Game retrieval

[bobcat]

I'd like to know how you guys drag them uphill?

Also, I've never had a problem with deer meat by halving or quartering it before packing it out. I'm able to keep it just as clean as if I had brought the deer home in one piece.

[Curly]

I'd like to know how you guys drag them uphill?

Also, I've never had a problem with deer meat by halving or quartering it before packing it out. I'm able to keep it just as clean as if I had brought the deer home in one piece.

Seems to me that dragging it has more potential for getting dirt all over; especially all over the the hind quarters.....

[billythekidrock]

i cannot bring myself to bone out a deer no matter how far the drag,

I'm with you there. Boned out meat is way more susceptible to bacteria and more likely to get dirt and hair on it. I love my deer meat way too much to take chances with it.

Not only that but you get tougher steaks when boned out in the field.

[high country]

When you have a camp on your back already, boning is the only way to go. If you are skilled and not a slob, there will not be any hair or dirt on your meat....and it is bled perfectly. I would pack salt and pepper to eat it where I killed it before I drug it 5 miles.....even with a quad.

[high country]

Btkr, you know enough about meat to know that is not exactly true. Keep your cuts to a minimum and make them work for you

[Eli346]

Sirmisalot,
 I've got one of those carts also and they are a little low. I usually tie a couple of handles (vine maple poles work well) so I can drag it like a rickshaw. You can also tie a crossmember into it with it sticking out on both sides so you can have a friend on one side and you on the other. All you need to take into the woods extra other than the cart is some paracord and a saw, which I normally carrry anyway.

[billythekidrock]

Btkr, you know enough about meat to know that is not exactly true. Keep your cuts to a minimum and make them work for you

Correct, it is not always true, especially when your steaks are butterflied and thin, but it can make your thicker steak tough.

[billythekidrock]

We usually get ours out whole.
Usually right on our back, sometimes on a packboard. Dragging is too hard on my back.





Sometimes we cut them in half and take em out on pack boards.

[WA hunter14]

some nice bucks there!   

[bobcat]

I've never completely de-boned a deer in the woods, but don't like to pack out the rib cage/back bone. So I remove the hind quarters and the shoulders, and then bone out the rib cage, which includes the back strap and tenderloins. Sometimes I have even cut the antlers/skull plate off and left the head in the woods.

[washelkhunter]

I've never completely de-boned a deer in the woods, but don't like to pack out the rib cage/back bone. So I remove the hind quarters and the shoulders, and then bone out the rib cage, which includes the back strap and tenderloins. Sometimes I have even cut the antlers/skull plate off and left the head in the woods.

  Another easy way to get the job done. Just quarter it and go.

[Seabass]

What ever it takes,some times whole,some times quartered. I have never noticed a difference in meat quality based on how I packed it out.

[fish vacuum]

Bone out and pack. I haven't noticed a difference in meat quality, except that the boned out meat is CLEANER.

[jackmaster]

bobcat, when it comes to dragn one up hill, i just go at a snails pace, 3ft at a time if necessary, getn a deer out is hard work no matter how you slice it, it just all boils down to your own preferances, me i like to see my deer whole in the back of the truck, and its alot easier for me to work on it when i get home. that deer that i got that was alomost 5 miles from the rig almost got cut up in the woods but i just couldnt bring myself to do it, no clue why, it was a descent 3pt blacktail, the one i cut in half was 190 to 200 pounds with the guts out, the biggest bodied blacktail i have ever gotton, i made it a few gundred yards up a slight incline and realized there was no way i was getn him out whole and i cut it in half  i watched a guy make 3 trips packin a small 2x3 out of the woods that was only 2 miles from the gate, we offered up a mt bike so he could take it out whole, i think as small as it was i could have drug it out in a couple hours, but he said there was somethn about doin it on his own, i understood, cause i have my ways as others have their ways, but as i get older and more beat up the more time i spend closer to the road with my deer cart attached to my mountain bike, oohh i need a little motor to go on my bike

[Sitka_Blacktail]

One secret to dragging uphill is once you get it moving go as far as you can without stopping.  Getting started takes the most effort.  I do it in bursts. As far as I can, then rest.  But that's only if I am alone. Two guys can drag a fairly large deer without too much trouble.

The biggest secret is to plan ahead where you're going with it. In Alaska, all my deer hunting was from sea level up the mountains so it's pretty much downhill all the way out. I have certain ridges I use going in and out so the plan is to find the easiest route to the ridge, then down you go.  You don't necessarily have to go up to get on the ridge.  You side hill and angle onto it as you move down.  Once or twice I made the mistake of shooting one on the backside of the mountain where I had to go up before I could go down, but you don't make that mistake too many times before you learn it's usually not worth it.

The biggest mistake is trying to go the shortest way down and ending up in a steep canyon. Nothing worse than working yourself into a gorge that you have to climb back out of with your deer. Ridges are your friend.

As for dirt from dragging, I've learned to make the smallest hole in the stomach possible for gutting.  I don't open up the hams or the anus until I'm out. The skin keeps the meat clean. If you tie the front legs to the antlers or the head on a doe the deer drags on it's back keeping the small opening up. Nothing gets inside except maybe a few leaves if you are going through thick brush.

I hunt with a guy who bones all his deer out and packs it and I can see more than a few advantages I have over him.  He has to wear his pack everywhere we go or he has to backtrack to get it and climb back up to where ever he gets a deer.  I like the feel of freedom I have not wearing a pack. Especially if I'm in a brush patch. A pack is one more thing to tangle up in the brush.  Packing a pack can also be noisy when you want to be quiet. I can drag a deer out before he can get one boned out most times.  That can make a big difference if you are back in a couple miles and get one towards evening. I can get out in daylight while he may be coming out by flashlight.  That can be a big deal on a truly remote hunt and finding your way out safely.

Lastly, when you're hunting a place like Kodiak or Prince William Sound where there is a chance a bear is gonna come to your kill site, I wanna shoot a deer, and gut it as quickly as possible and get out of there. I don't want to spend time working with a bloody carcass where the smell is chumming the bears in.