[quote=glogin]PieterKriel - I live in Hamilton, about 150km north of Taupo. That stag was shot about 100km north-east of Taupo. Do you know the area?
Hamilton? Where the match against the '81 Bok tour was abandoned?
Spent a year in Wellington and traveled extensively in- and around your neck of the woods. Did a lot of trout fishing in Taupo and walked the streets of Hamilton every time we passed through there.
Glogin: please see below for a slider which has seen a season of use (3 deer I think) including some dragging over dry short grass prairie (aka lots of gravel and sand. These work best with the beast upon its side with the slider / crazy carpet secured so as not to roll. The silicon bungees next to it have proven to work well, although rope is fine. We have often left the rear legs hanging out to the side and although this does add a bit of friction they act like a rudder and keep the slider running true. The front of the slider is secured around the neck so when dragging it does not "plow" and pull in snow, gravel, etc therefore increasing friction. We secure a rope with a shoulder harness attached (or two if you have a helper) around the neck. The slider seems to reduce the friction by about 50-75% depending upon the ground you are dragging over. Care must be taken on steeper slopes as the deer will easily begin to toboggan. .270 cartridge for scale. The next picture is the one I will be sending to you ( 10" crescent wrench aka adjustable spanner for reference) as it has the holes for the grommets in the correct places. If this works well don't pitch the old one in the bin until you have copied the hole locations onto the replacement slider. This is a copy of what one of my mountain climbing buddies uses to haul gear on some of his trips, he found it worked well for deer so we copied.
Those type of roll up sleds are available in the UK, as I bought one a few years ago from one of the Gamefairs. Mine looks a bit more heavy duty as the plastic sheet is the same stuff used for lorry tarpaulins..
Of course, that means its fairly heavy and bulky to carry, and I therefore tend not to use it unless I have a particular need.
If you google "jet sleds uk", you will find these are another option, again a compromise of sorts that needs to be weighed up against your particular circumstances..
Those type of roll up sleds are available in the UK, as I bought one a few years ago from one of the Gamefairs. Mine looks a bit more heavy duty as the plastic sheet is the same stuff used for lorry tarpaulins..
Of course, that means its fairly heavy and bulky to carry, and I therefore tend not to use it unless I have a particular need.
If you google "jet sleds uk", you will find these are another option, again a compromise of sorts that needs to be weighed up against your particular circumstances..
I found one that was exactly as you said a piece of tarpaulin with a rope for �79.99 I think There was even a video of a guy dragging a fallow buck in it, not very convincing...
I could not find anything that reassembles "crazy carpet" thingy in the UK. The "jet sleds" look like a kind of inflatable toy so not very durable if that is what you mean. (that is what I got googling it)
I like GRFs idea would like to try this out if you could get crazy carpets in the UK it would be great.
Those type of roll up sleds are available in the UK, as I bought one a few years ago from one of the Gamefairs. Mine looks a bit more heavy duty as the plastic sheet is the same stuff used for lorry tarpaulins..
Of course, that means its fairly heavy and bulky to carry, and I therefore tend not to use it unless I have a particular need.
If you google "jet sleds uk", you will find these are another option, again a compromise of sorts that needs to be weighed up against your particular circumstances..
I found one that was exactly as you said a piece of tarpaulin with a rope for �79.99 I think There was even a video of a guy dragging a fallow buck in it, not very convincing...
I could not find anything that reassembles "crazy carpet" thingy in the UK. The "jet sleds" look like a kind of inflatable toy so not very durable if that is what you mean. (that is what I got googling it)
I like GRFs idea would like to try this out if you could get crazy carpets in the UK it would be great.
The lorry tarp sled does work although I would not pay �79 for one!
If you could get hold of a bit of that tarp, it wouldn't be difficult to put one together for far less than �79, or even ask a local saddler to add the eyes for a few quid..Use GRF's pics as a guide.
Re the rigid plastic sled, try Bushwear for one of these:
They don't give the dimensions on their web site, but it looks like it will handle anything short of a decent stag..
Another option is to go to a farm supply shop and look if they sell cow or horse matting..
This is 6' or 8' x 4' semi rigid mat that comes in either 1/2" or 1" thickness made from recycled plastic..
I use the 1" stuff on the floor of my dog run and as a load liner in my Jimny but is probably too heavy duty for what you need although it would be good for towing behind a quad..
The 1/2" stuff would work great, but again its not something your going to carry with you, but rather leave in the vehicle till needed..
These various sort of sleds "help" but unless on snow or towed behind a quad, dragging is still hard work..They do have the added advantage of keeping the carcass clean though..
�80 it way too much in my book to spend on something like that I could add eyelets myself you can buy eyelets/grommet kits to do that for �2-3 off eBay... I am not too keen on a plastic sled I would prefer something that can be rolled up and sit in a car until needed. Not really something I would carry with me stalking. I will have a look at this cow/horse mat from a farm supply shop, never heard about such thing thanks for the info.
�80 it way too much in my book to spend on something like that I could add eyelets myself you can buy eyelets/grommet kits to do that for �2-3 off eBay... I am not too keen on a plastic sled I would prefer something that can be rolled up and sit in a car until needed. Not really something I would carry with me stalking. I will have a look at this cow/horse mat from a farm supply shop, never heard about such thing thanks for the info.
A few years back, a guy I stalked with knocked up a deer cart using a couple of mountain bike wheels. Around the garden and the farmland near his home it worked great, and his two kids had a bit of fun acting as test weights..
Got the thing to where we stalked in Scotland, which was very similar ground to the vid you posted, and it was a different story. Trying to get across the old plow furrows under the heather or over old clear-fell was a night mare..It actually worked best as a trailer behind our vehicles once back on the forestry tracks, ie when the hard bit was done! I came to the conclusion then that there is no easy way to manually get red carcasses out from moorland or the open hill.
I was up in Scotland a couple of weeks back hind stalking for the week, and like you I realised I was too unfit and the dragging was a bugger, even though strictly speaking there was not much of it as we had the use of an Argo...
The crazy carpets are quite durable and roll up nice and tight so can be carried without any real inconvenience. We often find ourselves more than a mile from the truck so it is very nice to have the slider attached to a day pack. When hunting in thick cover I wrap the "slider" in a bit of fleece so it is quiet if it comes in contact with some brush. The price is about $4 cdn for one. Please see below for a link to the Mountain Equipment Co-op website for the grommet kits we use (the metal ones)
I was out again and bumped on these two. I was tempted to go for the big girl as well but let her go... I will catch up with her next time. The calf just fitted into roesack.