Better way to drag a deer?

[Firstarrow]

2nd boning & packing!

[kpete]

A friend uses the sleigh'r for deer and elk, snow or dry ground. Much easier than dragging on plain deer hide.
I bone and pack.  much easier on my back and on the venison.  A good-sized buck is a amazingly small and light package with the bones all gone.
Even halving them and packing on a frame is better than dragging.

[kpete]

bone and pack. Easier on you, the venison too.
A friend does use the roll-up sleigh'r for deer and elk on dry ground and on snow with good results

[sawtoothscream]

i draged them by the legs or horns, then i tied a rope around the neck and to my body and dragged them.  then my uncle bought 2 atvs. ill stick with the atv much nicer tehn dragging then things up the steep hills to his house

[Jeff Strubberg]

I'd look around for those el cheapo roll-up sleds they sell the kids in the winter.  Punch some holes along the edges to lace through and they slide dead easy on grass and leaves.

Cheap, rolls up small, seems like just the thing for pack hunting.

[straitera]

Papafrank & Yornoc, great idea with the plastic sled. My homemade deer dolly (on wheels) works great. Hope to get it hooked up behind the mtn bike this year.

[jamesh76]

I swear by the folding carts. If there is snow I use the thick plastic kids sleds with handles on the side so I can tie it down real good.

[JimB]

I have used the Deer-Sleigher and it helped some but wouldn't use it again.If you are anything like me,I think you would get tired of packing something like that around,still hunting 10,20 or more times for each time you actually used it.

I have a plastic sled,app 6' long that I leave in the truck.It works real well for getting antelope back to the truck on semi-level ground.Sleds can be worthless in hilly country and if you have to drag over rocks,even small stuff,it really increases the drag.

If the ground is very rough at all,a game cart is better but hills can still be a problem and it too needs to stay in the truck.

Anything killed back in the hills,I skin,quarter and pack out.That saves me dragging garbage home that I will just have to haul away after processing.

I normally keep the sled,game cart and packframe in the truck during season and use the best suited,if the time ever comes.I don't like carrying something 100 times on the chance I may use it once.

[Easykeeper]

I've used a Deer-sleigh'r several times, if you tie up the legs and wrap everything tight it works pretty well.  At least on the generally moist leaf covered ground we have in Minnesota.  A fully grown whitetail buck is still a heavy load for one person, your mulie will be even heavier.

If I have a trail or open ground though my Cabelas Super-Mag hauler is the ticket.  You can balance the load and with the big wheels it is almost effortless on level ground.  Hills are a little more interesting but still a good method.

[PaddyMac]

Thanks. You've given me some ideas. the body bag idea sounds great. Sounds just sick enough, too.

I do bone and pack but only if I'm pretty far out there. I usually don't need to but my last muley just about killed me back. That's one of the reasons I've gotten in a lot better shape this year.

I used to just grab an antler and take off, then I started carrying nylon webbing, then I started wearing military load bearing gear for a drag harness. They seem to be getting heavier and heavier though.

When going downhill (as hills qualify as such in this country) I just let 'em go and try and keep up.

[rmitch1234]

hey guys i have used a 20 dollar hand truck from dollar general. works good just need some ratchet straps.

[Uncle Buck]

My old hunting partner in Michigan made a one wheel cart out of a bicyle wheel and some metal conduit pipe. it even folded flat to go in the back of truck. If you are not that ambitous or handy then the plastic sled works great and is cheap.

[Sharpster]

I've heard some good reviews on this. Haven't tried it myself but the video makes it look pretty easy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXF5_XZUlPQ

Ron

[GingivitisKahn]

I use a folding wheeled cart. It stays in the car except in the unlikely event I actually kill a deer.  Last year I
* walked a mile or so,
* stuck a doe, tracked her and found her,
* walked a mile or so back to the car to the cart,
* another mile or so back to the deer,
* dragged her out of the thick crap to where I could use my cart and
* a mile or so back to the car.

It was a fair bit of walking but I'm really glad I had the cart available.

[Roadkill]

You all back East have a different problem than in the West mountains. My buck last year was a mile plus to the road.  Then we drove the truck to him.
The bike makes it easier.  I used that bike trick in Virginia. I love to hunt mountains but like to drag on there flat lands.

[RC]

Very very rarely do I drag a deer more than a few yards to a good spot to bone out.I do have a two wheel cart I made years ago and if I`mhunting near home and my Son is there I`ll get him to "roll" the critter out. Even my home hunting spots are over a half mile in. Rarely am I less than a half mile from the truck anywhere I hunt.With the weather usually warm down here boning out is the best way to go. Plus I can do it in about 15 minutes and when I get home another 15 to process the meat and its time to focus on getting another.RC

[Zbearclaw]

Gutless quarter and pack; 10 miles or .10 miles...

[Jim Dahlberg]

Check out the "Dead Sled".  Google it.  I bought one 2 years ago and have used it for 2 seasons on dry ground over rocks and logs and on snow.  After dragging out half a dozen critters it doesn't look any worse for the wear.  Easy to pack and priced right.  Be sure to follow the instructions when using it otherwise it turns into a flip over tube! Thats's from experience!Used according to instructions, it's the cat's meow, right after the ice fishing sled.  Another TG'er turned me on to it some time back.

[JimB]

I killed a big bear last year in a place where I could get the truck within 100 yds of it.The bear was in a thick creek bottom and I had to cross a creek and go up a steep hill to get to the truck.I had the sled,a game cart and the pack frame.

There was no way I could get that bear on the cart by myself let alone pull it up that hill.I couldn't pull it up on the sled either.Only 100 yds but the pack frame was a no brainer.I skinned and cut it up in a little over an hour.It took 3 trips of 60 lbs+ and that wasn't any fun going up that hill but it was about the only way.The only thing I had to throw away after getting it home were the skinned out feet.

[iron_llama]

I've got the roll-up Sportsman's Guide sled.  Carrying it around can be a pain and it can be loud.  I hadn't thought of using it as a pack ala Killie, that would make it a lot quieter.  I wound up rolling it up loosely and letting it expand inside my pack, then putting my rain gear, lunch, etc. inside it.  It worked out okay but was bulkier than I liked.  This year I was planning on rolling it around my quiver, or rolling it up tight and strapping them together.  

A friend of mine bought a dozen children's toboggans in the springtime and buried them around the area he hunts.  He buries an ammo can with water, 1st aid supplies, and an MRE together with the toboggan.  When he has an animal down, or needs some emergency rations, he's rarely more than a mile or two from the supplies.