Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Building a Game Hoist and Cable Winch

After skinning my last buck in the sage brush I plan to build my own game hoist similar to the one below from guide gear, anyone build one?

I found a 1 ton hand crank hoist and gambrel for less than $40, plan a trip to the local metal shop to get the square tubing this weekend.

Any suggestions?

take it out before you drive into the garage........or do you want good suggestions?

Not what I was looking for

I have a "store bought" hoist and have made a couple as well. Firstly, it is a bit more versatile if you use round pipe at the base of the upright fitted into round pipe at the receiver hitch. That will allow you to swing it around into the bed if you use it in a pickup, just make sure it will clear the tailgate when it is lowered. You can use heavy wall square tubing for the remainder. Make sure to get a GOOD weld at the base or it will break off/crack/bend when you get a heavy load on it. We loaded a mature Nilgai bull and bent the crap out of one the very first time we used it - there is a lot of force out at the end of the hoist. If you plan to use it for animals larger than deer, I would bend drill stem as it won't break. A don't drive with a swinging animal or you will bend a poorly made one or else screw up the receiver hitch.

The round pipe sound like the way to go, will check on some.

thanks

Really shooting from the hip here as I've never even seen one in action. I'd be inclined to make the 45 degree brace part bigger.

I like the round pipe idea but would you want something to keep the hoist from swinging freely about the round pipe on the hitch? Maybe something simple like an L shaped threaded rod into a nut welded to the outer pipe and through to the inner pipe.

Several ideas and photos here:

http://discussions.texasbowhunter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=123750

Bruce

how bout this home made one ?
use square tubing, it's a lot easier, and no need for a crank, just peull em up.

Here is a photo of last year�s version of a skinning hanger.
Last year�s model:


�Parts list� for last year�s model:


After selling �Big Red� I needed a new way to quickly set up the device in my F150 � the stake holders were covered by plastic trim. The final solution was 1� square tubing, pre-cut from Home Depot. Also needed 4 bolts, 8 large carriage washers, 4 lock washers, 4 holes I had to drill in the tubing and a few minutes time to bolt the tubing to pre-existing holes inside the truck bed at the rear stake holder areas. The 1� square tubing clears the garage door when the pipes are removed. The top bolts act as a �stop�, preventing the pipe from sliding too far into the tubing, allowing for shorter pipe that will fit in the truck bed (albeit at an angle in a short bed like mine, or with the upper part sitting on the tailgate). No welding or no metal cutting required, just the 4 holes to drill.

Here�s a photo of this year�s �new and improved� device in action. You can see the bolts. Have to remove the tail lights to install the bolts.

That works fine for "small game". Put an elk or nilgai on it and things change!

we had 3 - 200 lb guys hangin off it to proof it. never even sagged. if you look close the gambrel is connected to a block and tackle. makes it even easier to pull up something.

its made of heavey walled tubing.

You guys ever use a skinning table???

This one at the larder of our hunting club...I tended to use it for doing the initial cuts on the gralloch, but some folks prefer to skin on them as well...



Below is a netpic of a folding version:

A friend who posts as DJM over on AR built the hoist below



Its was meant for fallow and red, so the Muntjac isn't really a good work out for it!

The Red staggie below shows it a bit better, plus demonstrates the working lights hes built into it, which I thinks a nice touch:

That is the first time I ever heard of a skinning table!

Pete

That one is great, the earlier post with the link had a good diagram which I will use but make a few modifications like the one you posted.

The guy who built it, Dave, is a bit of a whiz as far as DIY engineering goes and has built all manner of hunting related stuff..

The vehicle he is using is an ex Forest Rangers vehicle so it is quite well kitted out for stalking..For instance their is a loading ramp that stows out of the way up under the roof of the back box, and there is also a 12V electric winch in the back to help load carcass...

Personally if I were building one I'd go with the road tubing so the whole thing can rotate, but given the winch and the loading ramp, Dave probably didn't need that feature..

The Auzzies have some neat hoists for lifting game onto their hunting vehciles, but they are more like "mini cranes"...

Just found these pics on the net which give you an idea of what I mean...

Mine's been in use by 4 generations of butchers and hunters in my family. Sorry, I can't comment on a new one, but our very old one works just fine!

My father-in-law is a welder so I am having him make one for me. I am going to pick it up this weekend.

Looks like it was shot somewhere you could get a frontend loader to!

Not that there is anything at all wrong with that; in fact I have nothing but admiration for you guys who handle the larger game species like Elk or Moose....

Oh hey, if we shoot a whitetail where a farmer offers to retrieve it with his front end loader, we'll take it! Besides getting stuck, soy bean stubble is hell on tires (tyres?). Farmer's fork lift is handy for processing too, easy up and down. But that's when we process HIS deer.

I hunt farmlands where ther are no trees. many times it's warm so skinning immediately is important.I got sick of trying to skin on the ground so I built this about 6-7 years ago. I was actually going to try to patent it but discovered some already being offered. Anyways, I don't leave home without it. Hope it helps. I bought the chain hoist at a pawn shop for $5.00.

BTW it breaks down in the middle for transport.

I picked up a cabelas hoist a few years back, also I've used a few chain hoists.

Anything beats pulleys and trying to pull and tie off at the same time.

Don't have a truck rig yet.

http://www.prohoist.com/600-lb-truck-swivel-deer-lift-hitch-ho600.html

Too cheap and too easy to buy versus building one. I pitched the winch and went with a 500 lb Harrington Mini Chain Fall. If you order the deluxe model you'll get an adjustable stabilizer foot which has worked well on my four wheeler.

The only thing I don't like with the majority of these hoists is that for skinning, when the carcass is hung via a gambrel, it has a tendecy to spin or twist as you work on it..

I much prefer hanging the carcass via two "S" hooks in the hocks, along the lines of coyote hunters set up..I also prefer that method of hanging when I come to butcher the carcass as well..

My wife bought me one from Cheaper Than Dirt for less and $85.

I couldn't buy the material for that!

I used it to process three goats in Wyoming. It was wonderful!!!

Had all the hide and hair off before I ever gutted them. SWEET!

I used a cheap receiver hitch without the ball.2 3/8 oilfield tubing and two pulleys I had laying about the shop.
The boat wench cost about 20 bucks it's a hand crank job.It has a slot in the top for a light for late jobs.
It has held up over the years,the heaviest load was 2 boar hogs that weighed about 600 lbs total.
Be sure to make it high enough to keep the deer or whatever from hitting the ground.
OH,If you have ever barked your shins on a receiver hitch,with it sticking out to clear the tailgate you will hurt parts of your leg you never thought about before.

Actually, that is a good suggestion.

The owner of the ranch that I hunt on has a home
made hoist that makes skinning and gutting a 10
minute job, if that.

We used to hang em from the hose rack in the fire house.

Nothing like a booster line to "clean em out"


Now, its the block and tackle hanging from the old oak tree.

My first experiment was with 2" perforated angle steel. Easy to work with but not strong enough.
I need to go with your idea of the square tubing.

A climbing jumar from some of my climbing gear was an easy cheap device for controlling the lines.

The left image is from 3 weeks ago in WY.
The image on the right is the same guy this week with an elk quarter above Creede.

Notice on the right image the boom has bent considerably but still usable.

Just my opinion, but I have pretty much thought this one to death.
I hunt in Pennsylvania and I drive a big four wheel drive.
I often times go in and out of trails with my truck and it is hard to get a truck in and out of the woods without a hoist - let alone with something sticking out of the hitch 3 feet, or carrying it in the bed for a couple of weeks while I hunt.

There is a lot of aspects to look at when designing a Jib Crane for a truck.
If you mount it to one bed side - it puts a lot of stress on that sides quarter panel and braces under the bed and causes lots of issues. You see these barrel hoists from time to time in the Harbor Freight paper.

The hitch mount ones is ok - if you can get it big enough to hoist the deer / elk etc high enough to get it in the bed, but in the end, you need a second winch for large animals to pull it into the bed. Even using round tube pipe - it is hard to get it to spin in the bore of a smaller pipe when there is a lot of weight on the hoist.

Third - have you checked the price of new steel lately?
By the time you buy the box steel to go in the receiver and buy the box steel or pipe and plate to make the gusset's and wire or rod to weld and paint - plus a hand winch - you are looking at spending several hundred dollars. It's a lot of money for something you might use once or twice a year.

One or two of the pictures I saw posted didn't look bad, but a bunch of them looked pretty crude - like as if someone was afraid of getting blood on their shop floor or on their driveway.

a 50 lbs deer - you can hang from a branch of your apple tree in your yard, you don't need some fancy skinning post - to do that.

a 1000 lbs elk - the mast style jib crane is going to weigh almost as much as the Elk!

Just food for thought. These hoists are basically for skinning when trees are not nearby. There is absolutely no need for a second winch to get the animal from the hitch into the truck. You just rest the front of the deer on the tailgate and lower the hoist, pull animal in a little further and lower etc etc, Cost of steel for mine...... under $80.00. To weld it up. 30 minutes and a few venison steaks. The thing will last forever and mine has skinned at least 20 deer, 4 bears, 11 antelope. Right out in the field so the meat cools quickly which is especially important with lopes.I know that a lot of easterners do things different which is fine but out west we like to get the hide off right now.

Not trying to be arguementative but in your situation it may not be needed at all. Where I hunt deer I absolutely need it because skinning on the ground is dirty and slow. And who wants to drive all the way home to the apple tree and miss out on the whole weekend with friends/family? Not me.

On my Antelope trip this year we skinned and quarterd the animals as soon as we shot them and got them cooled right away. this makes for excellent steaks.

I tell you what, you have one of these things built and you'll love it. I guarantee it.

Just an fyi, mine seperates in the middle for transport. As far as carrying it around all season. Well, it doesn't take up an room so I cant see why that'd be an issue.

Note the lack of trees. LOL

On the deer picture above I quartered the deer on the hoist and boned out the backstraps and trim as I went. Takes about 30 minutes and saves a bunch on butcher fees. Then the deer is taken care of and I can continue on with my weekend with my family rather than quit and go home.