I shot my biggest deer last year and had to drag it through mud, brush and swamp about 3/4 of a mile back to my truck. Not fun and I am surprised I’m not dead from it. Im looking for input on products for making that easier. I’ve found plastic sleds/wraps on Sportsmen’s Guide and other sites as well as carts. I don’t think the cart thing would work where I hunt so I’m looking for something to make dragging easier beit through mud or snow. Thanks.
Big Game Hunting
Best Deer Drag Product/Trick
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I bought a deer cart a couple years ago...If I cannot use my Honda Rancher, that cart is the ONLY way I will retrieve a deer from the woods! This buck was shot opening morning of gun deer this past November...strapped him on the cart (guts and all) and pulled him nearly a half mile to the truck BY MYSELF in under 45 minutes over that ridge in the background...there is NO FRICTION of the deer with the ground and the cart balances the weight very well. Best $75 hunting investment I've bought in a LONG time! Disclaimer: my dad did carry my rifle for me...
I have one of the "magnum" sized plastic roll-up sleds, can't remember where I got it (online). I've used it on both snow and "dry" trails, works great. Much easier to get over logs and such. The only problem I've had with it is getting the deer situated and tied down alone, the plastic's not real pliable in freezing or below weather.
-Deer Sleigh'r Game Sled-Made in Minneapolis, MN.
-Dead Sled
-Game Glide Deer Sled
The Deer Sleigh'r is the one I referred to in my first post, it come's in a standard and magnum size. The Dead Sled is another similar product but after reading some of the con's it sounds like the grommet tie loops tear out easy. The Game Glide Deer Sled is a new product that came up in my search. Looks more to be a one time use or two product that fit's into a quart size bag for easy packing but under the same principal as the Deer Sleigh'r and Dead Sled.
Agree with Sloshkosh, can't remember the name of the product but it's a roll-up plastic sheet/sled. Kinda like the cheap roll up plastic sled's kid's use to have to go snow sliding. Last I checked the product came in two different sizes. Many year's ago when I was hunting in the Rum River Forest area of Minnesota a guy was dragging a buck he shot out wrapped in this product. He shot it over a mile from his vehicle the drag was thru an area that had high wind damage of blow down's, some of the area had been logged off but still was a mess for anyone to haul a deer out of. Plus the area was typical thick brush and swampy area's.
When he came by me dragging his deer in this product I was close to the parking area. Most of the snow(being it was in November) had melted off, so there was scattered snow spot's and bare wet ground. He was fully dressed in his warm cloth's and wasn't even breaking a sweat dragging his buck in this product. He even demonstrated when I was chatting with him about the product with one strong finger he could drag the deer in this product. Beside's having the deer wrapped up in this product he also had other gear wrapped up inside of it.
He had the larger of the two sizes available and if I remember he recommended going with the larger size just for the fact you can fit in other stuff beside's your quarry. He said hunting long distance's in he just pack's the product in with him so he doesn't have to go back to his vehicle to get it.
I've looked at this product many of time's online and even seen at time's where it was on sale, but never broke down and bought one myself. After many time's being alone or even with other's and using carts and plastic sleds(which I still use) to drag deer, I still wonder why sometime's I just didn't order this product. I'll post again after I do a search for this product.
We hunt very hilly country. We bought an original portable winch 3 years ago. It works great. It is slow going but saves a lot of back pain and exhaustion. I think it was about $900 with all the rope and accessories. It is a Honda engine. We were given a demonstration when purchased. It helps to have 2 or 3 people to use it. I recommend it to anyone dragging in tough conditions. You can Google it to see it in action. We found the advertisement for it in the Wisconsin Outdoors News paper in the classified section. It moved a large 12 foot log in the demo.
With a reconstructed back, I like to kill them as close to the truck as possible, but I have been apart of some nasty drags, gun season often having multiples to deal with. The best "cart" I ever saw was homemade. Several times hunting public by waukesha and Jefferson I ran into a father with 5 sons. They had a 8 or 10 foot aluminum ladder with large wheels fastened on one end, with a stout handle through the other end thru a rung. More than once by Rome marsh I saw 2 of them pulling 4 deer strapped down, the others carrying gear. They said they used it to cross creeks too.... this was back in the 3 free tags a day era. I haven't seen them in years....hope they are still stacking bucks like cordwood.
I remember a few years back seeing ads for a two handled version of the one in the link below that seemed pretty slick.
I made one just like the link with some dowling and rope. Worked well, but found out the hard way during a long drag that clothesline wasn't the best choice lol. 5/8" rope works much better.
Does anyone have something they made (or bought) for a bike to be able to pull one of the deer carts?
I got one of these for 5 bucks 10 yrs ago when sportsmans warehouse was shutting down in Green Bay. It will not help with surface drag of the deer touching the ground but its small, simple to use, never get that rope burn or digging in your hand and the rope is perfect length.
Small sled, tarp, cart are all good ideas. A few years back Nugent was advertising a plastic mat that rolled up like a yoga mat with all kinds of cords up the sides. You could pretty much put your deer in there like a burrito pull the cords tight so it could roll and not fall out but still have a tough surface like a sled that slides easy. Cant remeber the name. Sure you can find it based of that.
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