Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting I Need a Hitch Mounted Deer Lift

Looking for one. Needs to have a ground foot, come apart in pieces weighing less than 15 lbs, fit in a 2 in. hitch, work with a Ford pickup tail gate down, and swivel. I plan to use it to field dress deer. Ole Dad can only use one arm and is 75 years old.

Any and all suggestion will be appreciated.

I'd say if Ole Dad is still deer hunting at 75, with only one arm to use, he's pretty danged impressive.

Other than that, I have nothing to contribute. Sorry.

Guy

1.5" pipe welded on a 2" receiver, extended out for the tailgate.??? A 90 degree braced pipe to slide down over the top with a hook for a block and tackle. The 90 rotates any direction you need. Maybe a guy wire or two for support, to the front corners. You have two pieces.
My dad was paralyzed from the waist down,he built one 50 years ago that attached to the steel bumper of his truck. Many animals swung there.

Funniest damned thing I ever saw was a bunch of city folks from Calgary who tried to lift a moose from a hitch-mount on the back of a Suburban.

Got the moose about 1/3 way up and the front of the Suburban lifted.

Nobody noticed until the moose didn't lift any more and the Suburban was almost tipped over.

Funny what city folks think is a good idea.

Mooses, maybe not a good plan ... deer, not a problem.

kd

Find a welding shop. They will make you anything you want.

A quick search for hitch hoist will give you multiple options.

Here's one listed on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Rage-Powersports-DEER-HOIST-SWIVEL-Degree-Mounted/dp/B006VWVFQ4

^^^^^^
this if you don't have the means to do it yourself.

I made a hitch mounted lift for a guy that works on lawn mowers out of his pick up truck. It's a simple design. 3 pieces basically,

1) piece that fits into the hitch receiver and extends straight out as far as needed.(if you want it to clear the tail gate when it's down that needs to be taken into consideration when figuring how long it will be.

2), the vertical up right piece that will determine the over all height of the lifting range... You need to take into account any loss in lifting range taken up by the upper horizontal tube, a clevis mount, and which ever lifting tackle you decide use( come-along, chain fall, etc...)
The vertical up right welds onto the very end of the hitch tubing with the bottom remaining open. This way an adjustable "drop leg" can slide up and down inside of the vertical up right secured with a hitch pin.

3) a horizontal top piece that welds to the end of the vertical upright. It needs to be just long enough to give you enough room to work without the vertical upright being in the way. This piece will have the clevis lug welded at the very end of it to hook the lifting tackle.

I think I have pics of the one I built for the mower repair guy if Ph***bucket will let me download them.

The drop leg helps out a lot when weight is applied to the frame, but you can also put a ring or hook at the top of the vertical bar on the bed side of the lift. This can be used to run ratchet straps to the front corners of the truck bed to help with the work load and over all stability if needed.

They list several there. If you scroll on down just a bit they have one for $99.99 with Free shipping.
I couldn't build one that cheap... but cheap is probably the key word here....

It appears that the OP knows about that problem. A lift that sticks out enough for the tailgate to open will greatly increase the stress on the hitch so the foot is imperative for larger animals.

Thanks for all suggestions. I have checked all the usual "google" and "bing" listed sites but most were either too heavy (15 lbs. weight limit per section), had very poor ratings, or no ground foot.

And by the way I am 75, had polio at 9 months of age, and I have kill 4-5 deer for the last 15 yrs. When I go to that Hunt in the sky, I want my ashes sprinkled around my deer hunting box stand.

Any other handicapped hunters want to know any of the adaption I have made to be able to hunt feel free to contact me.

Aluminum 4 wheeler ramp to guide the critter from the ground to the bed height. Either a manual come-along OR an electric winch mounted to the front of the bed.

IME that is not needed for pronghorn/deer sized critters. Have hung both from my DIY version without an issue.

If you lived close to me I would make it for you.

Skinning an animal on the hoist is where the support leg would come into play. If your pulling on the hide, you don't have to continually load the vehicle springs up to the point that the hide will give away from the carcass.
A big deal? No, but there is still more effort involved just the same.

I made my own.

It allows for tailgate drop and the only issue is carcase ratation....bungee solved this

It is 2 pieces but beats 15 pounds by a long ways

Different angle and cost, but is this a consideration (based on stated physical limitations)

www.easylift.com

To use that on my Dodge, I'd have to lower the winch 2' or stand on the tailgate to reach it. It's fine for clearance but it's a pain to load stuff being that high.

Built them for myself, son, son-in-law, handiest thing since sliced bread.

My wife gave me the hitch mounted hoist that Sportsman's Guide sells years ago for a gift. I've used it several times, it works great for out of state hunts where you need to quarter in the field. It also works great for loading big deer as it swivels around into the bed. Yes, it works with the tailgate down as well. Mine does not have a foot, but my 1/2ton hardly squats while using it. The 300lb rating seems iffy, I cleaned a 238lb buck on it last year and it had a pretty good bow, but worked fine. Good luck finding something that's less than 15lbs....

https://www.sportsmansguide.com/pro...ambrel-swivel-hitch-lift-system?a=681080

It wouldn't be hard to invent a foot for one.