How do you drag game out?

I can bone a mule deer out and pack it out on my back in 1 trip. Including head. Heavy load but I take plenty of time. Usually pack it to my dirt bike and ride out of the mountain from that point. Usually 5-7 miles in but pretty rare to be further then 1 mile from my bike.
 
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?


Some years ago I had shot really nice Nebraska, corn-fed buck and as some of you know that means field dressed it was over 200 lbs. I had his hind legs tied together and was looking mostly at the ground as I huffed and puffed the 300 or so yards back to the truck. The I noticed a pair of boot standing in my way and looked up to see a friend of mine who is a game warden. He asked me what I was doing. Stupid question for a Game & Parks employee!

I told him I was dragging Bambi's great grandpa back to the truck. He told me that if I tied the rope around the antlers and dragged him like that the legs would fold back in line and even the hair would run smoother and it would be a lot easier to pull. I thanked him for that advice and he left.

I did it like he said and it was quite a bit easier to move the deer. But it soon became obvious that the damned game warden didn't know what he was talking about. Because after 10 minutes of dragging I was 50 yards farther away from my truck, not one bit "closer"!
 
Some years ago I had shot really nice Nebraska, corn-fed buck and as some of you know that means field dressed it was over 200 lbs. I had his hind legs tied together and was looking mostly at the ground as I huffed and puffed the 300 or so yards back to the truck. The I noticed a pair of boot standing in my way and looked up to see a friend of mine who is a game warden. He asked me what I was doing. Stupid question for a Game & Parks employee!

I told him I was dragging Bambi's great grandpa back to the truck. He told me that if I tied the rope around the antlers and dragged him like that the legs would fold back in line and even the hair would run smoother and it would be a lot easier to pull. I thanked him for that advice and he left.

I did it like he said and it was quite a bit easier to move the deer. But it soon became obvious that the damned game warden didn't know what he was talking about. Because after 10 minutes of dragging I was 50 yards farther away from my truck, not one bit "closer"!

Too funny. I admit my first thought as I started to read your note was, "What idiot would drag a deer backward?" I started laughing at the game warden part, and then downright howled when I finally got the joke..... Good one!
 
Unfortunately I hunt in the mountains and 8 times out of 10 I bone them out and pack out. If Im lucky I can drag downhill to a road depending on terrain
 
Grab a leg or horn and pull here in wv there is only one way to drag them...downhill, so pulling hard isn't an issue most of the time, you just keep going down till you get to a place where you can get a truck or 4wheeler to it and if you do have to drag uphill it usually involves a few buddies or a winch and a long rope lol
 
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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?

A heavy sheet of plastic used for lining feed troughs similar to that used for high country rescue. It will roll up like a sleeping bag pad, weighs next to nothing, reduces friction to near zero, and they are extremely durable.

Just cut holes appropriate to run rope through to suck it up around the body and to drag it.

Get that to where you can tie it to a horse or atv and you have it made.
 
2 Polish guys Stosh and Stan were dragging a deer out of the woods by the back legs. Another hunter said that it would be easier to drag them by the front legs and that they wouldn't be going against the hair.

After about 20 minutes Stan says; ya know he's right, it's a lot easier this way. Stosh says, yep but we're a lot further from the truck.
 
2 Polish guys Stosh and Stan were dragging a deer out of the woods by the back legs. Another hunter said that it would be easier to drag them by the front legs and that they wouldn't be going against the hair.

After about 20 minutes Stan says; ya know he's right, it's a lot easier this way. Stosh says, yep but we're a lot further from the truck.

Thats a good one
 
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