Just wondering what most hunters are using to retrieve their game when hunting on foot? We usually use a plastic toboggan, which works fairly well on both snow and open fields, but tends to roll over on hills. Anyone have / use those 2 wheeled game carts that Cabela's / Bass Pro sells? Any other ideas?
Game Retrieval
- Thread starter Scott_N
- Start date
Pathfinder
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Northeast Ontario
We've used them to haul gear like small boat motors etc. in trails / portages to lakes and they were not tough enough for rugged terrain. I think they would be ok to haul a Deer in open terrain as long as he's not 400 pounds.
Sask_Hunter
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Saskatchewan
thats the best way, your going to have to skin them sooner or later and you could just leave the guts in and pull the quaters and backstraps off. 2 guys packing and its not that heavy or two trips with one guy. with a cart your making 2 trips anyway.
I have been dragging them out with something like this:
.
Last year I did it alone and then nearly loaded my shorts trying to get this bad boy into the back of my Saab - yeehaw.
I'd be interested to see what others are using successfully.
Last year I did it alone and then nearly loaded my shorts trying to get this bad boy into the back of my Saab - yeehaw.
I'd be interested to see what others are using successfully.
- Location
- WMU248 near Edmonton
I try to drive my quad to the kill site, its easier.
If not I have a bunch of rope that I can use to drag the animal with (using the quad winch)
I don't like making hunting too much work.
If not I have a bunch of rope that I can use to drag the animal with (using the quad winch)
I don't like making hunting too much work.
For deer, cut between the bone and tendon of the lower leg, and look around for a decent stick to put through the holes. If you're by yourself, you can drag it easily like this. With help, make another for the front legs and you're good to go. On anything bigger...well...i've never shot anything bigger, so i have no input
I've dragged out, boned out and packed, driven a pick-up right to it, and used a quad to winch it out. One occasion I took out a cow moose in two halves by snowmobile. The hind quarters were slung over the seat with a leg on either side and I sat on the rump of the beast and drove it (awkwardly) out of a warren of beaver dams.
- Location
- London, Ontario
I usually throw the moose or bear on my back and jog out with my knife in my teeth (which I used to kill it)
Suka
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
We have a game cart that I built a long time ago as a canoe carrier. More or less like the commercial ones available now, but lighter and balanced more like an old horse cart while the new one's look to be balanced more like a furniture cart. On ours the wheels carry the weight, not you.
Takes all the work out of it. In my younger day's I'd break it down and pack it out. When you're younger it's all about the adventure. Once you get older it's more about comfort.
Takes all the work out of it. In my younger day's I'd break it down and pack it out. When you're younger it's all about the adventure. Once you get older it's more about comfort.
Pudelpointer
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Lethbridge, Alberta
All my animals come out of the woods / fields by leg/back power. If there is snow on the ground or fairly good cover of dry grass I use a calf sled (snow is best of course). Otherwise I have a knife, pack frame, and determination, what more do you need?
I have been dragging them out with something like this:
.
Last year I did it alone and then nearly loaded my shorts trying to get this bad boy into the back of my Saab - yeehaw.
I'd be interested to see what others are using successfully.
Thanks you gave me a good laugh with that comment.
Seriously though, I never thought of using the boot of a car to fit a deer in. Never thought they would fit. But yet, here you are showing a really good-sized buck in your boot! How the heck did you do it? I assume you gutted first and got rid of the metatarsals?
Thanks you gave me a good laugh with that comment.
Seriously though, I never thought of using the boot of a car to fit a deer in. Never thought they would fit. But yet, here you are showing a really good-sized buck in your boot! How the heck did you do it? I assume you gutted first and got rid of the metatarsals?
Definitely field dressed, but everything else intact. He weighed 210lbs like that. I was pretty weak after dragging him out of the woods. I wrestled his head and front legs in first. While maintaining pressure with my thighs to keep him from falling back out, I reached back, grabbed his back legs and pivoted him into the car. Both back seats were folded down, of course.
My wife and I loaded a much smaller doe the year before. We dragged her onto a tarp and then wrapped her in it. Then we picked up the enchilada and slid it into the car.
Last edited:
Makes me wish I'd had the forethought to take a picture of the time I had a whole cow moose in the back of a 4-Runner.
On foot- usually with a pack board.
RC
Beautiful. How do you deal with the other half? Is someone else carrying it or did you tie it up a tree?
