Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Leg Cuff Deer Drag

Yes.




Travis

Tried the tarp - gets snagged on everything and makes it harder.

Got a deer cart - it's like a wheel barrow and is worthless in the woods and can't keep it upright. Won't go over downed trees.

Got this thing called a Deer-Sleigh-R - It's a hard piece of slippery plastic with a rope on the front and you lace it up around the deer. Works great, but it takes about a half an hour to get the deer on it and tied up. I don't use it unless I'm mounting the head or it's a mile or more. In most cases, I can just drag it out in the amount of time it takes to wrap it up on the thing.

The best thing is a 4' rope on a stick as a T handle. Snow cover is the best. If you get going down a steep hill, you can just hop on and ride it down the hill like a sled.

......and the ears make great handles too.

The best drag handle is the foreleg of the deer being dragged. Cut it off at the knee and tie both ends of it to a line around the deer's neck. It is padded, just right size, comfortable in the hand and is always there when needed, no need to carry a "drag handle." Grip it in the middle between the tie lines coming off of each end.



An improvement not shown in the photo is to allow just enough slack to loop a half hitch of both tie lines over the deer's nose. It is an easier streamlined drag with nothing flopping if you drag from the deer's nose. As Pete E said, short drag lines allow you to lift, which is needed if you drag over down logs or rough ground.

I don't drag unless it is clean ground downhill to a road or location that has some advantage over cutting it up or boning it out on the spot.

It sounds like there are a lot better ideas than the Leg Cuffs...unless, of course, there is a felony warrant out out on the deer.

Down here we just turn them into a pack. Cut the front leg as in the first photo, make a cut in the back leg and thread the front one through as in the second photo, do the same with the other side and put it on your back. No string or anything else required (just a bit of sweat) :-)

All that's needed is about 3 ft of strong paracord or something similar. Tie the front legs at the ankles cut a slit thru the lower jaw exiting under the tongue. Thread the free end of the cord thru the slit exiting the mouth. Tie off to a smooth stick you find in the woods forming a T handle and pull. The feet will pull up under the chin and if you tie the handle to the right length the head and feetwill be lifted slightly off the ground and the drag is easy.

Mike,

Do your deer get many ticks on them? If you tried the pack method over here, you'd be alive with ticks before you'd gone a 100 yeards, especially in summer!


Regards,

Peter

That used to be illegal here in Arkansas. I think now it is legal. I hunt my own place here and just drive my ATV up to the deer. If open enough I put it on a small trailer, if not I drag it to the trailer with the ATV. I have done the same with a horse, before I got an ATV. miles

I have never figured out how these guys in magazine pictures etc carry a dead deer on their back or shoulders without ending up with ruined clothes and looking like an ax murderer. Usually the deer I kill have a pretty big issue with blood loss.

Hi Peter,

Never found a tick on a deer, and never heard of ticks on deer down here in NZ.

Pigs on the other hand can be lousy with them, but in my experience that's the exception rather than the rule.

Yes you can get a bit messy, but it's really only on your bum and down the back of your legs. Washes off easy.

Some guys leave the a-hole in when carrying them to catch the blood in the body cavity. I take it out because it's just what I've always done, and I don't see the point of carrying an extra pint of blood around.

That thing is dumber than schit. Add it to the butt-out tool, cough silencer, and sling sticks.

Take a bite from the CENTER of a piece of rope (just rope, no handle, no clamp or other stupid schit) and loop it around the head, antlers, front legs/head, whatever.

Tie each end off to the belt/bag cinch on your pack and start walking. All the pressure is on your hips, not torquing your back, neck and shoulders.

Think 4X4....

Last year I tried a few different things.

I used one of the flat foam with slick plastic shell "sleds" kids use. That worked great, It had webbing handles a couple feet from the front and a couple feet from the rear. I lashed the deer to the sled using them and started walking. I have to say that in snow dragging that deer several miles would have been a piece of cake.

The shell toboggan about three inches deep was not so good.

The lawn tractor wearing chains with a 10 cubic foot trailer worked good.

I carry 20 feet of mule tape in my hunting coat. It weighs nothing, it never rots and it's ungodly strong. Normally if I have to drag one I just lash the feet to the head, make a short handle out of a stick(s), throw a clove hitch around the stick(s) and go. There's a lot to be said for that trailer behind an ATV though.

IF you are dragging a deer downhill or sidehill, it is a huge help to have one man drag in front and a second man to hold a rope tied to the deer's hind legs. The back end man keeps the critter's hind end from swinging downhill and brakes to keep the deer from rocketing down (at the wrong place) on slick grass or snow.

This is a good catalog of workable ideas that posters have used in their terrain and circumstances. Will admit that I got to laughing thinking about steep terrain, cliffs, blowdown timber and brush, and of dragging much larger deer than whitetails. If we hunt a variety of terrain it is good to know a variety of options, not just of dragging methods but non-dragging.

It has puzzled me a few times to find myself hunting with someone who has only one way to do something. One fellow insisted on dragging a large mule deer buck out whole, 250 yards up a slope so steep that to turn the buck loose while resting meant that it would tumble all the way to the bottom where we started. Exhausting, close-minded, and though I helped drag to preserve the friendship, I have not hunted with him again!

Great idea about putting the rope around the nose. I never thought about it, but makes perfect sense. That's why I read this forum.

I also like the leg handle also. Sometimes it seems like I can't find the right stick.

Used to drag deer for miles in the past, now that I am in my mid 60's not so much anymore. Find a jet sled extremely helpful getting a deer through and out of the woods and an Adirondack buggy (wheeled deer carrier) just as helpful upon reaching a trail or logging road. As an added bonus the jet sled fits perfectly on/in the buggy. Hunting fields or having the help of a friend also make things much easier. Have had some problems trying to hoist a 150 lb.+ buck with legs and head flopping around up and into the bed of the pickup without assistance. Don't want them to be dragging me out of the woods....

I have my sôn-in-law drag it or the guy trying to date my Granddaughter.

This is the best way to get a deer home. Shoot him in the back of the head with a Woodsman when you get to the barn.

[img:center][/img]
If it gets any bigger than deer I prefer this type of pulling device. As can be seen, it helps assist in field dressing as well.