Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Who uses game carts?

As I posted earlier, the Neet Kart is very different from most "game" carts. It was partly developed to use in back-country rescues of injured people, but also works better than any other cart I've seen for game retrieval, due to several features, including the in-line wheels.

It won't work in every situation, but it works better in rougher country than any other game cart I've encountered.

If anybody has an open mind, they might look at www.neetkart.com

That would be a handy rig

How well does it balance. It looks to be much better than a sxs wheeled cart for mountainous terrain.

That's the point of the in-line wheels. They work on sidehills, unlike side-by-side wheels.

They balance very well if the load is balanced. If you watch the video you can also see how the handles can be changed to work in different terrain.

With heaver loads more people help, but the handles are designed so 2-3 people don't get in each other's way. But because of the hand-brakes, one person can do pretty well with even a fairly heavy load. I took two field-dressed pronghorns (about 150-160 pounds) out of some badlands last fall by myself. With two guys in decent shape 300 pounds isn't bad at all.

The in-line wheels also allow them to go over fairly sizeable rocks or logs pretty easily. The guy with the mule deer on his Neet Kart demonstrates how that's done.

That looks to be a better system than the standard wheel design. Having used a standard game cart before, in elk country, this would be the only type I would try again. Thanks John

We tried a home-made game cart with side by side wheels and while it worked well on decent terrain, it was next to useless in the commercial forestry block were were hunting because of the deep plough furrows..

A part from an ATV or a garron, I don't think there is an easy way to get a carcass out of such rough terrain..

This is what I use. It has earned its keep on the first haul.
http://www.atvbackpackercart.com

That Neetcart is intriguing.One question I have that I can't see on th website is about loading it. Does it have a stand to keep it upright while loading?
I can't see myself spending the money to buy one, but I think I might just try to build something similar.

Alright Pete, I'll bite. What the heck is a garron?

Do we speak the same language?

Sorry, I keep forgetting ..its the generic name for the pack ponies up in Scotland that were (some times still are) used to get the Red red off the hills/ mountains..





At one stage most of the Red deer shot on the Scottish hill would have been extracted either by Garron or simply dragging them down to where a LandRover could accesss.

These days, the use of ponies is the exeption, Quads,and Argo's and other ATV's being a far more common method.



That said, a few of the big Estates still use garrons especially during the stag season, mostly out of tradition though...

xxclaro,

The Neet Kart can be propped up pretty easily by standing it against a tree or rock, but then you have to lift the animal onto it. What I do is lay the cart down on its side, tie the animal onto the platform, then tilt the cart upright--a much easier process than lifting a dead animal on top of it.

I have used most of the methods shown here, in addition, bycycles, sleds, plastic bags (snow or frozen ground) and winches with telephone line ( old tech). Never used horses. But for most of the country I hunt your choice is to either leave them there or pack them out. Horses are probably the best overall but the most expensive. There are even places where horse can't go but not many !

Kinda off topic,but maybe not.I just recived the CD on the travel management plan for the White River NF on CO, from the Forest Service.

No motorized off road or off trail travel is pemitted for retrieving big game anywhere.

Dispersed camping parking may not be more than 300ft off a road.

Parking cannot be more than 10 ft off the road.

My cousin built this cart for his horse to haul. Note the low load floor behind the seat, it's easy to lift a deer that high (or a dog box, he uses it for hauling beagles when rabbit hunting, too). It works really well in the North Missouri farmground he hunts. His ground is pretty flat compared to elk ground, though.

He built it out of scrap in the old junkpile behind the barn, and the most costly item was the sheet of plywood he cut for the seat, load floor, etc. He's cheap, I'm surprised he even spent the money for the horse....

I have seen more than a few but you don't have to pack nearly as far as if you didn't have horses.Steep and Rocky terrain isn't a horses best friend but they sure beat the alternatives.

I'm stuck on chainsaw winches and Mule tape these days.



Jayco

We use carts and ice fishing sleds where appropriate. The sleds work better where trees are blown down, the cart on old roads. You can load the sled on the cart and go. Seems like no tool is best in all situations. Also have a pack for hauling quarters.

This one is interesting.

http://www.sasquatchfabrications.com/index.htm

I bought this one.

http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=1206641&categoryId=0&parentCategoryId=0&subCategoryId=0&indexId=0&productVariantId=1622443&quantity=1&itemGUID=e7c400a4ac10085220f2a08bed2757b8&WTz_l=SBC%3Bcat104791680%3Bcat104689980%3Bcat104353380&destination=/checkout/item_added_to_cart.jsp

It works fine on the prairies for deer and antelope. Would be limited on sidehills and burns etc. like Mule Deer says. But for $99, who could leave it on the shelf?

I can't get that link to post properly. Sorry.

I forgot to add that I took my Super Mag Hauler's axle to a machine shop. They did some fabricating so one pin is pulled, then the wheels and axle are easily removed. No tools required, much easier to transport and store.

I've used two-wheeled game carts like this one by Cabela's:



For the reasons mentioned above (narrow trails, sidehills, rocks) I like a good old stout wheelbarrow with an inflatable tire much better, and have used them a bunch. You can drive one down a narrow foot path, no problem. They're designed for heavy loads, and the inflatable tire bounces over rocks and roots much better than a hard rubber tire. You can't put a whole elk in one, but quarters would work fine.