your terrain isnt too hilly and rough. We used one to get game in and out and even used one to fill feeders with back in the day, our old land owner allowed no driving off the paved road when wet. Put 350 lbs of corn on that buggy and filled feeders one at a time.

Depending on the soil type a wheel barrow may work, for us in sand its worse than dragging one. I have packed a few out whole... but that was 10 years ago... and I didnt like the ticks that came with just slinging one over your shoulders.

If you get a game cart-don't get the cheapest one you find. You'll regret it. Scheel's has one worth looking into. Research them before making your decision
.
I did a public land hunt many years ago when I was 19 and I couldn't afford a game cart. We weren't allowed to drive our vehicles in for game retrieval. I pushed my dad's wheelbarrow in the dark back to the slough I wanted to hunt and ditched it. I shot 3 hogs in the first hour of light and used the wheelbarrow to haul them out.

You can always pack them out too! Good thing is our texas WT arent too heavy!

+1 for a sled

I've used carts and sleds both, and the sled generally just works better with terrain and weather.

My experience with carts were that they were great when you had flat, open, and dry terrain. If you don't have that, it can suck or make things worse.

25 years ago or so i bought a deer drag system, can't remember who from, that had shoulder straps like a back pack with a d-ring up high, center of shoulders.
Used it a few times and worked good. Trick was to make the rope from the d-ring to deer short enough that when you stand up it lifts part of the deer up.
Last deer i used it on was a couple years ago dragging one for my dad that was about 250 yards on the neighbors property. They told us to shoot anything
we wanted on their side of the fence, just don't put up stands on them. There was a pipeline going in that cut off access to go through a gate to get to it.

At 61, those days are over for me, if i can't drive my 4 wheeler up to them i don't shoot them. Built a small trailer, outside of tires is same width as 4 wheeler, about
40" long with solid mount axle and 12" tires. Hand crank winch mounted on front of it. Trailer floor is about 12" off the ground.

i have both and the cart is more trouble than its worth. i've used the sled for everything from hauling duck decoys and blinds to deer feeders and corn

Many years ago I had a welder make me a deer carrier using 1" tubing then he added one of those hard rubber tires.
I bet our carrier is over 20 years old but having that one wheel is the way to go and that hard rubber tire
allows us to go over cactus, mesquites and other things with no trouble at all. We put the deer on the carrier and strap
it down with a bungee cord and off we go. Maybe this gives others some ideas.

Neat design, I would also recomend solid or foam filled tires. Depending on the soil type that single little wheel might be great or terrible though. At our old hill country lease it would be great. Our south texas place is loose sand, dragging that would seriously suck in the sand.

Which I just did. What do I have to look forward to?