Carrying him/her out

In the event I am lucky enough to get my first deer this season, how do you all get them back to your vehicle? Put it in a carcass bag and then drag it, bring a cart, some sort of elaborate helium balloon system?

Any advice would be appreciated now, but greatly appreciated if/when I am standing over a deer...

Grab on and tug...rest...tug....rest...tug...call a buddy

The little carts work well if it isn't raining

I used one of these game carriers in South Texas and in West Texas to get deer out of thicker brush by myself. I have the heavier magnum game carrier model by Cabelas.
http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/compare_i...ntityId=1206641

Throw him on your shoulders and get over the high fence before your neighbor sees you!!!

LOL. Dang HF.

^^

Pass up on shots that I cannot drive to the deers location.



Been there done that, might do it again someday.

Here's what I use

Just drag to a spot you can get to them with a vehicle!!!

Yeah and just wait until you get that big boy back to the truck then it really gets fun!

Yep, grab a horn and start dragging. If you have to go a long distance then I suggest that you gut the deer and then drag.

I went to pick one up last year with the flatbed still hooked up, man that thing is alot closer to the ground than the tailgate of a 1-ton 4x4 dodge!

I drag to the nearest road then use truck usualy. Last year we were trying to keep the place quiet, brother shot one the first morning so we took a wheel barrow...

wheelbarrow+160lbs of deer+sand = NO GOOD!

matt

Not to worry....

That is on my "get list" for this year! My buddy in south texas has one, and he loves it. But, there still is a little grunt...rest...grunt....rest...grunt, if the deer is in the thick stuff.

I started carrying a pack with me, and I completely field dress and debone the deer in the field right after the kill. All meat goes in the pack, then hike back to camp/truck with it all on my back.

shoot them in the road.


i haven't had to drag a deer that I shot in quite awhile....of course i gete enough practice with that with my hunters

If you have to drag it some distance for whatever reason, I take enough rope so that I can wrap and tie one end around my waist and use my leg strength to drag it. It just seems to make it much easier, rather than having to reach around to the side or behind you to hold one the legs or antlers as you drag it.

Of course this assumes you're having to drag it alone because there's no one to help you.

Id like to see how this works... thinking lots gets left behind. You must be fast with a knife to debone an entire deer in the texas heat before it spoils.

One other problem with that method is if you completely debone the deer it is reduced to less spwcified by TPWD unless the carcus it at its final destination or licensed processing facility.

Very true, we set up one of the logs for onsite processing, now we completely process all of our game at the ranch and be done with it, but you cant to that without going about it the right way.

matt

I got smart in my old age. Now I don't shoot anything unless I can drive up to it.

Load up into the truck

I try hard to just drive up next to them and flop um in. (PU or ATV)


poor man's way to get one in the truck by yourself....
cut a piece of plywood to where it will fit between the wheel wells. Drill a hole near one end to tie your deers head to.

Lay the plywood on the ground, roll the deer onto it and secure his head with a rope through the hole. Pick up the head end and set it on the tailgate. Then go pick up the other end and slide in into the truck.

I purchased one of these several years ago when the USFS changed their policy on ATV use in the National Forest. I put it together and hung it in the barn where it's been ever since.

Drag him to the cart attached to the back of the 4-wheeler,pull him on and cart him off.

Nothing gets left behind, except bones. I literally take all the meat (quaters, straps, neck and rib trimmings). As long as you got a good sharp knife, it does not take as long as you would think. As far as the Texas heat, as long as you dont take your sweet arse time, you should have no problems with spoilage.

As far as the part I highlighted in red, that is 100% false.

After killing a Deer (Also applies to pronghorn, except for License Log)
• After a deer is killed and before the deer is field dressed or moved, the appropriate hunting
license tag must be immediately filled out and date cut out (See Tagging deer or Turkey, pg. 59).
• A hunter may transport a deer to a final destination (see definitions, pg. 54), provided the deer is
tagged and proof of sex accompanies the deer (see Proof of Sex, pg. 61).
• A hunter may skin and quarter a deer (two forequarters, two hindquarters, and two backstraps)
and possess for transport, provided the quartered deer is tagged and proof of sex accompanies
the deer. (See Cold Storage or Processing Facilities, below, for exceptions).
• A deer may not be processed any further than four quarters and two backstraps (example, steaks,
hamburger, chili meat, etc.) until the deer reaches a final destination, except for immediate
consumption in camp (see Processing deer, Turkey, or Antelope in Camp).
• The four quarters and two backstraps are the only parts of a deer required by law to be kept in
edible condition.
• If any part of a deer is transferred to another person before it reaches a final destination, then the
transferred parts must be accompanied by a WRd (see Wildlife Resource document – WRd, pg. 100).
The parts retained by the person who killed the deer must be accompanied by a tag until the deer
reaches a final destination.

Yes, but when they refer to quarters they are referring to them with the leg bones still inside. Not boned out meat. If the meat is boned out then they can not tell how many possible deer it came from.

I think the gray area of concern is that you are deboning and not taking out the 4 quarters intact. I think it would come down to GW take on the rule.

The 4 quarters stay intact, they just don't have a bone in them.

At our place we tag the deer, drive up to it with the front end loader, roll the buck into the bucket, and drive over to the cleaning station. (One of the benfits of hunting in the panhandle)

Go get the tractor out of the barn with the front end loader.

I used to field dress it where it dropped and loaded it into the back of my 4-runner. This presented two problems. One my accounting build isn't condusive to getting the deer into the back of the 4runner and two - there was always some blood that would get in the interior of the vehicle.

Since our place is fairly small, i now drag it back to the shop behind my 4runner using something like the attached link, hoist it up with an electric motor hoist and gut it into a large bucket. Works great and I don't mess my back up or get blood in the vehicle.

JR

If it died near a high traffic area (feeder, wheat field, deer trail) we drag it about 100 yards away and then procede to cape and quarter on the ground. After it has been quartered and caped we can usually carry 2 quarters per person. So If you are alone it will normally take 3 trips to get all quarters, cape, and all other meat. I would rather make 3 light trips than one heavy one though.

I do not see how you can debone a forequarter without it being intact. I was told by a gamewarden when discussing this "the bone has to be in it to be intact" Just wanting to keep people from possibly getting a ticket.

Ok well you are right. I went back amd looked at some pics, and i did cut the front quarters into a few chunks. But the rear quarters were left completely intact minus the bone. Im going to call the game warden here and discuss this. But as i read regs, theres no mention of deboning. It just says you cant process the quarters before final destination, such as cutting into steaks or burger. Deboning essentially still leaves you with quarters, and i would think is certainly not the same as cutting into steaks. Like someone previously stated, its a gray area i suppose. Nevertheless, i want to hear what the game warden says about it.

I just pick em up, throw over my shoulder and carry them out!!!

If it's really big, I call my brother in law, partly for him to come help, partly for me to brag...not that big, or a doe, grab an antler or front leg and drag to the point where you can get your truck to him. You don't need anything special.

Cut all the legs in front of the knees and break, but due not cut back ligament. Then tie them together and you have a deer pack.

I normally just back the truck up to the cage and ask the zoo keeper to give me a hand loading it.

I agree with don k's philosophy, shootem where I can drive to them and then BillyBob's method of loading. Makes it so much easier to hunt alone.