How do you drag game out?

I hunt a river bottom some spots are thigh high mud, rocky bottom, sandy bar/or bottom, and some spot almost hip high water. I got the biggest sled and I can float, or drag a deer out I gut them 1st and I have to tie them in such a way to make sure its balance. I have tried just about every thing else this works.

We use a snatch block or blocks and hay wire or 5/8 crab line. Most guys have 300-500 yards of the stuff ready for when an elk goes down. We block high on a tree and tie off to a pickup and start pulling. Someone usually fallows the elk up to make sure it doesn't get hung up. If that don't work we quarter and pack.

SavageHunter11 said:

This forum is "Long Range Hunting", implying we're a bunch that are willing to take longer shots on game. I'm my experience, it's rare I shoot game closer to the truck than I am and longer shots means longer distances to drag game out. How do you all drag game out? Any clever devices or tricks to make dragging a deer or similar game out of the field? I just use a rope and lots of leg power but I'm getting older and lazier and might buy/build an easier way to get a deer out. What do you all do?

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I used to just call the chopper.

SavageHunter11 said:

This forum is "Long Range Hunting", implying we're a bunch that are willing to take longer shots on game. I'm my experience, it's rare I shoot game closer to the truck than I am and longer shots means longer distances to drag game out. How do you all drag game out? Any clever devices or tricks to make dragging a deer or similar game out of the field? I just use a rope and lots of leg power but I'm getting older and lazier and might buy/build an easier way to get a deer out. What do you all do?

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This is what we use for elk and deer. Most places in AZ you can't drive off road even to recover game or fire wood.
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/groundwork-1-400-lb-capacity-pro-series-poly-dump-cart

JimmyCP said:

This is what we use for elk and deer. Most places in AZ you can't drive off road even to recover game or fire wood.
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/groundwork-1-400-lb-capacity-pro-series-poly-dump-cart

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I like this solution because i can convince the wife we need it for "yard work"

Sure are getting alot of ideas...(10 pages and counting)

SavageHunter11 said:

I like this solution because i can convince the wife we need it for "yard work"

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That was my excuse. It's had more meat in it than dirt. We actually boned a big bull out in a canyon and pulled it out in the wagon with block and tackle. Couple ratchet straps to secure theload. Hell of alot easier to get it out.

JimmyCP said:

That was my excuse. It's had more meat in it than dirt. We actually boned a big bull out in a canyon and pulled it out in the wagon with block and tackle. Couple ratchet straps to secure theload. Hell of alot easier to get it out.

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Also there is a gator brand that you can put side post on.

SavageHunter11 said:

This forum is "Long Range Hunting", implying we're a bunch that are willing to take longer shots on game. I'm my experience, it's rare I shoot game closer to the truck than I am and longer shots means longer distances to drag game out. How do you all drag game out? Any clever devices or tricks to make dragging a deer or similar game out of the field? I just use a rope and lots of leg power but I'm getting older and lazier and might buy/build an easier way to get a deer out. What do you all do?

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Well I hunt in very steep territory so we bone everything out. This saves alot of weight. This also stops the transfer of alot of diseases that are showing up these days!

ATV with a winch (once had to winch an elk - quarter at a time in Northern Arizona) and/or Eberlestock (or similar) pack. Break it down and load it up.

I am now 57 and this is the way I have always done it with deer sized and smaller game until last year.
Two shoulder surgeries and one knee surgery since then. Now they come out the same way but I get my buddy to do it!
BTL

SavageHunter11 said:

This forum is "Long Range Hunting", implying we're a bunch that are willing to take longer shots on game. I'm my experience, it's rare I shoot game closer to the truck than I am and longer shots means longer distances to drag game out. How do you all drag game out? Any clever devices or tricks to make dragging a deer or similar game out of the field? I just use a rope and lots of leg power but I'm getting older and lazier and might buy/build an easier way to get a deer out. What do you all do?

Click to expand...

SavageHunter11 said:

This forum is "Long Range Hunting", implying we're a bunch that are willing to take longer shots on game. I'm my experience, it's rare I shoot game closer to the truck than I am and longer shots means longer distances to drag game out. How do you all drag game out? Any clever devices or tricks to make dragging a deer or similar game out of the field? I just use a rope and lots of leg power but I'm getting older and lazier and might buy/build an easier way to get a deer out. What do you all do?

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My deer have always been average size for northern US states and slightly smaller now in Ga. I have always field dressed and dragged them out until several years ago. Proper prep gets the heads and front legs up and they pull over most objects OK. Ga has been an adventure with most hunting done on on public land and most drags at 1 to 1.5 miles with at least one 300 foot 40 degree slope. Usual drag exceeds 4 hours. after dragging a 120 lb hog out three years ago I bought a game cart so I could take old logging roads out over a longer distance because hogs don't drag well. I have only used the cart once for a large eight point since then. It seems like too much work to hike out, put the thing together, and hike back in just to begin pulling out. Anyway, at 71, it helps me keep my youthful good looks.

Frog4aday said:

I use the same thing for elk and deer. Official name:
DEER SLEIGH'R Magnum Game Sled
You put the animal on it, tie it 'closed', then pull the rope and slide the animal out. The plastic is slippery making it easy to pull and the plastic is tough (thick) so it isn't really bothered by being drug along with a deer or elk in it.
View attachment 137688View attachment 137689

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I have been using that set-up since the early 1990s except I use a harness. Works well in various terrains. Use them in AZ, NM, and now in MT.

Last year, my hunting buddy and I invested on ...



Scheel's had it on sale for $99 (IIRC) and works like a champ.